A local nonprofit agency is willing to spend up to $1.8 million to buy and repair a troubled Lawrence apartment complex that provides affordable housing for the elderly and disabled.

Barbara Huppee, executive director of the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, said Wednesday that her organization has made a $1.3 million offer to buy the 58-unit Clinton Place Apartment complex, 2125 Clinton Parkway. The future of the property has been in flux since the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began foreclosing on the complex this summer.

“I believe the housing authority would do the best job for the community,” Huppee said. “We have no profit motive on this.”

In addition to the $1.3 million purchase price, Huppee said her agency is willing to spend $500,000 on needed repairs, such as a new roof, siding, carpet and countertops.

Jim Pohrer, who leads the Leawood investment group that owns the property, said he was considering the offer from the authority, which also operates Babcock Place, Edgewood Homes, Peterson Acres and several other smaller, affordable housing projects in Lawrence.

“I want to do what is best for my partners, but I also would like to do what is best for the community,” Pohrer said.

Huppee said she hopes to have an answer from Pohrer by Monday, when her board of directors is scheduled to meet.

When Huppee originally began exploring purchase of the site in June, she said the Housing Authority might need several hundred thousand dollars from the City Commission, if the purchase price was more than $1 million. But Wednesday, Huppee said a further review of the Housing Authority’s budget revealed the agency won’t have to ask for city help, if the purchase price remains at $1.3 million.

Whether the authority will be able to buy the complex for $1.3 million is an open question. An appraisal by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is involved because the complex was built in 1980 with federally guaranteed loans, listed the value at $2.2 million. An appraisal by a contractor hired by the Housing Authority listed the value at slightly more than $1 million.

If Pohrer doesn’t accept the Housing Authority’s offer or any other that might come, the property eventually would be sold at a foreclosure auction to cover the estimated $1.2 million in debt on the property. The property is expected to draw strong interest because it is located just west of 23rd and Iowa streets, one of the city’s busiest intersections.

But Huppee said she thought there was a strong chance the apartment complex would continue to be part of HUD’s affordable housing program even if someone other than the Housing Authority acquires it. She said HUD regulations would require the new property owner to sign a 20-year contract to be part of the program, which allows qualifying residents to pay only 30 percent of their adjusted gross income for rent. As part of the program, HUD also pays the landlord the difference between the rent the landlord receives and the fair market rent of each apartment, which is about $500 per month.

Pohrer could redevelop the property into a use that would not require it be part of the HUD affordable housing program, if he pays off the $1.2 million debt and keeps control of the property. Pohrer has not ruled out that possibility, but said Wednesday that he wanted to explore possible sale of the property first.