EVERETT — Nazar Sayed found a good, peaceful place to live at Broadway Plaza.

The 76-year-old retired mechanical engineer lives in an 8th-floor apartment overlooking downtown Everett.

His one-bedroom apartment is modest but life is comfortable.

“I like just about everything abo

ut living here,” he said.

His prominent apartment tower and its twin next door are getting a facelift.

Workers are expected to start around mid-July on a $4.5 million renovation of Broadway Plaza, located at 3020 Broadway Ave.

The affordable housing complex is the home to 200 elderly and disabled tenants.

The renovation will affect both the inside and outside of the buildings, which include one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Upgrades include new windows and elevators on the 20-year-old west tower.

The people who live in the older east tower, built in 1984, will get a more extensive remodel of the interior of their apartments. The kitchen that serves residents in both towers also will be remodeled.

The work is expected to take at least a year.

Sayed, who serves on the plaza’s resident council, said most people are looking forward to the upgrades — although maybe not the temporary disruption of construction.

“When you get old, sometimes change is harder,” he said.

The Everett Housing Authority, a public agency, owns and operates the complex. It’s paying for the work with a $13 million financing package that includes issuing bonds. That debt eventually should be repaid with revenue from the two complexes, said Bud Alkire, executive director of the Housing Authority.

The authority’s board also plans to take around $5 million of that money and put it away for another project that needs attention, he said. The agency needs to replace its Baker Heights subsidized complex in north Everett, which is more than 65 years old.

The plan was to demolish that housing and build new, smaller housing options spread throughout the city. That idea got put on hold when the economy nose-dived.

“We may be able to begin some steps but we’ll need more money to complete that project,” Alkire said.

Debra Smith: 425-339-3197; dsmith@heraldnet.com.