Nearly five years after Sandy partially destroyed the place they called home, some residents of a Middletown senior community have returned.

The original complex in Monmouth County was demolished and residents were forced to relocate. Now, some of those residents have come back.

Bayshore Village celebrated its grand opening Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Some residents who were displaced decided to return to Middletown and call the senior community home again.

The new three-story complex is designed above flood elevation levels and features designs to protect it from weather events.

The community is restricted to seniors ages 62 and up whose income is about $39,000 a year for a single-person household. One resident said it took a lot of people to make sure he could come back to Middletown.

“It's fantastic they didn't spare any expense. I tell ya, everything is top of the line,” resident Ed Sheridan said. “They did a good job excellent job.”

The affordable housing community was able to be rebuilt with the help of private and public funding, including $19 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development disaster recovery and loans from New Jersey’s housing and mortgage finance agency.