PENSACOLA, FLA. — McDowell Housing Partners has broken ground on Ekos at Warrington, a 120-unit affordable housing community located in Pensacola near the Naval Air Station (NAS). The community will serve a mix of income levels, with 10 percent of units reserved for extremely low-income (ELI) households at 40 percent of the area median income (AMI), and the remaining 90 percent of units serving households at or below 60 percent AMI. Also, 50 percent of the total units will be set aside for active-duty military members, veterans and their families, including half of the ELI units that will be reserved for veterans experiencing homelessness. Ekos at Warrington is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.
Located at 280 Dogwood Drive, Ekos at Warrington will span four, three-story buildings, along with a standalone clubhouse. The project will provide 72 one-bedroom, 36 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom units ranging in size from 631 to 1,197 square feet. Amenities will include onsite management and maintenance offices, a fitness center, community room with a kitchenette and game tables, media/business center with a computer lab, as well as a swimming pool, playground, dog park, barbecue area and a gazebo. The project will meet National Green Building Standards and will include low-flow plumbing fixtures, SEER 15 HVAC systems, high-efficiency impact windows, Energy-Star qualified water heaters and LED lighting.
The development will also provide additional community services in partnership with a local services coordinator Opening Doors Northwest Florida, a mission-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness across Northwest Florida.
The project team for Ekos at Warrington includes Park & Eleazer Construction (general contractor), Slocum Platts Architects (architect of record) and Kim Do (co-developer).
Ekos at Warrington is financed through a combination of tax-exempt bonds, 4 percent non-competitive Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and roughly $10.3 million in SAIL/ELI funding from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. (FHFC) via RFA 2024-215, a program providing Live Local SAIL Financing for Developments Near Military Installations. Indianapolis-based CREA LLC serves as the tax credit investor, and New York City-based R4 Capital is the construction and permanent lender.