CHICAGO — The Community Builders has unveiled plans to develop a $102 million, 20-story affordable housing project in Chicago’s Loop. The high-rise development has been selected as the winner of the City of Chicago’s C40 Reinventing Cities competition, which encourages carbon neutral and sustainable development. The 207 rental units will range from studio to two-bedroom and are restricted to tenants earning between 30 to 80 percent of area median income (AMI). Slated to occupy city-owned land at the corner of Van Buren Street and Plymouth Court, the project was selected via a request for proposals process, which was issued last year through the international C40 Reinventing Cities competition. Designed by Studio Gang along with DesignBridge and JAQ Corp, the “Assemble Chicago” project was selected over three other net-zero proposals due to its superior design, commitment to affordability, family-sized units, development team experience, proposed purchase price and community feedback, according to the city. The site is currently occupied by a vacant parking garage and vacant land. Located at the nexus of multiple transit lines, the building will include a two-level podium with a food hall for minority-owned restaurants, a produce grocer and wellness clinic. Plans also call for approximately $2 million in improvements for …
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Standard Communities has acquired Osprey Place Apartments in North Charleston. Built in 2004, the 108-unit affordable housing property located at 2390 Baker Hospital Blvd. North comprises five garden-style apartment buildings situated on 19 acres. Community amenities include a laundry room, playground and off-street parking. The total capitalization of the transaction exceeded $22 million, including over $82,000 per unit in renovation costs. Standard Communities purchased the property on a long-term ground lease in a public-private partnership with nonprofit organization Housing on Merit and South Carolina State Finance and Development Authority (SC Housing). Regions Bank provided Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) for the transaction in partnership with SC Housing. Gene Levental of SVN Affordable | Levental Realty represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The deal brings Standard Communities’ affordable housing portfolio in the Charleston area to more than 500 units. Based in New York and Los Angeles, Standard Communities has a national portfolio exceeding 15,500 apartment units, including approximately 11,500 affordable and workforce housing units. The firm has completed more than $3 billion of affordable housing acquisitions and rehabilitations nationwide.
CONROE, TEXAS — Colliers Mortgage has provided a $5.8 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of Bellshire Apartments, a 311-unit affordable housing property located in the northern Houston suburb of Conroe. The community was originally built between 1974 and 1978 and renovated between 2017 and 2019. Colliers Mortgage originated the 10-year loan on behalf of the borrower, an entity doing business as Merced-Bellshire LLC.
CHICAGO — Evergreen Real Estate Group, Synergy Construction Group and the Chicago Housing Authority have completed construction of Ravenswood Senior Living, a 193-unit affordable seniors housing community in the Ravenswood neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. The property was previously the Ravenswood Hospital, which was built in 1974 and fell vacant in 2002. The redevelopment project cost $81 million and took a year-and-a-half to complete. Located between Damen and Ravenswood avenues, Ravenswood Senior Living is a 10-story building that is situated close to public transit, including the Damen and Montrose Brown Line stations and the Ravenswood Metra stop. The seniors housing property has 74 one-bedroom independent living apartments for Chicago Housing Authority residents, as well as 119 units for participants in the Illinois Supportive Living Program, an alternative to nursing home care that is administered by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. While the two communities are in the same building, the facilities have separate entrances and operate independently from each other. Evergreen is managing the independent living community, located at 4515 N. Winchester Ave., while Asbury Healthcare will operate the supportive living community, located at 1922 W. Sunnyside Ave. The independent living portion of the property …
SAN ANTONIO — The NRP Group, a Cleveland-based developer, will build two affordable housing properties totaling 666 units in San Antonio. Seven07 Lofts will feature 318 units in one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom floor plans that will be restricted to renters earning between 40 and 70 percent of the area median income (AMI). Amenities at Seven07 Lofts will include a fitness center and a pool. Frontera Crossing will total 348 residences with the same unit configurations and rental restrictions. NRP Group is co-developing the properties with the San Antonio Housing Facility Corp. Kyle Kolesar of KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI) secured $46.6 million in financing for Seven07 Lofts and $60.6 million in financing for Frontera Crossing on behalf of NRP Group.
BOSTON — Developer WinnCos. has completed a $30.2 million project that converted the waterfront site of an obsolete public housing development in East Boston into a 52-unit mixed-income complex. The site now houses 22 apartments to be rented to low-income households and 30 condominiums to be sold at market-rate prices. The rental units feature one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom floor plans. MassHousing provided a $6.6 million permanent mortgage and $3.6 million in bridge loan financing for the development. Bank of America provided an $11.6 million construction loan and served as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investor. Enterprise Bank contributed an $8.6 million construction loan for the condo portion of the project.
NEW YORK CITY — Berkadia has provided a $22.6 million HUD-insured loan for Seagirt Seniors Housing, an affordable housing property located in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens. The 12-story, 120,278-square-foot building was built in 1985 with 151 Section 8 apartment units and one employee unit. Laura Smith of Berkadia originated the financing, which was structured with a 35-year term and a 71 percent loan-to-value ratio, through HUD’s 223(f) program. The borrower, New York-based operator JASA, will use a portion of the proceeds to fund capital improvements. Planned upgrades include modernizing kitchens and bathrooms, replacing circuit breaker panels, renovating common areas and elevators and installing a new boiler system.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving last year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) made sweeping changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s multifamily business pursuits for 2021. The FHFA revised the previous structure that capped loan production at $200 billion combined for both government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). And unlike most years, that cap was spread across five quarters spanning from the beginning of fourth-quarter 2019 to the end of 2020. For 2021, the FHFA is once again using the traditional four-quarter time frame but is now directing the agencies to produce $140 billion in multifamily loans combined ($70 billion apiece), which is lower than $159 billion in loans closed by the GSEs and their lending partners last year: $76 billion for Fannie Mae and $83 billion for Freddie Mac. The FHFA is again doing away with its long list of exclusions for loans on properties that don’t count toward the cap. In the past, the agencies had no limits to finance certain multifamily categories, including communities with five to 50 units, seniors housing, rural properties and manufactured housing. The FHFA is maintaining its directive for the agencies to finance properties deemed as “mission-driven affordable housing” — or those affordable to households …
DALLAS — Locally based developer Palladium USA has broken ground on Palladium Simpson Stuart, a 270-unit mixed-income project in South Dallas that is valued at $55 million. About 90 percent (243) of the units will be reserved for households earning between 40 and 80 percent of the area median income, while the remainder will be rented at market rates. Amenities will include a resort-style pool, dog park, trails, conference room, computer lab, kids’ playroom and a fitness center. HEDK is the project architect, and BBL Construction is the general contractor. PNC Bank provided construction financing for the project, and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs issued 4 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity. The first units are scheduled to be delivered in October 2022.
ROCHESTER, MINN. — The Rochester office of Kraus-Anderson has broken ground on Bryk on Broadway, a $39.2 million affordable housing project in Rochester’s Destination Medical Center district. Owners Dirk Erickson and John and Marcia Bouquet are developing the property located at the corner of Civic Center Drive and North Broadway. Designed by ISG, the project will feature 180 units, 7,500 square feet of commercial and retail space and 140 parking stalls. The six-story development will include a fifth-floor community room with an outdoor terrace, lounge and fitness center. Completion is slated for late 2022. Of the 180 units, 54 will be offered at 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), 18 will be offered at 60 percent AMI and 108 will be offered at 80 percent AMI. NorthMarq arranged a $31.2 million construction loan for the project through a credit union. “The name Bryk came to us as a metaphor for something strong,” says Dirk Erickson, owner and developer. “Brick buildings are meant to last and our mission is ‘building a strong community.’ We want to provide a high-quality living experience for our tenants and hope to set a new standard in affordable housing, hence building a strong foundation …