MINNEAPOLIS — Dougherty Mortgage LLC has provided a $10.5 million HUD 221(d)(4) loan for the acquisition and rehabilitation of Holmes Greenway Housing in Minneapolis. The six-story building features 54 units that are restricted to individuals and families earning 60 percent or less of the area median income. Minor upgrades will be completed to the common areas and apartment units. Dougherty originated the 40-year loan on behalf of the borrower, Holmes Housing Partners LP.
GYPSUM, COLO. — Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, the commercial and multifamily mortgage banking subsidiary of Enterprise Community Investment, has closed a $20.6 Fannie Mae loan. The funds will be used for Phase I of Spring Creek Apartments, an affordable multifamily development in Gypsum, 25 miles west of Vail, Colo. Located at 750 Sunny Ave., the first phase of Spring Creek Apartments will include 150 garden-style apartments in a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts available to residents making between 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median income. Construction is currently underway with completed slated for summer 2020. Once fully developed, Spring Creek Apartments will offer 461 apartments, townhomes, duplexes and single-family homes, as well as a clubhouse and park facility including a leasing office, community room, business center and fitness center. Additionally, the complex will feature community gardens and walking trails to connect residents to the Eagle County, Colo., multi-use trail system. Anthea Martin of Bellwether Enterprise’s Denver office arranged the 24-month forward period followed by a 15-year Fannie Mae M.TEB loan on behalf of co-developers Gerry Flynn and Jeff Spanel. A fixed rate of 3.3 percent was secured for the transaction. Additional funding for Spring …
There’s a human factor when it comes to working in the affordable housing industry. Kelly Frank, senior banker at KeyBank, recalls attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a scattered-site housing development where a woman came up to her in tears expressing how grateful she was to have a home in a safe neighborhood setting. The ability to make such a positive impact on someone’s life is one reason Frank loves the affordable housing business. “A lot of work is being done to bring affordable housing to every community,” says Frank. “Everybody’s eyes are on it because it’s a resounding theme throughout the country that there’s just not enough affordable housing.” The United States is short 7 million rental units that are affordable and available to extremely low-income renters, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. These renters have household incomes that are at or below the poverty guideline, or 30 percent of their area median income. The silver lining is that Cleveland-based KeyBank and other lenders have a large toolbox of financing mechanisms available to combat the affordable housing crisis and facilitate the development and preservation of affordable units. Many loans are processed through agencies, including government-sponsored enterprises such as …
MABELVALE, ARK. — Hunt Capital Partners and Burleson Development LLC have broken ground on Phase III of an affordable housing project near Little Rock. Hunt Capital Partners has committed $6.3 million in federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) financing for the 48-unit expansion of Valley Estates at Mabelvale, an apartment community located eight miles southwest of Little Rock in Mabelvale. The project, scheduled for completion by November 2020, is intended for households earning up to 30, 50 and 60 percent of the area median income. One unit is reserved for a property employee. Phase III of Valley Estates at Mabelvale is Hunt’s third project with Burleson Development, the developer of the first two phases that were completed in 2011. The project also marks Hunt Capital Partners’ fourth transaction with RichSmith as developer consultant. RichSmith and its affiliates are serving as the general contractor, architect and property manager for Phase III. The total development cost of Valley Estates at Mabelvale Phase III is $7.2 million. Hunt Capital Partners facilitated the LIHTC financing through its proprietary fund with BancorpSouth Bank, which also provided an approximately $4.3 million construction loan. Arkansas Development Finance Authority provided a $450,000 construction-to-permanent loan through its HOME program, …
TEMPLE, TEXAS — Steele Properties, a Denver-based investment firm specializing in affordable housing, has purchased Wayman Manor, a 160-unit Section 8 affordable housing complex located in the central Texas city of Temple. Steele Properties will implement a capital improvement program that will upgrade roofs, HVAC systems and both indoor and outdoor amenity spaces. Monroe Group Ltd., Steele’s sister company, will oversee property management. Wayman Manor was built in 1971.
WYOMING, MICH. — Magnus Capital Partners is transforming the former Studio 28 movie theater on 28th Street in Wyoming near Grand Rapids into a $35 million, 226-unit affordable housing project known as HOM Flats at 28 West. Magnus purchased the seven-acre, vacant property in October and has since started site development work. Preleasing is expected to begin in winter 2020 with occupancy commencing in summer 2020. Six buildings will be constructed along with 320 surface parking spots. Amenities will include a community room, coffee shop, bike storage, dog washing stations, playground and walking paths. The project team includes Rohde Construction, Hooker DeJong Architects, Exxel Engineering and American Preferred Management. Magnus is a private development firm with experience in workforce housing. Its founder Vishal Arora is from Zeeland, a suburb of Grand Rapids. Joining Magnus as an investor in the project is InSite Capital, a division of Chemical Bank. In addition, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority has awarded the project with low-income housing tax credits.
ALEXANDRIA, VA. AND ORLANDO, FLA. — Avanath Capital Management LLC has purchased tow affordable housing communities for a combined $99.2 million. The first property, Alexandria Station Apartments, is located in Alexandria and sold for $52.7 million. The 290-unit community was built in 1965 and renovated in 1998 and 2010. The property comprises 25 three-story buildings that were 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. Alexandria Station is a 251,579 square-foot property consisting of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Communal amenities include a swimming pool, grilling and picnic areas, playground, on-site-laundry facilities and a clubhouse. The other property is Brooke Commons, a 288-unit complex in Orlando that sold for $46.5 million. Built in 2000 and comprising 36 two-story buildings, Brooke Commons was 99 percent occupied at the time of sale. Five percent of the community’s units serve those making 55 percent of the area median income (AMI), while 50 percent are reserved for residents earning 60 percent AMI and 45 percent of the units are for residents earning 60 to 80 percent AMI. The property is located three miles from the University of Central Florida campus and 12 miles northeast of downtown Orlando. Communal amenities include a business …
For the past 10 years, Walters has been creating premium affordable housing that is 100 percent income-restricted and sustainable. The company has delivered a dozen developments throughout New Jersey, and several more are currently under development. The positive benefits and lasting effects of affordable housing impact both the residents living in the homes as well as the communities in which they are located. Each year, more people struggle to afford living in the communities where they work because of a lack of affordable housing stock. Even older adults who have lived for decades in a community have few opportunities to downsize. Many young adults who want to raise their own families in the communities where they grew up cannot afford “starter homes” today. Affordable housing, however, enables people to live where they choose based on their needs and aspirations. A Princeton University study of affordable housing development in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, found numerous benefits: Families moving into high-quality affordable housing experience a safer neighborhood, lower crime rates, better mental health, strong rates of employment and higher wages. By saving money on rent, families can spend more of their household incomes on essentials such as food and healthcare. The study …
CUPERTINO, CALIF. — Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has announced a $2.5 billion plan to address the housing availability and affordability crisis in California. Much like Facebook’s recent announcement to commit $1 billion and build 20,000 affordable housing units in the Golden State, Apple cited the major discrepancy between the paces of population growth and affordable housing development as the key catalyst behind its plan. Earlier this year, Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, also pledged a combined $1.25 billion toward the development of affordable housing in metro Seattle and the Silicon Valley area, where those two firms are respectively based. In supporting this measure, Apple referenced a recent study by real estate brokerage firm Redfin that found that some 30,000 people had vacated the San Francisco area between April and June of this year. The study also found that the rate of homeownership in the Bay Area has hit a seven-year low. Both pieces of information suggest that residents, whether buying or renting, are simply being priced out of the region. In response to the growing cost of housing in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in October that would cap annual rent increases imposed …
Despite evidence of their own experience, developers of affordable housing can still minimize the incidence of unforeseen delays and underestimate their costs. Capital One has 75 such developments under construction, and more than half are in some way behind schedule. This is neither unusual nor a comment on our partners’ skills as developers of much-needed affordable housing. The point is that making up for lost time can be particularly costly. While unforeseen delays are no more common in affordable housing than in other building types, developers of this product type run the unique risk of losing crucial tax credits when they miss a place-in-service deadline. Loss of tax credits as a funding source, which can account for as much as half the capital funding project costs in some cases, upends the carefully crafted funding structure of the development. Other developers might be content to pay an extra month’s interest on their construction loan while addressing the source of delay, as this constitutes a less-significant sacrifice at today’s rates than in the past. But affordable housing developers must incur extra expenses and do whatever is necessary to get the project back on track. Unforeseen Bedrock A case in point is the …
