BOSTON —MassDevelopment has provided $39.9 million in tax-exempt bond financing for a 115-unit affordable seniors housing project in the Brookline area of Boston. The property will feature one-bedroom units that will be reserved for renters earning 60 percent or less of the area median income and will replace 60 outdated existing public housing units. Bond proceeds will also be used to build 32 parking spaces. Construction began in January and is scheduled for completion in December 2025. The borrower, 32 Marion Apartments LLC, is a for-profit affiliate of the Brookline Housing Authority. Eastern Bank and Rockland Trust purchased the bond.
Affordable Housing
ATLANTA — Gorman & Co. has delivered Residences at Westview, a 60-unit mixed-income apartment community located at 1991 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW in Atlanta. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony in late February. Situated near the West Lake MARTA Station, Residences at Westview features one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with 90 percent of the units affordable for households earning 50 to 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). Amenities include a playground, community garden and outdoor gathering spaces, as well as after-school services provided by Catholic Charities. Capital sources for Residences at Westview include Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Invest Atlanta, RBC, US Bank and Catholic Charities. Gorman & Co. has 350 units in its development pipeline in the metro Atlanta area over the next two years.
HOUSTON — Temenos Community Development Corp. and The NHP Foundation have opened a 95-unit supportive housing complex in Houston. The property includes an entire floor dedicated to at-risk youth, and 80 units replace those lost to The Texas Department of Transportation to make way for highway improvements. The City of Houston Housing & Community Development provided $12.5 million for the project, and The Harris County Community Services Department provided $11 million. The Houston Housing Finance Corp. and the Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs also contributed to the capital stack.
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LIHTC Program Offers Lifeline to Struggling Multifamily Developers
It’s a tough time for much of multifamily development, but the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program offers incentives that make much-needed affordable housing comparatively easier to achieve under the current economic conditions. Building is expensive and financing is tight in the current multifamily market. However, as it has for the last 30 years, the LIHTC program provides solutions that increase the ease of creating and sustaining affordable housing, even when the overall multifamily market faces challenges. The program not only promotes the construction and acquisition of housing but also enforces conditions that help maintain the stability and preservation of affordable properties. The program is also needed to address the demand for affordable housing. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that extremely low-income households represent 25 percent of the nation’s 44.1 million renters and reports a shortage of 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes. Historical Financial Resilience “The LIHTC asset class is resilient, if not countercyclical, under challenging economic times,” says Katie Balderrama, executive vice president of affordable equity at Walker & Dunlop. The firm typically sees a foreclosure rate of under 1 percent on properties supported by LIHTC. “Overall, our affordable housing assets tend to perform fairly …
Woda Cooper, Parallel Housing Deliver 56-Unit Affordable Housing Community in Atlanta
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — Woda Coooper Cos. Inc. and Parallel Housing Inc. have delivered Stanton Park Apartments, a 56-unit affordable housing community in Atlanta. The property is located at 1056 Hank Aaron Drive in the city’s Peoplestown neighborhood, which is situated near the Atlanta BeltLine’s Southside Trail. Stanton Park features 36 one-bedroom apartments and 20 two-bedroom units that are reserved for households earning 30 to 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). Ten units are reserved with project-based vouchers for residents who experienced homelessness. Financing included a $1 million loan from Invest Atlanta, the City of Atlanta’s economic development authority; a $6.5 million tax-exempt bond from the Urban Residential Finance Authority; capital investments from Atlanta BeltLine Inc.; LIHTC equity from Walker & Dunlop ($5.2 million) and Sugar Creek Capital ($3.5 million); a construction loan from Summit Community Bank; and a $400,000 grant from Partners for Home, an entity comprising Atlanta-based organizations that address homelessness in the city. Stanton Park’s amenities include a multipurpose room with kitchenette, central laundry, computer room, fitness facility, indoor bike storage and a picnic area with tables and grills. The project team includes architect Hooker DeJong, civil engineer Long Engineering, general contractor Woda Construction Inc. and property manager …
NEW YORK CITY — Douglaston Development has topped out a $320 million multifamily project located at 1057 Atlantic Ave. in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The 17-story building will ultimately house 456 apartments, 137 of which will be reserved as affordable housing. Units will come in one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Amenities will include a fitness center, lounge, golf simulator, game room, screening room, children’s playroom and a landscaped rooftop deck, as well as 31,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Greystone Capital Advisors arranged financing for the project, which included $185 million in construction financing from Wells Fargo Bank, M&T Bank and BankUnited. Funds managed by Ares Real Estate also have a preferred equity investment project in the development, which is slated for completion in late 2025.
NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between Douglaston Development and the Entertainment Community Fund has received construction financing for Rialto West, a $125 million affordable housing development in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Located at 509 W. 48th St., the eight-story building will include 158 units for low- and moderate-income residents. Rialto West will feature a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units that will be designated for households earning up to 140 percent of the area median income. Fifteen percent of the units will be dedicated to serving formerly homeless households. Shared amenity spaces will include a fitness center, laundry room and bicycle storage area. Additionally, the development’s ground floor will include more than 5,500 square feet of cultural space as well as a public restroom facing an approximately 25,000-square-foot public plaza that will be built at 705 Tenth Ave. The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation will operate the public open space, which is to be named after Lorraine Hansberry, the famed playwright and author of “A Raisin in the Sun.” The developers are in discussions with IndieSpace, a provider of affordable workspaces for artists, to lease and operate rehearsal and coworking spaces at the property. The …
CHICAGO — Merchants Capital has provided more than $54 million of debt and $49 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity financing for the rehabilitation of Island Terrace, a 21-story affordable housing property in Chicago. The building is situated across from the Obama Presidential Center in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood. Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc. (POAH), the owner and developer, was the borrower. Merchants Capital maximized equity via a structure called “twinning,” which leveraged both 4 percent and 9 percent tax credits issued by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and the City of Chicago. The 4 percent and 9 percent equity syndication generated $31.8 million and $17.3 million, respectively, matched by two corresponding HUD-insured permanent loans totaling more than $22 million and two equity bridge loans totaling more than $32 million. Merchants Bank provided $26.5 million for the property acquisition in 2021. Planned renovations for Island Terrace include replacement of the roof, windows, plumbing and electrical systems; a redesigned first floor with a community room and laundry facilities; and updated kitchens and bathrooms throughout the 240 units. Prior to the recapitalization, only 88 of the community’s units carried affordable restrictions. The new financing structure enabled POAH to expand …
Tampa Housing Authority, Related Urban Break Ground on 188-Unit Affordable Housing Community
by John Nelson
TAMPA, FLA. — Tampa Housing Authority, in partnership with Related Urban Development Group — the affordable and workforce housing arm of Related Group — has broken ground on the second phase of Canopy at West River, a fully affordable housing community in West Tampa. Phase II will comprise one five-story building and one three-story building, located at 1103 W. Main St. and 1102 W. Chestnut St., respectively. Dubbed Tower 3 and Tower 4, the buildings will total 188 units. Tower 3 will offer 158 units in one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans, and Tower 4 will feature 30 units in three- and four-bedroom layouts. Amenities at the properties will include a fitness center, business center, community rooms and a courtyard with social spaces. Development funding for the project totals $68.3 million. Sources include the Housing Finance Authority of Hillsborough County, Bank of America, Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust Co. and the Florida Housing Finance Corp.’s SAIL, ELI and NHTF funds. Phase I of Canopy at West River is scheduled to open in the second quarter of this year, with Phase II expected to be completed in November 2025.
Greystone Provides $39M Construction Financing for Affordable Housing Development in Tysons Corner, Virginia
by John Nelson
TYSONS CORNER, VA. — Greystone has provided $39 million in Freddie Mac tax-exempt loan (TEL) unfunded forward financing for the construction of 265 units within a new affordable housing development in Tysons Corner, a city roughly 16 miles west of Washington, D.C. Pharrah Jackson of Greystone originated the financing on behalf of the borrower, Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH). Located at 1592 Spring Hill Road, the property is situated within the larger The Exchange at Spring Hill Station development. Upon completion, the community will total 516 units across two, 20-story buildings — Dominion North and Dominion South — and will mark the first multifamily property in Tysons to comprise 100 percent affordable housing units, according to Greystone. In addition to the residential buildings, the project will include a community center condominium owned and managed by Fairfax County. Dominion North, the subject of the financing, will feature 55 one-bedroom units, 146 two-bedroom units and 64 three-bedroom units, with varying affordability restrictions. The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) has also approved and awarded the developer 40 project-based vouchers, which will require that 40 units be leased to residents earning 30 percent or less of the area median income (AMI). …