On Monday Wake County announced that three affordable housing projects in the county had been approved for tax credit by the N.C. Housing Financing Agency. The county itself is contributing $6.3 million in gap funding for the new developments.
One project is on Durham Road in Wake Forest, where the Taft-Mills Group out of Greenville will build a project called Crenshaw Trace, a four-story building with 68 apartments for people 55 and older who will not have to pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent.
C. J. Tyree, a partner with Taft-Mills, said, “We are excited to bring a modern, affordable rental option to seniors in the market.” He noted that similar senior affordable apartments such as Huntington Spring on South Franklin Street and The Crossings at Heritage on Heritage Branch Road are 100 percent occupied with waiting lists, showing the need for this type of property.
Residents at Crenshaw Trace “will be able to walk to nearby retail, including Target, Walgreens and numerous restaurant options,” Tyree said. “They will also be able to use the existing bus service near the site to use the Northern Wake Senior Center and access other downtown amenities with three miles of the site.”
Tyree said his group, which builds affordable housing throughout North Carolina, put the 4.2-acre site on Durham Road under contract in January of this year. It had been rezoned in March 2018 to residential mixed use, which allows apartments. The Woda Group applied successfully for the rezoning but dropped the project in 2018 after not receiving the state tax credits. That allowed Taft-Mills to negotiate with the owner, Nexus Global Business Solutions, which had planned an office building on the site but later moved to the South Forest Business Park. For a complete history of this small site, cut off from a larger property by Durham Road (N.C. 98), go to the April 17, 2019 issue of the Gazette by typing that date in the “Search Here” box. Its ownership ended up being disputed in the state court of appeals.
There was no master plan associated with the 2018 rezoning, and Development Services Manager Jennifer Currin said that one of the rezoning conditions was the master plan must go before the board of commissioners for approval.
After closing on the site later this year, Tyree said, Taft-Mill will begin construction next spring. The 80,000-square-foot building will have 36 one-bedroom and 32 two-bedroom units with rents ranging from $400 to $900 for one bedroom and $450 to $1,000 for two bedroom units. Rents will be based on the tenant’s income and ability to pay. The building will include two elevators, a community room computer center and fitness room.
“The tax credit amount is $812,260,” Tyree said. “We believe the credits will draw about $7.4 million in private investment into the project. The $731,000 is the county loan to the project that helps fill the financial feasibility gap in the project.”
Tyree said the tax credits “provide approximately 65 percent of the financing needed for the project.” The county had nine preliminary applications for the tax credits, and Tyree called the statewide competition for the credits “very competitive.” The other two county projects were Pennington Grove II near Aversboro Road in Garner with 69 units and Pine Ridge on US 401 in Garner with 72 units. In two projects, Wake County partnered with the City of Raleigh: The Summit at Sawyer on Garner Road in Raleigh for 154 units and Toulon Place also on Garner Road in Raleigh with 200 units.
Jessica Holmes, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said, “Thanks to the incredible work of the county’s Department of Housing Affordability and Community Revitalization, we met our goal of 500 new affordable units for county residents just two months into the new fiscal year. The county is taking its commitment to housing affordability seriously. We aim to make sure that our residents can truly afford to live in the communities where they work, learn and play.”
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The Town of Wake Forest does not have a set goal for affordable housing, but in the last three years it has made possible 19 new houses with affordable mortgages.
The town rebuilt Caddell Street, which had been a dirt track connecting Spring Street and Pearce Avenue/North Taylor Street, and purchased several properties along the new street. The town then sold the six lots resulting from the change to Habitat for Humanity Wake, and building on those six lots will begin this fall.
Rick Beech with Habitat said it has been working with the Northern Wake Faith Coalition it put together to tap resources and get out the word about the six homes, urging families to apply. County statistics show, he said, that “one out of four families may be cost-burdened and can apply for a Habitat home. These six Habitat homes provide an incredible opportunity to get the word out to your congregation and to the Northern Wake community about the need for affordable housing in this very expensive place to call home.”
Construction on the first three houses will begin Saturday, Sept. 14, with church-sponsored and other volunteers. The next three houses will be built in the spring.
Along with the six Habitat lots, the Caddell Street reconstruction left the town with another larger lot which it is selling to a developer for four houses.
Finally, the town just finalized an agreement with a developer to spend $300,000 to realign, grade and pave Brewer Circle after which the developer will plat nine lots and build affordable houses there.
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For subsidized apartments, the rents are based on a resident’s total income with some allowances for medical expenses. For tax credit apartments, the rents are all the same, but there is usually a minimum and a maximum income range set for which all residents must qualify. Some apartments are age restricted, or have an age limit for seniors, while others are open to all seniors, or are in complexes where there are a mix of families and seniors.