Housing Trust Group closed on financing for a senior affordable housing development in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood.
HTG broke ground on the project, called Father Marquess-Barry Apartments, at 301 Northwest 17th Street. The 60-unit development is named after the late Rev. Canon Richard Marquess-Barry, the former pastor of The Historic St. Agnes Episcopal Church in Overtown, who died in March from coronavirus.
The financing includes a $13 million construction loan from TIAA Bank that will be replaced by $9.4 million in 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit Equity that Raymond James is providing; a $6 million Freddie Mac loan through Walker & Dunlop; and $2 million in HOME funding from Miami-Dade County. The three-story project is expected to be delivered in April.
The affordable and workforce housing development will have one-and two bedroom apartments for residents who are 62 years of age or older. Six units will be reserved for residents earning at or below 28 percent of the area median income; 48 units for those earning at or below 60 percent of AMI; and six workforce housing units will be for those earning between 60 percent and 120 percent of AMI. Rents will range from $372 a month to $1,200 a month, and units will range from 684 square feet to 969 square feet.
Matt Rieger, president and CEO of HTG, said in a press release that the coronavirus pandemic has “exacerbated the city’s already dire affordable housing crisis” and that need for new affordable housing has never been greater than it is now.
HTG, along with Miami-Dade and the late Father Barry’s nonprofit, Rainbow Housing Corp., are partnering on the project. HTG secured a 99-year lease for the property, which is across the street from its Courtside Apartments.
Amenities will include a club room, fitness center, library and media center, lockers for package deliveries and an indoor mailroom, and bike racks.
HTG is working on plans to redevelop two existing public housing projects nearby in Overtown: Rainbow Village Apartments and Gwen Cherry 23C. Miami-Dade granted the developer a ground lease for the 10.4-acre property, and HTG could build more than 1,300 new affordable housing units on the site.
Earlier this year, HTG closed on financing for a $25 million affordable housing community in West Kendall, called Paradise Lakes Apartments. HTG also closed on $25 million in financing for Village View, a new senior affordable housing development in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village.