Harris County approves $25M for senior housing project

Harris County Commissioners voted to accept $25 million in funds toward the construction of a 157-unit apartment complex for seniors at its August 23 meeting.

Passed by consent, the commissioners accepted the funds from the Texas General Land Office for the construction of First Met Apartments, which will cost a total of $43.5 million. It will be located at 8870 West Sam Houston Parkway in Harris County’s Precinct 1.

Precinct 1 comprises much of downtown Houston and is represented by Democrat Rodney Ellis, a former Texas State Senator and a close ally of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has pushed for more affordable housing in Houston neighborhoods that are still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

The funding Harris County commissioners accepted from the Texas GLO comes from federal funds.

The GLO, which is currently headed by Bush family scion George P. Bush will send $23,368,381 in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster funds and $1,631,618 funds from the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to build 81 of the complex’s 157 units.

First Met Apartments will be built on land owned by First Metropolitan Church of Houston, according to Harris County Central Appraisal District records. The land is valued at $7.1 million and is exempt from state and local property taxes. First Met Apartments, LP will be the owner of the complex when construction is completed.

Harris County Commissioners approved funding for the project in August 2020. The county applied for funding from the GLO in November 2020 and received conditional approval from the state agency, which manages lands and mineral rights properties owned by the State of Texas.