Michaels JV Delivers Affordable Charleston Community
The community comprises income-restricted units, a shelter and supportive services, the first in the market to combine all three.
The Michaels Organization, One80 Place and Spandrel Development have officially opened 573 Meeting Street, a $44 million affordable housing property in Charleston, S.C. The community comprises 70 income-restricted apartments and a 56-bed emergency shelter.
The development team included architect LS3P and general contractor Choate Construction. The partners broke ground in October 2024.
This is the market’s first community that brings together income-restricted housing, shelters and supportive services within the same property.
Floorplans include studio, one- and two-bedroom layouts that average 573 square feet. Apartments cater to residents earning up to 50 percent of the area median income. Eligible tenants will also pay no more than 30 percent of their income on rent.
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One80 Place provides supportive services, including case management, health care, tenancy support and legal services. The emergency shelter on the building’s second floor, dubbed Family Center, serves women and families experiencing homelessness.
Located in downtown Charleston, the six-story community is inside an Opportunity Zone, within One80 Place’s larger homeless and supportive services campus. The company operates another shelter there, at 35 Walnut St.
Layering the capital stack of an affordable property
First plans for 573 Meeting Street emerged nearly a decade ago, laid out by One80 Place. In 2017, the company demolished one of its former shelters to make way for the new community. The idea materialized in 2024 when OnePlace sold the then-vacant site and development began.
According to Yardi Matrix data, the capital stack for the affordable property included 4 percent LIHTC, $17 million in tax-exempt bonds allocated by the South Carolina Housing Finance and Development Authority and $3 million in financing from the Charleston Redevelopment Corp., as well as $2 million from a private lender and another $1.6 million issued by the South Carolina Housing Finance and Development Authority.
Additional financial partners included Berkadia and Monarch, the federal and state tax credit buyers, as well as construction debt originator TD Bank. Berkadia also issued a Freddie Mac permanent mortgage loan. The CLIMB fund, Charleston County and the South Carolina Housing Trust Fund provided additional capital for the community.
Michaels’ affordable housing efforts
The Michaels Organization is the largest private-sector owner of affordable housing in the U.S., having $12 billion in assets under management totaling 76,000 units across 597 communities. The company is also involved in multifamily development, completing more than 59,000 apartments with a pipeline valued at $8.8 billion.
One of its projects is the $165 million, five-phase Ablett Village redevelopment in Camden, N.J. The firm secured financing for Phase 3 last year.
