Michigan Awards LIHTC for 536 Affordable Units

Brush + Watson. Rendering courtesy of Oombra Architects

Michigan’s housing development authority has approved a series of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) awards totaling $6.2 million to help create and preserve 536 affordable housing units in Detroit. The units are spread across five housing projects that represent more than $100 million in total investment.

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The six federal LIHTC awards will enable 318 units of affordable housing that were due to expire soon to remain affordable for another 45 years, while supporting the construction of 235 new housing units, 218 of which (nearly 93 percent) will be reserved as affordable. Developers applied for the competitive 9 percent LIHTC awards with help from Detroit’s Department of Housing & Revitalization.

Awarded by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), the tax credits will leverage up to 90 percent in equity to build affordable housing units, while enabling developers to serve low-income residents, including the formerly homeless. Many of the new and preserved units will be earmarked for residents earning between 30 percent and 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), or about $16,050 to $42,800 annually.

The five projects include:

• 7850 E. Jefferson Phase I and II (7850 E. Jefferson Ave.)
• Milwaukee Junction (258 E. Milwaukee Ave.)
• Brush + Watson (corner of Brush and Watson Streets)
• Cathedral Tower (80 E. Hancock St.)
• Orchestra Place Apartments (100 Parsons St.)

Bolstering new and existing projects

7850 E. Jefferson, a $27.3 million project from developer Ginosko Development Co., received two MSHFA awards totaling nearly $1.8 million. All 150 units in the building will be classified as affordable housing for the next 45 years.

Milwaukee Junction is an upcoming development with a total cost of $7.2 million led by a partnership between MHT Housing Inc. and Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance. The mixed-income project will deliver 35 units to the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood, including 20 affordable units. The project received a $570,203 LIHTC award.

Brush + Watson, a $19.1 million project in the Brush Park neighborhood being led by American Community Developers, received a $1.5 million LIHTC award. The mixed-use development built on vacant city-owned parcels will provide 60 units, 48 of them affordable.

MRK Partners and Bedrock Detroit are renovating Cathedral Tower in Midtown at a total cost of $27 million. All 236 units in the 18-story building will be renovated and preserved as affordable, supported by a $1.5 million LIHTC award. Also in Midtown, the 82-unit Orchestra Place Apartments will be renovated and preserved as affordable, with a LIHTC award of $887,876. Larc Properties Inc. will lead the project with a total cost of $21 million.