ULI Presents First Annual Awards for Excellence in Workforce Housing

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorMiami–The Urban Land Institute ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing has selected The Boulevard in Anaheim, Legacy at Lincoln Park, and Morgan Woods as winners of the first annual ULI/J. Ronald Terwilliger Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Awards. The awards are given to workforce housing developments that represent outstanding achievements in several areas, including innovative financing, unique construction methodologies, strong public/private partnerships and replicability to achieve workforce housing affordability.The Boulevard in Anaheim, developed by John Laing Homes in Anaheim, Calif., was transformed from a former truck transfer facility into an affordable, sustainable and walkable community of 36 townhomes and 20 single-family homes. The City of Anaheim Redevelopment Agency assisted with land acquisition and site clean-up, which enabled the developer to sell units at prices targeted to the 80 percent to 120 percent of area median income range of $84,100. Twenty-eight of the 36 workforce units are required to remain affordable to the targeted income levels for 45 years. The site is located near major employers and is directly on a main bus line.  The city of Rockville, Md. played a key role in the development of Legacy at Lincoln Park, developed by Urban Atlantic Development LLC in Rockville. Working with the city, Urban Atlantic developed a 60-unit, for-sale, mixed-income development on what was formerly an obsolete public housing site. The project serves residents earning between 60 to 120 percent of the area median income of $99,000. The city agreed to subordinate its interest in the land to serve as equity for the predevelopment and construction financing.  Morgan Woods, developed by The Community Builders Inc. in Edgartown, Mass., is an example of a community-driven housing effort. The town of Edgartown assembled and donated 12 acres of land on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where the median sales price of a home is $702,000 and the area median income is $71,700. The Community Builders Inc., a nonprofit developer, was selected to build a 60-unit, 21 building rental community, which would double affordable housing on the island.“I congratulate the winners of this award,” says J. Ronald Terwilliger, chairman and CEO of Trammell Crow Residential and founder of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing,. “Each of the winning projects is an excellent example of how the public and private sectors can work together to help solve the growing crisis of the lack of availability of workforce housing. Many of the best practices can be replicated in other high-cost areas.”