PUBLICATION: Tampa Bay Business Journal
TITLE: City strikes deal with developer for mixed-income multifamily project in Tampa Heights
AUTHOR: By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer – Real Estate Editor, Tampa Bay Business Journal
DATE: August 16, 2021
ARTICLE:
Mayor Jane Castor’s administration has struck a deal with a private developer to build a mixed-income, multifamily building in Tampa Heights.
The mayor’s office is seeking city council approval to sell two city-owned lots at 205 and 207 E. Oak Ave. to Tampa-based LOCI Capital Group LLC. Other than those lots, LOCI owns the entirety of the 2.45-acre block of East Oak Avenue between North Florida Avenue and North Morgan Street.
LOCI has partnered with Pittsburgh-based Maifly Development to build a mixed-use project on the property that includes 320 apartments, 593 parking spaces and 11,000 square feet of retail space in the southeast corner of Florida and Oak avenues.
The deal requires city council approval of both the developers’ rezoning request and the proposed sales agreement.
The developers’ acquisition of the city-owned lots comes with the condition that their project includes at least 16 income-qualifying units. Eight of those apartments will be designated for those making no more than 80 percent of the area median income; the other eight will be designated for those with an income of no more than 120 percent of the AMI. Those units will be income-restricted for 30 years, per the terms of the sales agreement.
The city has also set the sales price at $500,000; the market value was appraised at $235,000. That income will be used to fund other affordable housing initiatives, said Carole Post, who oversees the development and economic opportunity department.
“While small in scale, it’s a very unique approach,” Post said, “which reflects the city approaching land use and affordable housing from a strategic and somewhat private sector perspective to squeeze the most value out of its assets.”
Despite a shortage of affordable housing — and a post-Covid population boom that has new residents moving to the city in droves — mixed-income developments that include both market-rate and affordable units are not common in Tampa. Outside of the boundaries of Encore, a mixed-income development between the Channel district and Ybor City that will include 1,500 mixed-income units, downtown’s multifamily building boom has been concentrated at the high end of the market.
Post called the deal a “win-win-win.” Affordable housing is a top priority for the Castor administration, and outside of large-scale developments like Rome Yard, the mayor’s offices has been evaluating city-owned properties to determine whether they’re appropriate candidates for affordable housing units. “It’s a win for the city and the developer,” she said, “but more importantly, it’s a win for the community that needs affordable housing.”
Read more at:Â https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2021/08/18/city-of-tampa-affordable-housing-developer-deal.html
