Groundbreaking occurs for new Oak Ridge housing
Construction is beginning for houses and rentals in Oak Ridge’s historic Scarboro community near the Scarboro Community Center.
Oak Ridge government and business officials broke ground for a new public-private partnership housing and rental development on Thursday, Dec. 4.
A news release from Oak Ridge Housing Authority, which worked on the project, described it as “a $64 million development investment that will bring a total of 232 new or renovated affordable housing units across Oak Ridge.”
The groundbreaking on the 11-acre site behind the Scarboro Community Center, 148 Carver Ave., ushers in the first phase in a master plan for the Scarboro site that includes a mix of rental and home ownership.
The 232-affordable-rental-unit first phase brings together ORHA and its development partner, Collaborative Housing Solutions, to construct the 104 new rental units in Scarboro and to preserve and rehabilitate the Housing Authority’s entire portfolio of 128 existing public housing units on eight sites scattered throughout Oak Ridge, not just in Scarboro, said Maria Catron, executive director of the Oak Ridge Housing Authority.
“These 232 affordable housing units are targeted for families earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income,” Catron said.
“With the city of Oak Ridge facing a [crucial] housing shortage, the need for quality housing for Oak Ridge’s workforce earning low and moderate income is acute,” she said.
ORHA will also engage in rehabilitation of owner-occupied homes, along with the construction of 10 new infill homes in the Scarboro neighborhood, Catron explained.
Catron told The Courier News that the rehabilitation work had already begun, and that dirt will begin to move at the Scarboro site in the next couple of weeks.
“We are creating at the Scarboro site a large community green space for neighborhood gathering,” Catron stated in the release.
“We are also working with the Legacy Parks Foundation on designing pedestrian connections from the development to the Scarboro Community Center.”
She told the Courier News that there isn’t a timetable for this pedestrian route yet.
The construction and renovation are made possible by $24.5 million in tax-exempt bonds and with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, administered by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, according to Catron.
The 9% tax credits will assist in the substantial rehab of 70 of ORHA’s existing public housing units at four scattered sites.
The 4% tax credits will support the 104 new Scarboro units and rehabilitation of 58 public housing units at another four sites.
“With the tax credit awards from THDA, we needed an investor to facilitate the purchase of the tax credits, and Key Bank is our investor, along with Freddie Mac (the government-sponsored mortgage lender) providing the long-term financing,” Catron stated.
Other funding includes $100,000 from a Tennessee Department Environment and Conservation grant program, facilitated by the Anderson County government.
UCOR (United Cleanup Oak Ridge, LLC) contributed another $100,000 for the development.
The city of Oak Ridge provided the land for the Scarboro housing units and is using some Community Development Block Grant funds for infrastructure at various sites throughout the city.
Besides Key Bank, the construction and permanent lender, and Freddie Mac, collaborators in the development include Redstone Equity Partners, the equity syndicator for the tax credits associated with the project.
A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rental-assistance program allows public housing authorities to transition from a public housing program to a project-based Section 8 program.
“That HUD-RAD Section 18 program allows the Housing Authority to not only develop and rehabilitate the units but provide a variety of amenities and services for the residents, in order to achieve a high quality of life,” Catron added in the release.