Push For Affordable Housing On MTS Land Showing Results

San Diego trolley photo

Our Villa Encantada project in San Diego was mentioned in this article about transit-oriented developments.

MTS officials recently authorized negotiations with a development team seeking to build affordable housing on an underutilized trolley station parking lot. If approved, the proposal would more than triple the number of middle-income homes approved in San Diego since 2010.

This comes less than six months after MTS updated its real estate policy to encourage more housing near transit stations—an effort that appears to be showing some results.

The plan for the Palm Avenue station parking lot came from National Core, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, and Malick infill, a for-profit firm specializing in transit-oriented development. The team is proposing 150 homes for low-income households and 100 homes for middle-income households, along with retail and commercial space and parking for trolley passengers.

The MTS executive committee voted March 14 to start negotiations with the development team, after a 30-day window in which staff sought competing proposals but received none. The development team declined an interview request while negotiations are ongoing.

Opening near Tarrant County College in Fort Worth: Affordable housing for the workforce

Campus Apartments exterior building view

March 6, 2019 – Fort Worth, TX – Fort Worth Housing Solutions (FWHS) will open Campus Apartments, its newest affordable housing community near the Tarrant County South Campus, in late March.

Developed with Low-Income Tax Credits in a partnership with AMTEX, the 224-unit community features 10 market-rate units and 214 units for households earning less than 60 percent of the area’s median income (AMI).   Fifteen of the affordable units will be new homes for families relocating from Butler Place Apartments under HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.  The property has already leased all its one- and three-bedroom units due to the high demand for affordable housing as well as the visible, convenient location at 4366 Campus Drive.

“Campus Apartments will help meet our city’s pressing need for housing that is reasonably priced for the workforce,” said Mary-Margaret Lemons, FWHS president.  “We’re especially proud of the property’s modern finishes, amenities and proximity to public transportation, schools and TCC.”

Campus Apartments sits across the street from a Trinity Metro bus stop and within walking distance to the Tarrant County Resource Connection and O.D. Wyatt High School. The community features an elegant clubhouse with business and fitness centers and an activity room; swimming pool, playground and dog park.

“We appreciate our partnership with FWHS to bring these beautiful new apartments to market,” said Arjun Nagarkatti, president of AMTEX Multi-Housing, Inc. “Including the Campus project, we have 739 apartments that we have partnered on and are either completed or in construction in the Fort Worth community. We look forward to developing many more projects like Campus Apartments in the Fort Worth community in the future.”