The Recovery Act pushed by the Obama administration is brightening a bit of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in North St. Louis.
The new Arlington Grove development qualified for a competitive stimulus grant of $10 million awarded to the St. Louis Housing Authority by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“This is a huge project when it comes to stimulus,” James M. Heard, director of the HUD St. Louis Field Office, said at the groundbreaking. .
Designed by KAI Design & Build (a St. Louis-based minority business enterprise) and developed by McCormack Baron Salazar in partnership with the St. Louis Housing Authority, Arlington Grove will incorporate a number of special green features and innovative design features that will meet the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria required by HUD’s Capital Fund Recovery Competition.
“St. Louis Housing Authority is proud to be one of a few public housing authority agencies to receive the Capital Fund Recovery Competition funding,” said Cheryl Lovell, executive director of St. Louis Housing Authority.
“With this endowment, Arlington Grove will be one of the first developments in the country and the city of St. Louis to include solar panels on a mixed-financed development. Arlington Grove will be an example of housing developments achieving environmental sustainability.”
According to a release, the development is financed with tax credit equity from Enterprise generated from 4 percent low-income housing tax credits from the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC); proceeds from a tax-exempt bond allocation from the City of St. Louis Industrial Development Authority; Replacement Housing Factor funds; Capital Fund Recovery Competition funds from the St. Louis Housing Authority via HUD; Tax Credit Replacement exchange funds from MHDC; and HOME funds from MHDC and City of St. Louis.
The development will also benefit from a tax abatement provided by the City of St. Louis.
The total investment is $32.8 million.
“This isn’t just a huge project, it’s a vision,” said Vince Bennett, chief operating officer of McCormack Baron Salazar.
Located at 5547-55 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., the development will be comprised of 112 mixed-income rental garden and townhouse units, a mixed-use building, as well as a historic rehab of the Arlington School to provide 21 loft-style apartments.
Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church Senior Pastor Michael Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
“This community has been left abandoned for a number of years, and now there is a resurgence of life, energy and renovation of minds and people,” Jones said.
“This has been a long journey.”
