Moved up the Blog: From the Archives 2004 - F.Y.I.
"Local: Income-based housing hits the Beach"
"Local: Income-based housing hits the Beach"
Local: Affordable housing at beach grows
Monday, June 21, 2004
By Cara New - News Herald Writer
747-5071 / cnew@pcnh.com
PANAMA CITY BEACH
Pricey beachfront condominiums are going up with a bang, but affordable housing options in Panama City Beach are growing too — albeit more slowly.
The Bay County Housing Finance Authority just applied for $7 million in tax-exempt bonds to begin its second multi-family affordable housing project. The first project was Andrews Place Apartment Homes on Frankford Avenue in St. Andrews.
The $7 million bond issue will cover much of the $11 to $12 million cost of the Nautilus Cove Apartments, a 192-unit, multi-family rental community to be located on the northeast corner of Back Beach Road and Nautilus Drive.
"Each one of our properties came with a market study identifying demand," explained Ben Johnson, chairman of the Housing Finance Authority, a public corporation that assists with affordable housing projects in Bay County.
Johnson said the apartments would help the many people who work in the service industry on the Beach and cannot afford to live there.
Because the apartments benefit from public funds, prospective residents have to meet income requirements and rent is adjusted to be no more than 30 percent of a renter’s income, Johnson explained.
The developer, The CED Companies, is based in Maitland and calls itself an "innovator" in the field of affordable apartment housing. The CED Companies also developed Stone Harbor Apartments, a 160-unit affordable housing community on Alf Coleman Road in Panama City Beach.
Johnson said construction on Nautilus Cove Apartments would begin late this year and would take 12 to 15 months to complete.
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Other info about how our NCC complex is being marketed to low income housing applicants is available at: http://www.socialserve.com/dbh/ViewUnit/463023?ch=FL&hm=dX7V0fsz
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Misc Info: 'Stone Harbor' is our downmarket sister community, located 2 miles from NCC, built by the same group of companies and mis-managed by the same Concord Management that mis-manages Nautilus Cove. info on Stone Harbor is at: http://lihtc.findthedata.org/d/d/Florida/Panama-City-Beach
Local: Income-based housing hits the Beach
http://www.newsherald.com/news/housing-33279-beach-affordable.html
2004-03-11 06:31:00 see also: http://stoneharborsucks.blogspot.com/
Apartments offer qualified tenants affordable housing
By Cara New News Herald Writer
PANAMA CITY BEACH -
Nelva Youngblood's search for affordable housing in Panama City Beach was nearing a dead end when a friend told her about Stone Harbor apartments. "I'm a single mom, trying to make it with my son on my own," Youngblood, 30, explained. "There was nothing I could afford and I was going to have to drive over the bridge (to get to work), which I dreaded."
The brand-new Stone Harbor apartments, 501 Alf Coleman Road, has 160 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments for residents who meet federally defined income limits. The remaining 56 of its 216 units are available at "market rates" for those who exceed the income limits. Youngblood is an office manager for Brannan Aluminum and Vinyl, and she said she was surprised when her income qualified. "When you hear of qualifying for housing, you think of low income," she said. "And that's what I didn't want." Stone Harbor is a far cry from lowincome housing projects, with its 24-hour fitness room, sparkling pool and a wide-screen television gracing the lobby. The apartments are located in two-story townhouses, creating a neighborhood feel. The income limits are based on the number of occupants living in a given apartment. Pete Mann, a district lease manager for Concord Management, which manages the apartments, said two people living together, like Youngblood and her son, can't earn more than $23,640, while four people together can't earn more than $29,520.
Stone Harbor's grand opening is today at noon, but residents started moving into the apartments in December. Mann said the units are about 70-percent full and are expected to be full by the end of April. Youngblood's two-bedroom, twobathroom apartment is $605 per month at affordable rates and $857 per month at market rates. In comparison, an informal poll of Beach apartment complexes run by Arthur Cullen, the Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce vice president of economic development, found the average price for a two-bedroom apartment to be between $800 and $850.
Meeting a need Youngblood's difficulty in finding affordable housing is shared by many, according to Beach officials. "I think there is a tremendous need on the beach" for affordable housing, Panama City Beach Mayor Lee Sullivan said. "One need only look at the traffic over Hathaway Bridge in the morning to see that the majority of the workforce comes from the east side of the bridge to come here to work. I think it would be nice for people who work out here to be able to live here if they want."
The developer, The CED Companies, is based in Maitland and calls itself an "innovator" in the field of affordable apartment housing. "We've seen for quite some time a pent-up demand in (the Panama City Beach) area for affordable housing, especially in the workforce, among working families," said Scott Culp, executive vice president of The CED Companies. Culp said The CED Companies is able to rent the brand-new apartments for less because of assistance from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, or FHFC. To help pay for the $13 million project.
The CED Companies competed for and received $6.72 million in taxexempt bonds and a $1.225 million State Apartment Incentive Loan. The Florida Legislature created the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in 1998 to help finance affordable housing for lower-income Floridians. In order to qualify for FHFC assistance, the developer must follow guidelines governing the number of affordable units offered, as well as rent and income limits.
On Wednesday, Youngblood led a tour of her Stone Harbor apartment, displaying her 4-year-old son's walk-in closet, where little T-shirts and pants barely filled one side. The carpeting and freshly painted walls still exuded the smell of newness. "You can't find anything like this on the beach," she said.
