ORLANDO-Two 15-year-old affordable housing complexes totaling 324 apartments will be getting a facelift shortly after the landlord, Enhanced Affordable Development Co. of Beverly Hills, CA, received a total $26 million in renovation financing from two separate sources.
CharterMac Mortgage Capital of Bethesda, MD says it is providing $8.9 million of equity in return for tax credits generated by the two properties, and $13.2 million for tax-exempt bonds generated by the developments. The Florida Housing Finance Corp. is providing $4 million under the State Apartment Incentive Loan program called SAIL, a low-interest funding source for affordable multifamily units.
The properties are the 156-unit Fox Hollow Apartments at 3536 Prairie Fox Lane near Orlando International Airport and the 1.3-million-sf Mall at Millenia; and the 168-unit Huntington Reserves Apartments at 2000 Rosecliff Circle in Sanford, Seminole County, 20 miles northeast of Downtown Orlando. Marc Gelman, CEO of Enhanced Affordable Development, says the renovations should be completed in early 2007.
"These two properties are valuable assets to the Orlando community, providing reasonably priced housing, while also serving resident needs with an array of on-site social services at no charge," Gelman says.
Average asking rents start at $525 per month at Fox Hollow and $625 at Huntington Reserves. Fox Hollow averages 700 sf to 1,100 sf of living area in its one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments; Huntington Reserves offers 1,167 sf at all of its 168 three-bedroom units.
Patrick Martin, managing director of CharterMac Capital, says his company provided the financing because "it is important to preserve existing affordable units, as the national continues to fall behind in creating new units."
Martin says Metro Orlando is "losing rental apartments to [condo] conversions, with nearly 4,000 units taken out of Orlando's stock for conversion last year, creating an extremely tight apartment market." He adds, "Of those properties that are affordable, some have waiting lists, and no new affordable units are forecasted for the area, making revitalization of existing stock all the more important."
Martin notes the median price of a condo in Orlando rose 42% last year to $185,000, according to the Florida Association of Realtors, "placing condos out of reach for many would-be owners." CharterMac Mortgage Capital is a subsidiary of New York-based CharterMac.
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