New Markets Tax Credit Is Funding Mixed-Use Facility with Affordable Apartments, Child Services Center
By Caitlin Jones & A. J. Johnson
5 min read
THE FEDERAL NEW MARKETS tax credit is being used to help fund a $9 million mixed-use development project in Washington, DC that will involve the rehabilitation of 27 affordable apartments and the addition of commercial space for a 24-hour child care center.
Groundbreaking for Ontario Court was held on 2/5/08; completion is expected this fall. The mixed-use development is sponsored by Jubilee Housing, Inc., a local faith-based nonprofit formed in 1973 to provide affordable housing and supportive services to economically disadvantaged residents of the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Jubilee Housing’s partners in the development include Columbia, MD-based national nonprofit Enterprise Community Investment, Inc., PNC Bank, and the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development.
The development is being financed with the help of a $9.4 million new markets tax credit (NMTC) allocation from Columbia, MD-based Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. Ontario Court is Enterprise’s first NMTC-enhanced investment in the District of Columbia.With the use of the $9.4 million NMTC allocation, the project is financed with $8.6 million in NMTC-enhanced loans from Enterprise, which leverage a $2.8 million NMTC-enhanced investment from PNC New Markets Investment Partners, $2.9 million loan from PNC Bank, $3.4 million loan from the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Housing Production Trust Fund, and other funds raised by Jubilee Housing. Use of the NMTC facilitated below market financing for the project.
PNC Bank and PNC New Markets Investment Partners are affiliates of PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
Benefit to Residents, Community
“We are so pleased to be part of this exciting project,” Jubilee Housing President Jim Knight said at the groundbreaking. “Not only will it guarantee a place in the neighborhood for low-income earners for years to come, but it will also provide a nurturing foundation for hundreds of newborn children as they prepare for life ahead.”
Purchased by Jubilee Housing in 1980, Ontario Court is a single, three story, 29,700-square-foot brick building that was constructed in 1922. It now contains six one-bedroom and 21 two-bedroom apartments that will be renovated and reconfigured into six one-bedroom, 18 two-bedroom, and three three-bedroom apartments. All units will have rents affordable for 47 years to low- to moderate- income households earning no more than 80% of the area median income (AMI); more than half the units will be affordable to those 30% or less of AMI. Current median income in the Washington, DC metro area for a four-person household is $99,000.
Renovations will include new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, installation of new security systems, and air conditioning. In addition, a new laundry facility for residents will be added in the building’s basement, and 4,000 square feet of commercial space will be added to house the Jubilee JumpStart Early Childhood Development Center. The Center will serve 46 children with all-day educational activities and offer night and weekend child care for up to 24 hours for parents that work shifts.
“Our new child care and education program will provide intensive nurturing for children and parents to build and sustain secure relationships that foster children’s emotional and intellectual growth,” said Joe Collier, board chair, Jubilee JumpStart. “Supported by the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis, our child care professionals will stimulate children’s learning in small groups using a structured curriculum recommended by Head Start. Center-trained staff will provide parents with training and support through group meetings, home visits, and in-depth assistance for families needing special attention.”
Beyond Housing
Charles Werhane, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Enterprise Community Investment, Inc., noted Enterprise has partnered with Jubilee Housing since the 1970s to create affordable housing for Washington area families. “The federal new markets tax credit program,” he added, “helps us go beyond housing to build other vital community services, such as schools, child care facilities, and retail and commercial centers that might not be otherwise built. This public-private partnership with the District of Columbia and PNC Bank will help families remain in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.”
Ontario Court, located at 2525 Ontario Road, NW, is located in a trendy, multi-ethnic mixed-income commercial-residential neighborhood of Washington, DC that still has a substantial number of low income residents. Many limited income renters, however, have been displaced since the 1980s by neighborhood gentrification that has pushed up rents and spurred conversions of apartment buildings into high-price condominiums.
Ontario Court is located in a higher distressed census tract, with a 52% median income and 21.4% poverty rate.
