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An east-side Indianapolis community development group plans to build more than 40 affordable townhouses near Wheeler Mission’s Center for Women and Children.
The roughly $14.7 million project from Englewood Community Development Corp. and its partner, Indianapolis-based Gratus Development, is expected to be built on 1.75 acres along the east side of LaSalle Street, between St. Clair and North streets.
Called Bridges Townhomes, the project’s plans call for 43 two- and three-bedroom for-rent residential units in seven buildings. Most of the units would be set aside for individuals and families making up to 60% of the area’s median income.
The remaining 11 units would be for permanent supportive housing—for families that have experienced homelessness and have received services through Wheeler Mission, which is a partner in the project.
The project stemmed from a desire to meet the needs of families in a new way, Englewood CDC Executive Director Joe Bowling told IBJ. By developing townhouses instead of apartments, there’s often more space and fewer shared walls with other occupants, he said.
“We’ve just sensed a tremendous need here recently for low-income families with children that really need access to affordable housing, in ways that we can’t always provide in apartment buildings,” Bowling said. “The town home type of design really achieves a best-of-both-worlds mentality. It’s space efficient, with some of those economies of scale, but everyone has their own front porch.”
The land on which the project would be built—part of the 50-acre former Sherman Park and RCA property—is owned by the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development. The city plans to transfer the parcels to Englewood CDC in support of the project, DMD Director Rusty Carr said.
The six northern buildings would each have six or seven homes, while the southernmost building—separated from the rest by existing single-family homes that will remain in place—would have five units, along with a 1,100-square-foot community room that could be used by residents for special events. The units would be split between standard townhouses and larger townhouse flats.
The standard town homes would have smaller footprints than the flats, with two-bedroom units having around 900 square feet and three-bedroom units having nearly 1,300 square feet. The flats would have 1,800 square feet in the two-bedroom design and about 2,500 square feet in the three-bedroom design.
The project is also expected to feature 28 off-street parking spaces, accessed from an alley east of LaSalle. Another 21 on-street spaces would be available along LaSalle Street, with five along St. Clair Street and four along North Street.
Englewood CDC and Gratus are expected to request 9% federal low-income housing tax credits, which are distributed through a program administered by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.
The tax credit allows developers to sell 10-year, fixed-rate, tax-exempt bonds to finance part of their project. The 9% bonds—which are far more competitive than the standard 4% credit—can secure up to 90% of the cost for a project. The 9% credit is typically reserved for projects that target deep affordability challenges. While most of the project—about $11 million—would be covered by tax credits—the remaining $3.7 million would be covered by the developers and their partners.
The developers expect to be notified of a funding decision by the IHCDA in November. If approved, construction would likely start in the second quarter of 2024 and be completed by the end of 2025.
Bowling said while there continues to be challenges in the development of affordable housing across Indianapolis and beyond, he’s hopeful the Bridges project will mark another step of progress.
“It feels like, if we’re able to build some additional permanent supportive housing and affordable housing” through this project, he said, “it would provide a bridge for many of these families to kind of take that next step into stability.”
The project is expected to be heard on July 27 by the Metropolitan Development Commission Hearing Examiner, which makes recommendations related to zoning and variance matters. Englewood CDC is requesting a rezone of the property from its current C-S and D-5 classifications to D-8, which allows for various housing types including townhouses.
The project is expected to be considered by the Metropolitan Development Commission in the next several weeks.
Indianapolis-based firms Wove Design and Anderson + Bohlander LLC are the project architect and the landscape architect, respectively.
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Bravo to Joe Bowling and the entire team at Englewood for creating new housing to address the affordability crisis and provide homes for some of our most vulnerable residents. Kudos!