Former basketball star Alonzo Mourning and the Housing Trust Group recently held a grand opening for phase one of the Courtside Family Apartments, an affordable housing project in Overtown.
Mourning and executives from the Housing Trust Group gathered Friday to show off the newly opened six-story building at 1699 Northwest 4th Avenue to community members and city officials.
According to the developers, the first phase’s 84 units were all leased by opening day, with rents ranging from $760 to $990 per month. They’re reserved for residents who make less than 60 percent of the neighborhood’s median income.
The nearly $23 million development has had a rocky history since its inception in 2008: after unsuccessfully bidding for a lucrative 9 percent low-income housing tax credit, the team had to piece together funding from both private lenders and public sources.
In 2014, the funding goal was met with $7.5 million from the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency, $1.75 million from a county surtax loan, $3.31 million in financing from City Community Capital, and $9 million from the sale of a 4 percent tax credit to RBC Capital Markets. The project broke ground a year later.
The Housing Trust Group and AM Affordable Housing, Mourning’s nonprofit, are now gearing up to launch phase two of the project with 120 units for seniors, pending on their securing of financing. — Sean Stewart-Muniz and Katherine Kallergis