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Three Win ULI/Terwilliger Workforce Housing Awards
The Boulevard in Anaheim, Legacy at Lincoln Park and Morgan Woods have been selected as the winners of the first annual Urban Land Institute/J. Ronald Terwilliger Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Awards.
The awards are given to workforce housing developments in high-cost communities that represent outstanding achievements in several areas — including innovative financing, unique construction methods, strong public/private partnerships and their ability to be replicated to provide affordable workforce housing.
The three winning projects designated at least 25% of their units for families earning between 60% and 120% of the area median income; were located near employment centers and transportation hubs; and utilized public capital subsidies for no more than 25% of the development costs.
All of the winning developments were bolstered by strong partnerships between the developers and the local municipalities geared to increasing the availability of workforce housing in the community.
The award winners were announced at the ULI Fall Meeting in Miami:
- The Boulevard in Anaheim — developed by John Laing Homes in Anaheim, Calif. — was transformed from a former truck transfer facility into an affordable, sustainable and walkable community of 36 townhomes and 20 single-family homes. The Anaheim Redevelopment Agency assisted with land acquisition and site clean-up, which enabled the developer to sell 36 units at prices targeted to households with 80% to 120% of the area’s $84,100 median income. Twenty-eight of the workforce units are required to remain affordable at the targeted income levels for 45 years. The site is located near major employers and is directly on a main bus line.
- The City of Rockville, Md. played a key role in the development of Legacy at Lincoln Park — developed by Urban Atlantic in Rockville. Working with the city, Urban Atlantic developed a 60-unit, for-sale, mixed-income development on a former public housing site. The project serves residents earning between 60% and 120% of the area’s $99,000 median income. The city agreed to subordinate its interest in the land to serve as equity for the predevelopment and construction financing.
- Morgan Woods — developed by The Community Builders, Inc. in Edgartown, Mass. — was a community-driven housing effort. The Town of Edgartown assembled and donated 12 acres of land on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where the median sales price of a home is $702,000 and the area median income is $71,700. The Community Builders, Inc., a nonprofit developer, was selected to build a 60-unit, 21 building rental community that would double affordable housing on the island. The town entered into a 99-year ground lease with The Community Builders at $1 per year, committed $400,000 to site infrastructure, paid for numerous studies and negotiated a payment in lieu of taxes, capping real estate taxes for the first 15 years. The site design uses “cluster development” principles with structures that resemble large single-family homes but contain multifamily units. The site is located close to Edgartown’s commercial center and is within walking distance of the Martha's Vineyard Transit Authority, the only regularly scheduled public bus service on the island.
“I congratulate the winners of the Models of Excellence Awards,” J. Ronald Terwilliger, chairman and CEO of Trammell Crow Residential and founder of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing, said. “Each of the winning projects is an excellent example of how the public and private sectors can work together to help solve the growing crisis of the lack of availability of workforce housing. Many of the best practices can be replicated in other high-cost areas.”
The following developments were selected as finalists:
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing will also release a “Best Practices” publication highlighting these award winning developments. To learn more about the awards, click here.
To learn about workforce housing resources at NAHB, e-mail Blake Smith, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8583.
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