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ULI Honors Four Workforce Housing Communities
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Casa del Maestro, in Mill Valley, Calif., was built in partnership with the Santa Clara Unified School District so that teachers could afford to live where they worked. | The Urban Land Institute‘s (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing honored four developments with this year’s Jack Kemp Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Awards.
The Jack Kemp awards honor exemplary developments that meet workforce housing needs in high-cost communities. The workforce housing developments were recognized for their innovative financing, unique construction methods, strong public/private partnerships and replicability to achieve workforce housing affordability.
At least 25% of the units in each of the winning projects were designated for families earning between 60% and 120% of their area’s median income; was located near employment centers and transportation hubs; and utilized public capital subsidies for no more than 25% of the development costs.
The award winners, announced during the ULI’s fall meeting in San Francisco, include:
- Casa del Maestro, Phase II
Mill Valley, Calif.
Developer: Education Housing Partners, LLC, an affiliate of Thompson/Dorfman
Casa del Maestro, Phase II is the final phase of a 70-unit rental community that provides affordable apartments to the teachers of the Santa Clara Unified School District. To reverse a high employment turnover rate among teachers because they could not afford the area’s high housing costs, the school district partnered with Thompson/Dorfman to build employer-assisted housing on 3.5 acres of owned by the school district.
Since its completion, the Casa del Maestro apartments, which are only available to school district teachers, have remained fully leased and have a long waiting list.
- The Kalahari
Central Harlem, New York City
Developers: L & M Development Partners and Full Spectrum of NY, LLC
New construction building on city-owned land, The Kalahari is a 249-unit condominium of mixed-income housing in two 12-story buildings that also have a combined 46,500 square feet of commercial space. To meet affordable housing goals, half of the units are affordable to families earning up to 150% of the area’s median income. 25% of the community’s electricity comes from solar and wind sources.
- Miller Ranch
Eagle, Colo.
Developer: Eagle County, Colo.
Eagle County partnered with ASW Realty to develop Miller Ranch, originally a working ranch, that now includes a 30-acre residential development of 282 single-family homes, duplexes, row houses and mill loft condominiums; a new high school; and Colorado Mountain College. The homes are deed-restricted and owners must meet certain Eagle County purchase qualifications. The deed restrictions cap resale price appreciation at 3% to 6% annually — keeping prices well below the area’s median price. In addition, home ownership in Miller Ranch is restricted to residents of Eagle County who earn at least 75% of their annual income from Eagle County businesses.
- South City Lights
South San Francisco
Developer: Watt Communities
CityView is a 280-unit condominium community built on a 13-acre infill site in South San Francisco. Developers bypassed this topographically challenged site for many years. Working with the City of South San Francisco, the developer secured a density of 20 units per acre in exchange for restricting the sale of 70 units to families earning between 80% and 120% of the area’s median income — creating a cost-effective design that provided workforce housing for a major employment center of South San Francisco.
The winners were selected from 25 communities from throughout the country entered in the competition.
“I congratulate the winners of the Models of Excellence Awards,” said J. Ronald Terwilliger, chairman and CEO of Trammell Crow Residential and founder of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. “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.”
In addition to the winners, the following developments were selected as finalists:
- Cottages at Longborough, Charleston, S.C. — Developed by The Beach Company
- Fair Oaks Court, Pasadena, Calif. — Developed by Heritage Housing Partners
- Woods Corner, Islamorada, Fla. — Developed by Middle Keys Community Land Trust
For more information about the Jack Kemp Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Awards, click here.
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