WILMINGTON — The city has agreed to gap finance a large workforce housing project slated for Kerr Avenue as well as approved its rezoning.
READ MORE: 184 workforce housing units set for S. Kerr, pending funding
Avenue Flats will bring 184 apartments, all workforce housing, to 6.5 acres beside the Seahawk Cove Apartments near Mill Creek Apartments.
Wilmington City Council gave it unanimous approval, with two motions put forth at Tuesday’s meeting: rezoning the parcel from a medium-density single-dwelling district (R-10) to a high-density multiple-dwelling district (MD-17) and allocating $4 million from the city’s affordable housing general fund to help bankroll the project.
Developer Blue Ridge Atlantic plans to build the $58.9 million complex at 507, 509, 515, 519, 525, and 529 South Kerr Ave. Anticipated for families, it will feature 56 one-bedroom, 80 two-bedroom, and 48 three-bedroom units, with rents ranging from $486 to $1,800 a month. Site plans include a picnic shelter, clubhouse and playground.
Usually developers only provide a portion of their offerings as workforce, but in a notable move, the entire Avenue Flats complex will be dedicated to workforce housing, serving households with incomes between 30% and 80% of the area median income (AMI) for a minimum of 30 years.
“I don’t think we have seen something with this range of AMI and 100% workforce since I’ve been here,” council member Luke Wadell said Tuesday.
The city allocated $3.15 million from the remaining balance of the city’s 2022 and 2023 affordable housing funds, but Waddell questioned from where the rest would be sourced.
Director of Housing and Neighborhood Services Rachel Schluer (née LaCoe) detailed the money is already earmarked in the 2024-2025 budget, voted on by council to go into effect July 1. She explained to Waddell the remaining $850,000 is sourced from accumulated funds generated by a 2023 policy that dedicates 1 cent of property taxes to affordable housing.
Waddell previously advocated against the one-cent property tax policy for affordable housing during June’s budget session, arguing that 0.75 of the one cent could be redirected to the general fund to help offset the property tax increase. That suggestion wasn’t taken and property taxes increased by 6%.
According to Schluer, in addition to the city’s help, Blue Ridge has also applied for $1.5 million in loans from New Hanover County and plans to find $4.5 million from other grant sources.
The remainder of the cost will be covered through the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, which incentivizes developers to build affordable housing by offering a 10-year tax credit. The developers applied for the funds through the Wilmington Housing Authority in August, as previously reported by Port City Daily, to utilize the 4% tax credit.
While the funding portion of the meeting was swift, a conversation about traffic and potential student housing lingered as Amy Schaefer, an attorney from Blue Ridge Atlantic, presented plans to the council.
Council member Kevin Spears’ focused on the primary entrance and exit onto South Kerr, causing setbacks for residents in the neighborhood and cars commuting down Kerr Avenue. The area surrounding the site is zoned for single and multiple-dwelling residential. There are currently single-family homes and three other apartment complexes near the site.
“Sometimes during the day, that intersection is nuts,” Spears said.
Schaefer highlighted the proposed development will include a secondary entrance and exit off Kimberly Way, a dead-end road adjacent to the site. She said it should address some traffic congestion on Kerr Avenue. However, she also noted there are limited options for additional road connections to create more access points.
“We hope that the walkability, Wave Transit stop — which is an active stop — and the multimodal path will also help with that,” she told Spears.
No traffic impact analysis was required for the development, but Blue Ridge Development conducted one anyway. Currently, the site generates 21 a.m. peak hour trips and 27 p.m. peak hour trips. With the development, it will garner 69 a.m. peak hour trips and 72 pa.m peak hour trips. It indicated the development would not increase delays at the Randall Parkway and Wilshire Boulevard intersections by a significant amount.
“You will have to wait a little while, as most residents do when they are driving along Kerr Avenue. However, what we are seeing is, it is still operating within the DOT acceptable levels,” Caroline Cheeves, traffic engineer from DRMP, a private civil engineering and surveying firm hired by Blue Ridge Atlantic to complete the TIA.
Spears mentioned wanting to see a right-turn lane only at the apartment entrance.
Waddell and council member Clifford Barnett raised concerns about whether students from UNCW would be eligible to live in the new development, given its proximity to the university and its recent housing deficit. The university has faced overcapacity issues for two consecutive years, with nearly 200 students required to live on campus exceeding the available beds.
Blue Ridge Atlantic’s Director of Development Samuel Weldon and the company’s President Chris Eisenzimmer clarified eligibility for the complex will be based on meeting income and basic tenant requirements, like background checks. He added, given these criteria, it is unlikely UNCW students will be among the residents.
“We are not building dorms,” Weldon said.
Reach journalist Jalyn Baldwin at jalyn@localdailymedia.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
