Developer eyes construction of age-restricted workforce housing complex in North Port

NORTH PORT – A developer interested in using State Apartment Incentive Loan funding to build a 136-unit senior apartment complex on the southeast corner of West Price Boulevard and Citizen’s Parkway will ask the North Port City Commission Tuesday for $50,000 in support of its application.

McDowell Housing Partners, a Miami-based subsidiary of McDowell Properties, envisions the $25 million complex, dubbed Arbor Park, as a mix of three- and four-story buildings.

The developer wants to cater to “an elderly demographic,” according to a letter from Senior Development Manager Daniel M. Lopez, but it also wants to “provide much needed relief from the economic hardships that face our workforce today by providing them with a high-quality affordable place to call home.”

McDowell Chief Operating Officer Chris Shear said that the head of household must be age 55 or older to live at Arbor Park.

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“There’s a lot of people in the workforce well into their 60s these days,” Shearer said, then added that the complex is designed for independent living.

For McDowell to meet the Florida Housing Finance Corp. application requirements, the city of North Port is being asked to pledge $50,000 in support either as a loan, grant, fee waiver or fee deferral.

Ten percent of the units, or 14 residences, would be set aside for households who do not exceed 30% of Sarasota County’s median household, with half of those set aside for people with special needs.

The other 90% of the units would be reserved for households who do not exceed 60% of the median household income.

A total of 76 units would be one-bedroom, one-bath, which, when figured at 60% of annual median income, would rent for $861 a month. The other 60 units would be two-bedroom, two-bath units and rent for $1,033 per month under the same criteria.

The complex would be built to green design standards.

The restrictions on both qualifying incomes and the associated maximum rents will be in effect for 50 years, which is effectively the functional life of the complex, Shearer said.

The deadline to apply for the Florida Housing Finance Corp. funding is Nov 12, with projects typically chosen the following June. If Arbor Park is chosen in that round, the projected completion date is October 2023.

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Arbor Park would be immediately west of The Shoppes at Price Crossing, the Publix-anchored shopping center at the intersection of Price and Toledo Blade boulevards.

It would be directly across Citizen’s Parkway from Palm Port, a 126-unit affordable apartment complex immediately north to North Port Fire Rescue Station 84.

Southport Development Inc., which is building Palm Port under a subsidiary, SP Port LLC, built Grande Court Apartments, which opened in 2005, as a complex that featured both subsidized and market-rate apartments.

Palm Port would feature six two- or three-story buildings that would contain a total of 50 three-bedroom, two-bath units; 72 two-bedroom, two-bath units; and four one-bedroom, one-bath apartments.

The one-bedroom apartments would be 750 square feet; the two-bedroom units 950 square feet; and the three-bedroom units 1,200 square feet.

Palm Port is being financed through the state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and would be the first new complex of its type in the city since 2005.

Southport Development is still in the process of clearing the site for Palm Port.

The Palm Port management company would also offer residents programs in employment assistance, financial management and adult literacy, as well as an after-school care program for children.

Shearer said that, typically, McDowell Housing Partners would not look to put in a development next to another complex; however, both current need and projected market growth make both viable.

The North Port City Commission will meet at 10 a.m. in chambers at North Port City Hall, 4970 City Hall Blvd., North Port. The Arbor Park item is the last on the agenda under general business, but the commission could move it earlier in the meeting.