(Community Matters) It’s a bit unbelievable that the light rail station at MLK/Featherlite is so very close to opening.
Six years ago, Tom & Lynn Meredith purchased the former Featherlite site (23 acres) and Tom formed our, then, small working group also including Richard Suttle, Juan Miro, Miguel Rivera, Kristen Gosset and Elisabeth Anderson. The original Chestnut Neighborhood Plan was tapped, and Tom established priorities for development at the site from the neighborhood plan – within a rubric of creating a destination location, an enviornmentally friendly and financially self sustaining development. The priorities included creating jobs, safe public spaces and helping preserve the neighborhood’s unique local culture while appealing to the broader Austin.
Amanda Chiampi & HarleyDevelopment of the 64 unit Chestnut Commons was the first phase of this project
64 unit Chestnut Commons
The housing development was originally envisioned as an urban designed, affordable housing project. It did yield over $1,300,000 for affordable housing and it did attract young professionals who probably otherwise couldn’t have afforded to live in the central city. Despite the fact that the Meredith family donated the project’s four acres to the Austin Community Foundation which sold the land to the developer – sharing profits and reinvesting these in an affordable housing fund – the project wasn’t as affordable as estimated in 2003. Unexpected land reclamation costs (nearly $20k per unit) and wildly escalated building costs by 2006 resulted in a different project than originally envisioned. Though we were prepared to buy down costs by $13k to $25k and marketed exclusively within the Chestnut neighborhood for 60 days, we weren’t able to qualify 80% MFI buyers and lower. We did attract nonprofit professionals, civil servants, teachers, UT staffers, artists and young professionals. And, we created a $1,300,000 fund for to finance affordable housing.
$250,000 of the $1.3mm has been leveraged into $400k – $500k, invested into renovating the homes of elderly low income, long term Chestnut residents. The $250k was supplemented with a $50k Entrepreneurs Foundation grant, both further leveraged by the volunteer/discounted materials model of Habitat for Humanity.
The remaining $1million will be invested and substantially leveraged with other monies, providing deep affordability in Central East Austin.
rendering of the new PeopleFund/PeopleTrust building at MLK Cap Metro site
Phase III (the light rail station is phase II), includes three pad sites for nonprofits as well as a possible for=profit vertical mixed use building. PeopleFund/PeopleTrust (formerly the Austin Community Development Corporation) is the first to have broken ground. We expect to occupy our East Austin Opportunity Center sometime in late 2010, early 2011. It is being designed as a community center for east Austin entrepreneurial development with substantial meeting spaces for the community as well as our office site. The Austin Children’s Museum is discussing a satellite location, and the Sustainable Food Center would like to build its offices, kitchen and community gardens on the site as well.
There’s a phase IV (9 acres) with most of the frontage of MLK still to come, as well as an additional 7 acres of parkland just across the rail road tracts.
celebrated over lunch with Tom, Sarah, Lynn & Will Mereith, joined by Lauren & NatalieHugh kudos to the Merediths, especially Will who’s been sheparding this project for the last two years.
Community Matters 