The High Cost Of Affordable Housing
In this case the price tag sits at upwards of $9 million, part and parcel of Charlotte’s lunatic obsession to include an affordable housing component in the redevelopment of NoDa’s Mecklenburg Mills.
It started back in the early 1990s, when the city approved a $1 million loan to a developer to purchase and rehabilitate the mills, with an eye toward affordable housing, which was followed by an additional city-backed loan of $2.5 million. The rehabilitation, however, never bore fruit and in 2004 the city spent another $800,000 to acquire the first mortgage on the property and maintain the Mills’ 150 affordable-housing units. Two years later, in 2006, the city foreclosed on the property and took possession. Less than five months later, the residents of Mecklenburg Mills had to be evacuated because the building was riddled with structural and safety hazards.
Fast forward to 2007, when the City Council had a chance to sell the albatross property for $4 million to a developer that wanted to rehab the units as straight market-rate housing. The council, in its infinite wisdom, instead pursued an agreement that would have fetched a purchase price of $475,000 and included a promise that at least 75 units would be so-called affordable housing.
The deal fell through and the city, once again, was left holding the bag on the Mills. The property has been a general eyesore and nuisance ever since.
That appeared about to change earlier this year, when developer Jim Sari and the Bainbridge Company offered to purchase the property outright for $600,000. The city, however, apparently is holding out hope for a better deal and – wait for it – one that includes an affordable-housing component.
Instead of selling the property, the council’s Housing and Neighborhood Development committee on Monday voted to put the property up for bid this fall, for a purchase price of at least $600,000 and a guarantee that at least 20 percent of the redeveloped units be affordable housing. The full council still needs to vote on the committee’s recommendation, but it’s likely to follow suite.
Given the city’s track record with Mecklenburg Mills, and city staff’s acknowledgment that nobody other than the Sari/Bainbridge venture has actually submitted a purchase offer for the Mills, you’d think that they’d be ready to finally cut bait on the affordable housing front and let the private market turn the property into something other than an embarrassing patch of blight. But that is not the Charlotte way.
The quest for affordable housing as part of Mecklenburg Mills has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Don’t be surprised if this latest twist adds to the tab.
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