Two Elyria affordable housing projects to get federal tax credits

ELYRIA — Two proposed affordable housing projects in Elyria, totaling more than $70 million in investment, have been selected by the state to receive federal tax credits to help fund them. Mayor Kevin Brubaker announced at Monday's Council meeting that the two projects, Black River Landing on West River Road North and McGregor Landing on Midway Boulevard/51st Street, had been chosen by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. "This is a great day for Elyria," Brubaker said after the meeting. "We are getting $76 million in housing development and over 200 affordable units for our residents and workers that we badly need." Those two projects, as well as two more in Elyria, one in Oberlin and one in Lorain, had applied for the agency's 4 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC, program. Each county in Ohio is allowed just two LIHTC projects. The program grants a 4 percent federal tax credit on eligible purchases related to the construction of affordable housing projects. In total, Black River Landing and McGregor Landing will provide 237 new units of housing, available only to residents making at or below 60 percent of the regional area median income, or AMI. Black River Landing is one proposed building with 122 units of affordable housing. It will be built by North Carolina-based South Creek Development LLC and is expected to cost $40.4 million. McGregor Landing will be located off Midway Boulevard to the west of Leona Street, on a stretch of road which was previously a paper street called 51st Street, but was vacated by Council last year to make way for the development. It will have 115 units, limited to residents who are 55 or older. It will be on the same campus and operated in conjunction with the neighboring McGregor Foundation's Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE, Center. The center will provide social and medical services to residents across the county and beyond, not limited to those who will live next door. The center has been complete for months, but Brubaker added on Monday that it is expected to open next month after long delays at the federal level. McGregor estimates that the project, which will be housed in one apartment building, will cost $36.2 million. Brubaker said that the goal is for both of the approved projects to open their doors next fall. Two additional LIHTC applicants in Lorain County, Griswold Grove in Elyria and Oberlin Family Homes in Oberlin, have been placed on a waitlist, meaning they may receive the tax credit if other counties don't claim both their allotments. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.