Striving to make a sizable dent in the Upstate’s need for affordable housing, a new 180-unit apartment project in Berea is taking advantage of federal, state and local incentives to address the area’s acute shortage.
Located off Sulphur Springs Road, The Sullivan is being developed by a partnership between Schaumber Development, Douglas Development and Holliday Development and is targeting households making 60% or less of the area median income — around $51,000 in annual earnings.
A substantial project
The project’s 180 units are spread across five buildings on nearly 40 acres and include a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom floor plans.
Greenville-based real estate management company NHE Inc. is handling leasing for the project, and CEO Taylor Davis says interest is already considerable given projections in recent years that Greenville County needs at least 10,000 more units of affordable housing.
“The demand is overwhelming for the supply that we have available,” Davis says.
He adds this is the largest new-construction affordable-housing project in his company’s history and will provide a desperately needed option for working families.
Davis says the scope of the project is making a meaningful contribution to the supply of workforce housing and has been made possible in large part by federal and state low-income housing tax credits.
The project and its scale would probably have not been possible without those tax credits, according to Holly Douglas of Douglas Development.
Taking advantage of those credits and the economies of scale they enabled has meant the project could incorporate a number of highly desirable amenities like a pool with a sun deck, an expansive playground and a large central picnic shelter, according to Drew Schaumber with Schaumber Development.
A quality community
Douglas says one of the most important considerations driving the project was creating a welcoming community where residents can thrive.
Many of the design choices were made to combat the stigma often associated with affordable-housing projects that paint them as institutional and made of lower-quality materials.
Schaumber adds the generous floor plans, high-quality appliances and finishes, plus the exterior appearance of the structures are all designed to make The Sullivan indistinguishable from a market-rate project.
Douglas says she expects the complex to be filled with a mix of families with children, seniors and multigenerational families.
“The whole idea is to provide safe, comfortable housing,” she says.
Among the features designed to help families thrive are a community building with a 24-hour fitness center, work/homework rooms with Wi-Fi and computer access, and a capacious meeting room and social hall with limited kitchen facilities.
“We’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Douglas says.
For more information, visit thesullivanapartments.com.
Low-income housing tax credits for affordable housing
Many affordable housing projects like The Sullivan are made possible through low-income housing tax credits from the federal government and administered through the states.
The program is designed to incentivize the construction, acquisition and rehabilitation of rental housing for low to moderate income tenants.
In South Carolina, the program is run by the state Housing Finance and Development Authority. It gives for-profit and nonprofit developers a dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal income taxes and is the most widely used program for affordable housing projects in the country.
Typically, developers sell the tax credits to private investors to generate capital for a project.
