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June 28, 2006 Hurricane Rita Recovery Funds OK’d for Affordable Housing in Beaumont, Texas; BEAUMONT, Texas—City officials and Beaumont Main Street announced today a $5 million historic renovation project that will bring three dozen affordable New York-style lofts to downtown Beaumont. The project is being made possible by $3.9 million in tax-credit equity that the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs approved as part of the state’s special Hurricane Rita recovery allocation from the federal government. “We recognize that the supply of affordable housing has been inadequate in our city for some time, even before the devastation of Hurricane Rita,” Mayor Guy Goodson said. “That’s why we are so pleased that this commitment has been made. We need all types of housing downtown, from affordable to market rate.” Goodson praised state Sen. Tommy Williams (The Woodlands) and state Rep. Joe Deshotel (Beaumont) for their support of housing and downtown redevelopment in Beaumont, in particular their efforts on behalf of the city’s plans relating to Hurricane Rita recovery funding. The Landmark Group, a North Carolina-based developer active throughout the Southeast, will also be using federal historic property tax credits in its renovation of the Neches Electric Building and the former Antioch Baptist Church in Beaumont. Work on the mixed-use project is expected to begin early in 2007. Jefferson County bore the brunt of Hurricane Rita last year, with Beaumont alone sustaining more than $40 million in damage. To help Texas recover, the U.S. Commerce Department made a special allocation of in tax credits for the Department of Housing and Community Affairs to award to affordable housing projects. Carolyn Howard, executive director of Beaumont Main Street, said the renovation plans fit into the association’s strategies for downtown. The Landmark Group brought award-winning experience in renovating historic structures for use as affordable housing, she said. “Strategy is that link between where you are and where you want to be,” she said. “Landmark has tilted the scale toward getting things done.” The Landmark Group (www.landmarkdevelopment.biz) has completed or under development more than $300 million worth of mixed-use projects to revive downtowns, restore aging neighborhoods and create affordable housing in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. In June, Landmark’s conversion of an historic tobacco warehouse in Kinston, N.C., won a Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award from the Affordable Housing Tax-Credit Coalition for the best project nationwide in communities with populations under 50,000.
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