Heights project may be sized back
Residents concerned housing complex will increase traffic woes
A developer planning an affordable housing complex in the Heights may reduce the size of the project after meeting with residents who voiced concern that the scale of the project would create traffic and safety problems.
Chicago-based Brinshore Development, which is under contract to buy a 1-acre property at the northeast corner of Columbia and Fourth streets, filed paperwork last
month with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs seeking tax credits worth as much as $15 million over 10 years to help fund the project. In the documents, the company said the project would comprise 120 units, fueling concerns by residents that there could be perhaps a 10-story building on the property.
Scott Puffer, Brinshore’s vice president of business development, sought to allay those fears Wednesday, telling a residents’ group that it would likely build an 80- to 85-unit, five-story building on the site.
“Early in process they ask you for this information. You can reduce your project size, but you can’t increase it,” Puffer said, explaining why the number was higher on the paperwork.
After meeting with members of the Houston Heights Association, Puffer said Brinshore would consider reducing the height of the building to four stories, which would also reduce the unit count. The company is still considering how residents would access the building as well as its overall design in an effort to respect the neighborhood’s historic architecture.
“We want to be accommodating,” Puffer said. “We take feedback seriously.”
The project is slated for a 46,200-square-foot site at 402 Columbia St., a block north of the Interstate 10 frontage road and several blocks east of Heights Boulevard. It is one of 40 low-income housing tax credit projects proposed for Houston; Brinshore is proposing three more elsewhere in the city.
At Wednesday’s Houston City Council meeting, District C Councilwoman Ellen Cohen tagged a resolution to support the 40 applications for tax credit developments, including Brinshore’s Heights project, which is located in her district. The resolution will be considered at next week’s council meeting.
Cohen said the one-week delay will give her additional time to learn more about the Heights project and others.
“I support affordable housing,” Cohen said. “District C is a big district and we want to make it accessible to all income levels.”
Puffer said Brinshore chose the Heights site because of its proximity to urban job centers and to offer more affordable housing a neighborhood where property values have skyrocketed in recent years.
“It’s really one of the things that attracted us to this site. It’s not necessarily a gentrifying area. It’s sort of already gentrified,” he said.
Federal tax credit programs such as the Competitive Housing Tax Credit Brinshore is seeking are used as a tool to help finance development of affordable housing for families that make less than an area’s median household income.
The credits are competitive, and the state allocates a limited number each year, awarding points to projects to determine which ones receive the tax break. Developers can get points for going through a pre-application process and receiving letters of support, along with other items.
The credits are allocated among 13 regions in the state. Last year, nine projects in Region Six, where the Heights project is located, received $13.6 million in tax credits, Kristina Tirloni, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, said. This year, the estimated amount allocated for the region is about $14.5 million, though that is subject to change, she said.
The type of tax credit Brinshore is seeking is meant to offset some 70 percent of the project’s “eligible costs.” Credits worth $15 million would project a cost of $21.4 million for the Heights project.
If awarded the tax credits, Puffer said Brinshore would move forward with final plans and possibly start construction by the end of the year.
The Heights complex would include one- and two-bedroom units for residents with a mix of income ranges, including people who make as little as 30 percent to 80 percent of the area’s median income, which for a family of two is around $60,000. The bulk of the units would be for people earning 60 percent of median income. There will also be market-rate units not restricted by income.
Brinshore is set to pay $3.6 million for the property, now owned by a family estate, according to a December purchase contract filed with the state agency.
Before the affordable apartment complex was proposed, another developer wanted to build a hotel on the site. The neighbors had similar complaints then, said Kevin Chenevert, president of the Houston Heights Association board. The concerns included increased traffic, safety and how emergency vehicles would be able to access the neighborhood’s relatively narrow streets.
After meeting with the developer Wednesday, Chenevert said he was pleased to learn that Brinshore’s project isn’t as large as he and other residents initially thought.
That didn’t mean that community support was assured. Heights residents recently submitted a minimum lot size application to the city that, if passes, would require a portion of the developer’s site to be used only for single-family residential.