Affordable Pendana complex a ‘dream’ for new residents
Before Charlene Caine moved into LIFT Orlando’s new affordable housing complex this week, the single mom and her four boys had been crammed into her sister’s twobedroom apartment.
Now, she has a three-bedroom apartment for $716 per month — about half the market rate — in the Pendana at West Lakes project about a mile south of Camping World Stadium.
“It feels like a dream,” said Caine, 34, a part-time server at Walt Disney World. “It feels good to come home to my own place, and the boys can do all these things now and have their own room.”
In all, about 40 units have been filled so far in a complex where 8,000 people inquired about the 201 apartments available. More than half of the new residents are benefiting from reduced rent courtesy of creative financing of the project that includes government tax credits.
Pendana is rising on the same lot where crime-plagued Washington Shores Villages was torn down in 2015. It had been considered a model housing project in the 1960s when it opened. Despite some disagreements about what should be built there, people such as longtime
neighbor Shirley Bradley, 83, are thrilled.
A former schoolteacher for Orange County, Bradley moved to a single-family home nearby in 1961.
“It was beautiful then, the apartments. They were full of young professionals. But they moved out and bought homes, and the people who moved in didn’t take care of the place,” Bradley said. “It really went downhill in the 1980s.”
Break-ins, shootings and drugs became commonplace. Bradley was part of a neighborhood group that petitioned City Hall to shut down the apartments. She said she prayed that someone would come along and invest in the area again. Eventually LIFT Orlando did so, with a project spearheaded by businessmen such as CNL founder James Seneff. It is still chaired by former CNL CEO Tom Sittema.
“The response from the community has been crazy,” Sittema said. “Unfortunately, we’ve had to turn down many people because they don’t make enough money, which is sad.”
Only 20 of the units are offered to people without income, who are basically homeless, and those residents are approved by the Orlando Housing Authority.
Bradley said she has faith that Pendana’s managers, with Atlanta-area firm Columbia Residential, know what they are doing. She is hoping LIFT Orlando and the city will tear down more dilapidated housing complexes in the area. The group is working on its next phase, 120 units of senior affordable housing adjacent to Pendana.
“I’m hoping the people moving in here will take some pride in how beautiful the new place is,” Bradley said.
Pendana can offer belowmarket rents because nonprofit LIFT leveraged donated land, tax credits and other financial tools. The complex is closely managed by Columbia Residential, which offers training programs in basic home maintenance and community leadership, among other things.
But this is not your grandfather’s public housing project. Pendana includes many people paying market-rate rents, such as Jasmine Mullins and Davin Dunbar.
They moved into a similar three-bedroom unit with their two girls and 7-month-old boy, despite being turned down for reduced rent because Dunbar has a decent income from two jobs. Dunbar loves the central location for his commute and the proximity of downtown and its sports venues.
“We know what this place was and what they’re trying to do here,” Mullins said. “We want to be a part of a community like this that’s involved and actively trying to improve the area.”
Caine also knows about the region’s bad reputation in the past. She has signed up for a community leadership training class at the Pendana offices and clubhouse.
“I heard about the old place being demolished, which was good,” Caine said. “Now there’s a new community starting here, and I’ve been out introducing myself to my new neighbors.”