A new elderly affordable housing development just broke ground, less than 2 miles southwest of Mall at Millenia. The name of the development is Madison Landing. Winter Park Construction (WPC) is the general contractor for the project, Blue Skies Studios is the architect, and Evans Engineering is the civil engineer. Development partners American Residential Communities (ARC) and New South Residential, LLC paid $1.3 million for 5.4 acres of land at 5800 S. Rio Grande Ave. The total project cost for the first phase is estimated at $23 million and planned for completion in 2021, a second phase, not yet approved, would add an additional 86 units. Construction is proposed to be completed before September 2021. The developers are actively pursuing future funding from Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) to complete phase 2 as soon as possible.
A photo of Madison Crossing II, a similar seven-story affordable housing development completed by Winter Park Construction in 2017 in Kissimmee.
Credit: Winter Park Construction WPC
The first phase (77,473 sq. ft.) will be a 110 unit, seven-story building with amenities that include a pool, picnic pavilions, bocce ball court, indoor activity, and exercise rooms, centralized great room and a health care services room. The company has commissioned an artist from Miami to design the mosaic for Madison Landing, in line with ARC’s trademark symbol for their high-rise communities.
The first phase will be reserved largely (90%) for households making 60 percent of Orange County’s Area Median Income (AMI), and the remaining units will be reserved for households making less than 33 percent of the county’s AMI. Orange County reports (as of April 1, 2020) the median family income is $68,100.
Stacy Banach with New South Residential worked with the developer to bring the project into fruition shares, “The partners were awarded Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in March. Wells Fargo is the equity investor. Madison Landing was selected by an Orange County selection committee to obtain a funding commitment for $747,000 which allowed the applicant to compete for a LIHTC award at FHFC. financing”
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is a resource for creating affordable housing in The United States. Created by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the LIHTC program gives State and local LIHTC-allocating agencies the equivalent of approximately $8 billion in annual budget authority to issue tax credits for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of rental housing targeted to lower-income households.
“We work with many clients utilizing the Low-Income Tax Credit program. There are some complexities related to the approval process and many compliance standards for the development and construction. This is WPC’s fourth tax credit project for this developer.” Jeff Forrest, President, Winter Park Construction
Since 1974, WPC has provided general contractor, pre-construction, construction management and renovation services to Central Florida and the southeast United States. With over $200M in projects set from completion in 2020, WPC provides employment for 140+ full-time employees and thousands of subcontractor positions. With a portfolio rich in many sectors, in 2020 WPC is focusing on construction projects in the senior housing marketing, the hospitality sector as well as on major renovation projects.
