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Training
and Development: Helping a First-Time Developer Learn on the Job
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| Argenta Community Development, before Tetrault
& Associates. |
THE CHALLENGE How
do you go about redeveloping almost two dozen rundown rental properties
scattered throughout an eight-block area if you’ve never had
experience with a development of this scale? This is the question
the senior staff and board of Argenta Community Development Corporation
were wrestling with when they brought in Tetrault & Associates
to help them with the redevelopment of 23 severely dilapidated properties
in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Over the three-year course of the
project, the Tetrault & Associates team guided the Argenta’s
senior staff and board through the entire redevelopment process—from
acquisition, through development and construction, and on to the
lease-up—helping them to learn by doing.
THE SOLUTION
The feasibility analysis we guided Argenta through found
that the project was a go. But the local building code and zoning
rules proved to be a major hurdle. Drawing on our client’s
relationships with local officials, the Tetrault team persuaded
the city to rezone the area as a planned unit development, which
simplified the zoning regulations. In exchange, the architectural
designs for structures located within the historic district had
to be in compliance with local, state, and federal historic preservation
codes. On the finance side, our team negotiated the sale of $2.04
million in tax credits—low-income housing tax credits, along
with state and federal historic preservation tax credits. Tetrault
& Associates helped secure the balance of the $3-million project
through a mix of grants, community development block grants, client
equity, and a $600,000 mortgage. When the time came to start building,
Tetrault & Associates helped select the project development
team—architect, attorneys, accountants, contractors, and
property managers. We also helped develop a contracting process
that kept development dollars in the community by using small,
local firms.
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THE
RESULTS Completed in 2001, the Argenta project rehabilitated
23 properties, yielding 31 fully renovated affordable rental cottages
and apartments. The project has operated within budget, with occupancy
rates holding steady at 98 percent to 100 percent. The following
year, the Argenta project was selected as one of seven projects
nationwide to receive a National Honor Award from the National Trust
for Historic Preservation. “Within the state of Arkansas,
ours was the first scattered-site low-income housing tax credit
project with major renovations to be located within an ordinance
historic district,” said Rosemary Hamel, Argenta’s executive
director. “Many said the costs and challenges were too great
to overcome. Tetrault & Associates not only moved the project
forward, they helped us win national recognition for our work.” |
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