FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2022
MARTA
ANNOUNCES ANOTHER TRANSACTION OF GREATER ATLANTA TRANSIT-ORIENTED AFFORDABLE
HOUSING PRESERVATION FUND
Fund to
Preserve Affordable Units at Orchard Walk Apartments Located Near Planned South
DeKalb Transit Hub
ATLANTA – The Greater
Atlanta Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund provided
financing for Ulysses Development Group (UDG) and Sunrise Affordable Housing
(SAH) to acquire Orchard Walk Apartments, for the preservation of a 204-unit
affordable housing project located on Flat Shoals Parkway just south of the
planned transit hub near the Gallery at South DeKalb Mall and MARTA bus route
114. The loan to an affiliate of UDG and SAH is $24 million.
The
property, Orchard Walk Apartments, is located at 3800 Flat Shoals Pkwy. in the
City of Decatur and near the intersection of Flat Shoals Parkway and I-285. Through the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) regulatory
agreement, 163 of the project units are subject to income restrictions at 60
percent area median income (AMI). Ulysses Development Group along with Sunrise
Affordable Housing Group, both leading, mission-driven affordable housing
developers, intend to maintain the long-term affordability at the property and
evaluate a tax credit syndication to facilitate further rehabilitation of the
property.
In January 2021, MARTA, Morgan Stanley and
its partner, National Equity Fund (NEF) launched the Greater Atlanta
Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund to boost MARTA’s
affordable housing effort as part of its transit-oriented development (TOD)
program. The partnership supports long-term preservation of affordable housing
near MARTA rail stations by incentivizing and providing gap funding for owners
of affordable housing. The Fund closed on its first transaction in December of
last year to preserve 201 units near West End Station in the City of Atlanta.
“We are thrilled to see the benefits of this
program preserving affordable units in South DeKalb along our transit service
and near our planned South DeKalb Transit Hub,” said MARTA Interim General
Manager and CEO Collie Greenwood. “This transaction demonstrates how
complementary this effort is to our ground up TOD development program. We thank
our partners at Morgan Stanley and the National Equity Fund for supporting the
affordable housing goals of our jurisdictional partners and of MARTA.”
"Our partnership with
Morgan Stanley continues to bring our shared mission and values to life by
delivering innovative, collaborative financial solutions to expand the creation
and preservation of affordable housing," said Matt Reilein, president
& CEO of National Equity Fund. "Now, the residents of the 204 housing
units in Orchard Walk can keep their affordable housing for the long-term,
ensuring a safe and stable future."
Morgan Stanley Community Development Finance
committed $100 million through NEF to assist regional partners in
preserving transit-oriented, affordable, multi-family housing at risk of
the following: market-rate conversion or financial/physical distress; expiring
Federal LIHTC and U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-funded affordable
housing including properties at, or near, the end of the LIHTC compliance
period; or properties with or without rental subsidies.
Over the past 12 months, MARTA has
preserved or built 913 homes, 519 of which are affordable units. The Fund is
now 48 percent invested, with a remaining $52 million available.
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