PROVIDENCE – One Neighborhood Builders, the nonprofit dedicated to developing affordable housing in Rhode Island, recently submitted plans to the state’s housing financing agency as it seeks capital grants, low-income housing tax credits and loans to finance the construction and preservation of 282 units of housing in the state.
The Providence-based nonprofit submitted proposals to the R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. that call for a total of 169 new apartments and the preservation of 113 existing affordable units throughout the state.
The plans include requests for financing totaling $95.5 million, equating to a total per-unit development cost of $338,635, including all the proposed new and existing housing units that require preservation work, according to One Neighborhood Builders. Broken down by funding sources, the nonprofit is seeking $36.5 million in capital grants, $45.3 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity and $8.7 million in loans from R.I. Housing.
The construction and rehabilitation projects include The Avenue, the mixed-income development at 434 Atwells Ave., with 46 existing units in a five-story building at the site, and 39 new ones now being proposed there by One Neighborhood Builders.
The One Neighborhood Builders proposals were submitted to the Rhode Island Housing Consolidated Application as part of the Development of Affordable Homes grant program. R.I. Housing previously announced it will award $150 million in capital grants through this year’s application process.
One Neighborhood Builders noted that it was awarded $5.1 million in capital grants from R.I. Housing during the previous year.
Other proposals in the funding request before R.I. Housing include Aldersbridge at East Point in East Providence, which is a co-development with elder care company Aldersbridge Communities to produce 39 new age-restricted, low-income apartments that are meant to serve the LGBTQ+ community, at the former Washburn Wire and Ocean State Steel near the intersection of Bourne Avenue and Roger Williams Avenue.
The remaining projects include the Broad Street Homes in Central Falls, involving the reuse of the former police station at 509-511 Broad St., into 17 apartments, alongside a new three-story building with 30 more apartments. There’s also the Steeple & Stone project at the former St. Patrick’s Church on Broad Street in Cumberland, and the Riverside Gateway and Adelaide project in the Olneyville and Elmwood neighborhoods of Providence.
Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer.
