Starway Village will replace a flea market off of Carolina Beach Road, bringing 278 units of affordable housing to Wilmington. The developers are using a federal tax credit program to keep the project affordable, but that meant they needed financing help from local governments.
This project is the first to receive gap funding from a city-county partnership, and is the largest gap funding commitment made individually by either one.
New Hanover County is providing $1.8 million, and the City of Wilmington is providing $3.5 million, both from federal funds. But that wasn’t enough to fully fund the project — which is where NCORR came in. The agency gave a $9 million grant of their own, closing the final gap in financing.
Developer Ted Heilbron said that without the money, the project would’ve had to downsize or be made less affordable.
“The truth of the matter is that individually without the NCORR money, but also to be clear without the city money, or the county money, this project does not work in its current form," he said.
NCORR jumped in because Hurricane Florence damaged many sources of affordable housing for Cape Fear residents, and the agency sees Starway Village as a way to help replace that loss.
The units will be affordable to households that make 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), with one-bedrooms set to rent for $754 per month, and three-bedroom units for under $1000. The developers are hoping to be ready for families to move in in about three years.
The nearly 300 units make a significant contribution to filling the affordable housing gap — by 2030, New Hanover County is expected to be more than 1,200 rental units short at 60% AMI. This complex will account for more than 20% of the need at that level.
