HTG Scores $62M in Florida Funding for Downtown Hollywood Project
By Chava Gourarie May 30, 2023 2:30 pm
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Housing Trust Group (HTG) has secured $61.2 million in construction financing for an affordable housing development on city-owned land in Hollywood, Fla.
The financing was provided by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in three tranches: a $50 million senior mortgage, a $10.6 million loan through Florida’s State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program, and $600,000 from the Extremely Low Income program, according to documents filed with Broward County.
The project, called University Station, will include 216 apartments across two eight-story buildings with an elevated walkway at 309 N 21st Avenue in Downtown Hollywood. The majority of the apartments will be affordable for residents earning up to 80 percent of the area median income, with some targeted at extremely low-income renters. Only 16 will be market rate.
The 2.5-acre project will also house the Barry University College of Nursing in 12,200 square feet, 2,000 square feet of retail space, a public plaza and a 635-car garage. Of those spaces, 345 will serve as public parking owned and managed by the city to serve Broward Commuter Rail, a transit project under development.
Miami-based HTG was awarded the lease and development deal for the city-owned site in 2020, beating out Pinnacle Housing.
The City of Hollywood has been working to develop the site, which formerly housed a fire station, since 2008, though it didn’t release a request for proposals until 2016. It received little interest, Raelin Storey, the assistant city manager, said at a February commission meeting. In 2019, HTG submitted an unsolicited proposal that was approved by the City Commission in June 2020, and has been working with the city, county and state to secure funding ever since.
One important component of the funding came from the designation of the Broward Commuter Rail project as a federal transit project, which came in September 2022, per Storey, and will allow the transit project to move forward as well.
HTG did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Chava Gourarie can be reached at cgourarie@commercialobserver.com.
