LISC Detroit announced today the latest affordable housing development to tap the Detroit Housing for the Future Fund (DHFF), which helps developers bridge financial gaps in their efforts to create and renovate quality affordable housing options in neighborhoods across the city.
The Detroit Housing for the Future Fund (DHFF) is a private investment fund launched in 2020 focused on investing in the development and preservation of affordable housing in Detroit.
The Belnord, a historic apartment building at 324 Hendrie St. at Brush in District 5, is being renovated by developer Ed Siegel’s Detroit-based JacobStreet LLC. The $2.9 million renovation project will include upgrading the electric, plumbing and HVAC systems; replacement of the roof; improvements to the common areas; and other work. The scope also includes full renovations to the 24 existing units and converting 3,000 square feet of ground-floor space into five new garden-level units. No current residents will be displaced during the work, and all of them will be able to continue living at The Belnord after the renovations have been completed. Specific displacement prevention and safety standards are recorded in an affordability agreement between the developer and the City’s Housing and Revitalization Department. Renovations, funded in part by a $2.46 million loan from DHFF, are slated to be completed early next year.
All 29 units in the 26,652-square-foot building will be affordable, with 2 apartments at or below 50 percent area median income (AMI), 16 at or below 60 percent AMI, and the remainder at or below 80 percent AMI. Units will range in size from studios to three bedrooms. This means the housing is targeted at single Detroiters making between $28,000 and $44,800.
The Belnord is just south of the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood, which LISC Detroit has targeted for economic investment through the implementation of an adaptive-reuse strategy along an industrial corridor finalized in 2019.
The Belnord is getting a $2.9 million renovation, and will be 100 percent affordable housing across its 29 units with rents at 50 percent to 80 percent area median income.
Siegel, a licensed residential builder, is also the majority owner of JSS Construction LLC, which he founded last year. His current and past projects have also been concentrated in Milwaukee Junction, as well as Islandview/Greater Villages.
The Detroit Housing for the Future Fund, a private investment fund aimed at directing capital to affordable housing in Detroit, launched with an initial capitalization of $48 million, anchored by a $15 million commitment from JPMorgan Chase and a $10 million guarantee from The Kresge Foundation. DHFF is managed by LISC Detroit and LISC Strategic Investments, and is a part of the larger Affordable Housing Leverage Fund, which is an initiative with the City of Detroit’s Housing & Revitalization Department.
“The creation and preservation of housing affordability in Detroit is one of our key missions,” said Camille Walker-Banks, executive director of LISC Detroit. “This is crucial to ensuring that Detroit remains a place where all can afford to call home and live in quality housing.”
The Belnord opened in 1914 and was designed by the Detroit-based firm Pollmar & Ropes. When it opened, it was billed as “strictly high class.” Thanks to the DHFF, Detroiters will once again be able to live in quality housing, this time affordably.
For more information about the DHFF and the Developers of Color programs, go to www.detroithousingforthefuturefund.org.
LISC Detroit is a local organization founded in 1990, within the Local Initiatives Support Corporation network that includes 38 offices in urban areas across the country as well as a rural office that serves more than 44 states.
For more information on the Detroit Housing for the Future Fund and funding opportunities, visit https://www.detroithousingforthefuturefund.org/
For investor inquiries and more information about LISC Strategic Investments, visit https://www.liscstrategicinvestments.org/detroit-housing-for-the-future-fund.
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