<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Wednesday,  October 9 , 2024

Linkedin Pinterest
News / Clark County News

Vancouver City Council OKs $900K loan, tax breaks for developer to remodel building for mixed-income housing

Property currently houses students of International Air and Hospitality Academy

By Alexis Weisend, Columbian staff reporter
Published: September 18, 2024, 6:05am
3 Photos
A sign for apartments at 2909 N.E. 57th Ave., Vancouver. The building will be turned into mixed-income housing.
A sign for apartments at 2909 N.E. 57th Ave., Vancouver. The building will be turned into mixed-income housing. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

The Vancouver City Council on Monday night approved a loan of up to $900,000 and a multifamily tax exemption to rehabilitate student housing called Village 57 Apartments and turn it into mixed-income housing, including 25 affordable units.

Village 57 Apartments, 2909 N.E. 57th Ave., Vancouver, is a 48-unit dormitory complex that the International Air and Hospitality Academy uses to house its students studying to be flight attendants or work in the travel industry.

The building, which is near the Fourth Plain Vine bus rapid transit and a grocery store, will continue to house students until the end of the year, an academy staff member said Tuesday.

The school will close permanently after April 2025, according to a city staff report.

DIG Real Estate, which specializes in multifamily and mixed-use development and built the Coen apartments in downtown Vancouver, plans to buy the building and upgrade parts of it.

The rehabilitation will include replacing noncompliant Americans with Disabilities Act elements in the bathrooms and kitchens, equipping wood burning stoves with new electric inserts and replacing approximately 100 recalled wall heaters. The project will be fully electric, according to the staff report.

DIG Real Estate will also upgrade some appliances, add a bike rack and children’s play equipment, add window port air-conditioning units and add energy-efficient features.

The project will receive a loan through the Fourth Plain for All Affordable Housing Loan, created in November 2023 through the Fourth Plain for All Investment Strategy. The program outlines how the city will invest $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds by 2026 in neighborhoods surrounding Fourth Plain Boulevard between Interstates 5 and 205.

Under that loan, the project will need to have 12 units restricted to 60 percent area median income ($49,560 for a single person in Vancouver, according to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development).

The city will also give the project a multifamily tax exemption for 12 years in exchange for 10 units reserved for people at or below 80 percent of area median income ($66,100 for a single person in Vancouver).

However, the city will still receive taxes from the land value and other additional revenues from the development, including construction materials, sales tax and permit fees, according to the staff report.

DIG Real Estate declined to comment on the project, citing an unfinished contract.

During Monday’s council meeting, Councilor Sarah Fox said the fact that this is a rehabilitation project stands out to her.

“I’m not a greenhouse gas emissions expert, but I would say that when you’re rehabbing a building, that embodied carbon of the project is a pretty high benefit to the city versus building from new,” Fox said.

Community Funded Journalism logo

This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.

Loading...