Workforce housing project underway

Heavy equipment moves dirt on a lot, on the west side of State Highway 361, immediately south of Port A RV Resort, on Friday, July 17. Plans call for construction of an apartment complex in a public-private venture that’s expected to provide affordable housing for members of the Port Aransas workforce. Staff photo by Freda Greene

Site work has begun on a long-awaited project in Port Aransas: Construction of an apartment complex that’s expected to provide affordable housing for members of the town’s workforce.

Heavy equipment is in the process of leveling the land and marking out spots for concrete pads and paving at the site, located on the west side of State Highway 361, immediately south of Port A RV Resort.

It’s the same piece of land where piles of Hurricane Harvey debris were stored before being taken away to a landfill.

Some 183 apartments eventually will be built, said Port Aransas Mayor Charles Bujan.

The complex’s clubhouse/ leasing center will open in February 2022, and the first apartment building, containing 66 units, will be finished by March 2022, said Tom Huth, president and CEO of Palladium USA International, the firm that will develop and manage the complex. The last building, with 51 units, can be expected in June 2022, he said.

The Texas General Land Office School Land Board decided in April to sell 8.76 acres of land for $2 million so the apartments could be built. The sale closed on June 26, according to City Manager Dave Parsons. The property is in the hands of an entity known as Palladium-Port Aransas LLC, he said.

The entity was created when the city’s public facilities corporation formed a partnership with Palladium.

Because the development will be accomplished through a public-private partnership, city leaders anticipate that the rent at the apartments can be kept low enough to make it easier for folks of modest means to be able to live there.

With help from state officials, the city pulled together $36 million for the land purchase and apartment construction.

The $36 million comes from a $14 million loan that Palladium is receiving; $14 million in tax-credit grant money that the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is providing to Palladium and the public facilities corporation;

$4 million that the department has pledged in a grant to the public facilities corporation; and

$4 million from a bill rider approved during the 2019 legislative session.

Parsons has said in the past that 25 percent of the units will be rented at regular market rates, without a discount for income, which will help the financials balance.

But most of the apartments will be available only to households with a certain range of incomes, Parsons said. A household that earns too little won’t be eligible, just like a household that earns too much, he said. City officials were planning a groundbreaking on July 30, but the event has been postponed indefinitely because of concerns about COVID-19.