Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis
10/22/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/22/2024 07:41
Affordable Housing Program bridges funding gap for historic Lansing school
last updated on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 in Affordable Housing
Affordable Housing Program bridges funding gap for historic Lansing school
The historic and stately former Walter French Junior High School in south Lansing is hard to ignore. Nestled into the angled intersection between Mt. Hope Avenue and Cedar Street, the structure designed by renowned local architect Judson Churchill in the 1920s showcases ornate earth-toned brickwork inspired by the Tudor and Arts-and-Crafts architectural style popular at the time. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, it stands imposing and impressive amid a tree-lined landscape.
Originally designed and built as a middle school, the Walter French school served students for more than 50 years before closing in 1981. In the late '90s, Walter French reopened as a charter school before closing again eight years later. Since then, the building has sat vacant as the years ticked by.
But not for much longer, thanks to a $500,000 grant from FHLBank Indianapolis and the hard work of Capital Area Housing Partnership (CAHP), a Lansing-area nonprofit organization that works to revitalize neighborhoods by creating affordable housing options for low-income residents in the region. When the building's former owners were looking to offload the historic structure in 2017, CAHP already had a vision for what a new chapter in the building's history could look like.
A challenging environment
CAHP is known for this kind of work. As CAHP Executive Director Emma Henry tells it, "With a track record of repurposing old schools into affordable housing, our organization went to work to secure the requisite financing primarily though Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and Historic Tax Credits after acquiring the property."
The project certainly had its share of early challenges. With construction and labor costs rising significantly due to supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, housing providers across the country have been feeling the squeeze. In the Lansing area alone, developers saw an 11.3% increase in average construction costs between 2021 and 2022.[1] That kind of precipitous increase makes building out the capital stack needed to fund the project significantly more challenging.
Henry continues, "So the grant from Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, along with our partner at Dark Bank, was key to ensuring that we could actually break ground on this. And we're thankful for the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) that has been key to delivering affordable housing opportunities, not only here in mid-Michigan, but also across the state as well."
While historic schools are often well-suited to adaptive reuse and repurposing as housing developments, the Walter French project stands out among them as unique. Henry notes, "What will make Walter French a unique living experience is that it will retain the proportions and fabric of a school. Whether it's the long terrazzo floor corridors lined with glazed brickwork or the reintroduction of expansive checker pane windows, you will still find many of the character-defining features of a historic school [in the finished development]."
Those involved are quick to share their excitement about this project. Kassie Rhodes, VP, Commercial Relationship Manager at Dart Bank who oversaw CAHP's AHP application, says, "Supporting affordable housing initiatives is very important to me. That is the reason I have been volunteering my time and resources to CAHP for over 15 years. Shelter is one of the most basic human needs and I am committed to helping meet these needs."
This wasn't Rhodes' first rodeo with AHP: also through Dart Bank, she participated in another successful Affordable Housing Program grant application through FHLBank Indianapolis in 2016 for The Bailey Project. For Rhodes, though, this new project was personal: "I initially heard about the project several years ago. I am a member of the Board of Directors for CAHP, and the organization was evaluating possibly accepting a donation of the Walter French building from a local for-profit developer. I was very curious about the project because my mom went to school in this building when it was Walter French Junior High. I grew up seeing this large historic building, its decline, and its eventual abandonment."
Add Rhodes to the long list of community members excited to see this project take flight. As she says, "This is the same community in which [the Dart Bank's] employees, its Board of Directors, Stockholders, and its customers reside."
With its decades-old mission of supporting affordable housing, FHLBank Indianapolis understands that sentiment completely. Since the establishment of the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) in 1990, the Bank has supported affordable housing development across its district and beyond. In the past ten years, the Bank has provided more than $125M in AHP grants alone.
Michigan's statewide housing deficit
Walter French's projected opening couldn't have come at a better time.
Recent findings from the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach report show that like many states across the country Michigan has a statewide deficit of 188,000 rental homes available to extremely low-income renters, defined as households making no more than 30 percent of the area median income (AMI). The same report notes that 71% of such households also experience severe housing cost burden, defined as a household paying 50% or more of their monthly gross income on housing.[2]
As a mission-driven organization with over 30 years of experience in affordable housing, CAHP has intentionally designed this project to meet area needs. With units of 1, 2, and 3 bedrooms ranging from 456 to 1,438 square feet each, Walter French is poised to help meet the diverse housing needs of the area. Of the 76 units planned in this project, 39 will be reserved either for special needs populations, including individuals experiencing homelessness, or tied to rental assistance that will provide support and housing at an affordable rate to low-income residents.
Pictured above: an interior unit prior to re-development
But the ties between Capital Area Housing Partnership and the Walter French school get even closer than that. Once the project opens, Walter French will become home to CAHP itself. Henry says, "The decision to move our headquarters to the renovated Walter French building is a strategic one. By consolidating our operations under one roof, we can enhance efficiency and foster greater collaboration among our dedicated staff. This synergy will enable us to better deliver our comprehensive range of programs and services to the community, ensuring that we meet the evolving needs of our residents effectively."
Pictured above: progress on one of the development's affordable units
Today, Walter French presides over an area that is looking for redevelopment and reinvestment, and CAHP, through partners like Dart Bank, hopes to lead the charge. When the building fully opens in 2025, it will also be home to an on-site childcare facility, key to addressing community needs. Curtis Audette, Director of Marketing and Communications for CAHP, says, "When we do projects of this scale, including Walter French, we always look at what our community needs aside from housing. In Lansing, there is not enough open slots for children to partake and do early education, so adding an additional hundred in a neighborhood that actually is a childcare desert is critical for not only residents who can partake in those childcare opportunities, but also residents in the surrounding neighborhood as well."
Audette says that what really drives him to continue pushing for this project is "that connection to the community and being able to take and understand the history and everything that has occurred here, the legacy of the residents who played basketball here, went to school."
MaryBeth Wott sums it up: "The partnership between Dart Bank and CAHP is emblematic of the purpose of our Affordable Housing Program. These organizations are working collaboratively to bring their vision to life and secure necessary housing and other resources for their community. The care they have taken to preserve an important piece of south Lansing history while working to transform the neighborhood for future generations is truly remarkable."
Interested in learning about the Affordable Housing Program? Find more information here.