By Joshua Burd
A developer has broken ground on a new affordable housing and retail complex in downtown Vineland after securing nearly $18 million in financing.
Ballard Spahr, the law firm for Eastern Pacific Development LLC, said Tuesday that the complex will include 71 age-restricted affordable apartments and ground-floor retail space. The project will be known as Landis Square Senior Apartments, sitting at the corner of East and Landis Avenues in a designated redevelopment area in the city.
The firm announced Tuesday that its Vineland-based client had closed on the $17.8 million in financing to acquire the land and build the three-story structure. Financing for the project includes capital contributions of $13.9 million from an investor for the purchase of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits awarded by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency through a competitive process.
It is expected to be completed in about a year, according to a news release. Ten of the 71 affordable housing rental units will be set aside for seniors with special needs, with Gateway Community Action Partnership, Eastern Pacific’s partner in the project, serving as the social service provider for the special needs population.
Jeffrey S. Beenstock of Ballard Spahr’s New Jersey office represented Eastern Pacific in closing the financing and acquisition of the land in early November, the firm said. The project will also be funded from conventional construction and permanent loans by private banks.
Landis Square Senior Apartments is part of Landis Square East, a larger effort to redevelop the four corners of East and Landis avenues in Vineland. Eastern Pacific is the city’s designated redeveloper for the overall effort, which involves demolition of a full city block containing a dilapidated motel and other structures.
Eastern Pacific Development has already completed restoration of the historic, 800-seat Landis Theater on the intersection’s northwest corner into a community performing arts showplace.
