Toledo City Council next Wednesday will consider a Community Reinvestment Area tax exemption that would pave the way for the construction of a new multifamily, affordable housing complex at 3300 Glendale Ave.
If approved, the ordinance would provide a 100-percent real property tax exemption for 15 years for taxes that would be generated because of the increased valuation of the property once the project is completed. The Toledo Public School board has approved the terms of the CRA agreement, contingent on council’s passage of the ordinance.
Construction of the 50-unit, one and two-bedroom affordable housing complex called The Glen would start soon after the CRA is approved.
“They plan to construct it immediately,” Carmen Watkins, administrative specialist with Toledo’s department of economic development, said of the three-story complex. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.
The estimated cost of the 50,272-square-foot complex is $20,359,119. It will be built in the parking lot of the Southland Shopping Center at the northeast corner of Byrne Road and Glendale Avenue.
Built in 1962, it was a once popular location for shoppers, but the center no longer draws much foot traffic because of the closure of several businesses over the years.
“That location has not been used very much. I think it will be very good for the area,” Ms. Watkins said.
Pivotal Housing Partners, the developer, was awarded low income housing tax credits from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency for the project, Brandon Sehlhorst, director of Toledo’s economic development department, said.
“As part of the tax credits, they are required to restrict the units within the development to a certain percentage of the area’s median income to ensure they are affordable,” Mr. Sehlhorst said.
To be eligible, income requirements range between $44,000 and $60,000 per year for a family of four.
The developer has a good track record, Mr. Sehlhorst said. In 2022, Pivotal constructed Secor Senior Lofts in West Toledo at the former Sisters of Notre Dame site at Monroe Street and Secor Road.
The developer is also planning a 40-unit multifamily complex called The Grand, located on city owned property at North Detroit and Grand Avenues, he added.
In 2022, efforts to rezone part of Southland’s parking lot from regional commercial to residential multifamily was met with some neighborhood opposition, which ranged from the aesthetics of putting housing in the middle of a shopping center parking lot, to whether it would negatively impact current and future businesses in the shopping center. Council later approved the rezoning request by a vote of 8-4, which cleared the way for the housing development.
Councilman Adam Martinez said he will vote for the CRA.
“Holistically, it’s a creative, adaptive use of the space. The CRA is just one more box to check to assure the viability of the development,” Mr. Martinez said.
Councilman Mac Driscoll, a member of Toledo City Council’s Housing and Community Development Committee, was also supportive of the project.
“Toledo did a comprehensive housing study a couple of years ago. It showed we’re approximately 1,200 affordable housing units short. So we need to build more affordable housing in this community. The shopping center has lost a lot of tenants. To have more population in that neighborhood is good ultimately for the commercial enterprises in the neighborhood,” Mr. Driscoll, an urban planner, said.
Councilman Sam Melden, who is also on the housing and community development committee, said a CRA is an economic development tool that spurs “needed development.”
“When we implemented the CRA more broadly throughout the city, it was a good example of using the economic development tools that are at our disposal. It helped spur needed development, like the affordable housing we so desperately need in our community. I’m glad we did it, and I’m proud of the work it will help get across the finish line,” Mr. Melden said.
“There’s a huge need for affordable housing in this community,” Mr. Sehlhorst said. “This project at the Southland Shopping Center will hopefully relieve some of that demand that is out there.”
Local News
