Housing Finance Agency approves Ponca City project

The Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency today approved $472,098 in annual tax credits for a 10-year term, or a total of  $4.7 million in tax credits, for the Community Place project in downtown Ponca City.

The Community Place project includes total renovation of the Community Building on the northwest corner of Third Street and Grand Avenue into 12 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom apartments, with common areas on the lower levels, including a community room, computer room, safe room and fitness center. It is a nonprofit project to provide senior housing.

The second part of this project is construction of a new apartment building on Fourth Street between Cleveland Avenue and Chestnut Avenue. This also would be a 24-unit complex of two-bedroom apartments.

The developer for the project is MACO of Clarkton, Mo.

Development Services Director Chris Henderson said the downtown project would be a $6 million to $7 million investment.

OHFA also took action on a project that is under way on West Highland Avenue, the Highland Park development on the site of the former Airline Theater.

Trustees for OHFA agreed to exchange tax credits for 2014 for 2016.

OHFA Executive Director Dennis Shockley said Wednesday that The Carland Group, the developer on the project, did not think the project would be completed by  Dec. 31 and be placed in service.

“This morning we exchanged their 2014 credits for 2016 credits, which will ensure they get the credit of  $583,857 for 2016. Essentially, it is a transfer of paper which ensured that if the project did not meet the required legal deadline that they will still have their credits,” Shockley said. “They have a bank loan and syndicator and they want the project in service as soon as possible, for the cash flow to pay bills. We don’t issue the credits until they actually finish the project.

“The second reason is we want to create housing as fast as we can,” Shockley said. “When we have to exchange credits for a developer, we make them sit out a year as a contrition for a performance issue – they didn’t perform as they said they would. They have to wait a year before they can apply again for a tax credit.”

A third project,  rehabilitation of the Copper Ridge Apartments at Waverly Street and Highland Avenue, was not approved. The developer, MACO,  did not score enough points to be approved for tax credits and also lost the tie-breaker, along with several other projects.

 

The rehabilitation would have been a $2 million project with the company spending an average of $35,000 per unit to renovate the complex.

The rehabilitation would have made it possible for Copper Ridge to continue as an affordable housing complex. The complex was built 16 years ago with a grant from the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency and its time as an affordable housing complex expired at the end of that 15-year grant.