The Southwest Detroit Business Association and Cinnaire Solutions today broke ground on La Joya Gardens, a $24-million, mixed-use residential and commercial building at 4000 W. Vernor Hwy. (two blocks east of Clark Park) in southwest Detroit.
When completed next summer, the building will offer 47 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments, with 42 reserved as affordable for those earning 30 percent to 80 percent of the area median income, which translates to rents as low as about $500 a month for a one-bedroom.
In addition, the development will offer some 6,000 square feet of retail space and 1,500 square feet of flexible community space on the ground floor with indoor and outdoor seating. As part of the project, which is in the Hubbard Farms Historic District, a landscaped plaza will be located adjacent to four street-fronting retail spaces, as well as a 500-square-foot café that will be available for rent by Southwest Detroit-based businesses and entrepreneurs.
The city of Detroit, Invest Detroit, MSHDA, other partner organizations, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero, and various development partners, were part of the groundbreaking.
La Joya Gardens is the latest project supported by the Strategic Neighborhood Fund (SNF), a partnership between the city of Detroit, Invest Detroit, neighborhood residents, and corporate donors.
The SNF funds community-driven projects, each of which begins by soliciting input from residents. SNF, with assistance from PNC Bank, funded the community engagement process for the project, and provided $1.6 million in gap funding, which supports the affordability of the units.
“In neighborhoods across Detroit, the Strategic Neighborhood Fund is helping us build new affordable housing and bringing new life to our historic commercial corridors like West Vernor,” says Duggan. “For years, this key corner has been an empty lot, but thanks to SDBA, Cinnaire Solutions, and the SNF, it will once again be thriving and a beautiful place for Detroiters and small businesses to call home.”
La Joya, which means “jewel” in Spanish, was a name chosen by residents during the project’s community engagement process. In 2018, the development team kicked of the project with a six-month “participatory design” phase in which more than 200 local stakeholders met with a group of architects in a series of meetings and focus groups.
Residents and local businesses voiced their suggestions and voted on the building’s design elements, types of businesses, and community services they wanted to see, and participated in a contest to name the new community.
“Today’s groundbreaking marks a pivotal moment for La Joya Gardens, an exciting development project that will not only add high-quality, affordable housing and community space for local residents to enjoy, but also prime retail space along one of the city’s most vibrant commercial corridors,” says Laura Chavez-Wazeerud-Din, vice president of programs and compliance at the Southwest Detroit Business Association. “We are immensely grateful to all of the development partners who helped bring our community’s vision to fruition.”
Designed by SITIO Architecture + Urbanism, the mixed-use development brings urban vitality to an entire city block along West Vernor Highway that has stood vacant for more than a decade.
“We believe there is no higher purpose than serving others,” says Chris Laurent, president of Cinnaire Solutions. “Through our service, we hope to further enhance the lives of residents in the community.”
Since 2018, SNF has invested $118.5 million in 72 projects in all 10 SNF neighborhoods. This includes parks, streetscape overhauls, single-family housing stabilization, and commercial corridor revitalization. The fund also works hand-in-hand with other city initiatives such as Motor City Match to amplify its impact on communities across the city of Detroit.
“SNF is creating real momentum in Detroit’s neighborhoods” said Keona Cowan, executive vice president of lending at Invest Detroit. “Residents are excited about this project. It will spur more investment in the area, and Invest Detroit and SNF are excited about opportunities to fund more projects along West Vernor, the main street of Southwest Detroit.”
The city of Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department (HRD) invested $2.36 million in La Joya Gardens through HOME and the Affordable Housing Development Fund.
“Projects like La Joya Gardens are so important because they not only create new affordable housing, but revitalize our commercial corridors and make our neighborhoods better places to call home,” says Julie Schneider, director of HRD. “The deep affordability La Joya will bring is also essential in our efforts to build back neighborhoods everyone can afford to call home.”
Additional funding for La Joya Gardens also includes a $12.4 million 4 percent and 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) investment from Cinnaire; a $3.2 million loan and a $588,647 HOME/House Trust award from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA); a $500,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) Award from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis; $1.6 million investment from Invest Detroit through the Strategic Neighborhood Fund; and a $500,000 investment from Detroit Economic Growth Corp.
La Joya Gardens is one of the first 4 percent/9 percent combo LIHTC projects to address pricing and supply chain challenges.
“This development ticks a lot of boxes for MSHDA. It’s going to bring a mixed-use, mixed-income residential and commercial development to a historic neighborhood, where I’m confident it will become a catalyst for revitalization,” says Amy Hovey, executive director of MSHDA. “With a majority of apartments set aside for residents with low incomes, this project will help fulfill our mission of ensuring every Detroiter who needs it has affordable housing as a foundation to reach their full potential.”
Other partners in the project include 511 Design, Detroit Economic Growth Corp., Detroit Housing Commission, O’Brien Construction, and Flagstar Bank.
