W. Palm Beach, Fla. --- Yesterday - Thurs. - MerryPlace at Pleasant City., Fla.'s first CWHIP-funded workforce housing development officially started construction in Palm Beach Co.

The event is historic in more ways than one: the first for CWHIP, the largest workforce housing development ever in W. Palm Beach, and a dramatic redevelopment of one of the oldest workforce housing communities in Fla.

The weekly So. Fla. Business Journal had the skinny in yesterday's edition (Fri. delivery). The daily Palm Beach Post, which covers workforce housing aggressively and well, has a disappointingly small brief in today's edition (scroll down, it's right after the notice of new garbage collection times). The So. Fla. Sun-Sentinel, which normally follows the Post by about a day on Palm Bch. Co. stories, missed it entirely, though Robin Benedick has a nice consumer piece today on first-time home-buying tips, just in time for weekend house shopping.

From the So. Fla. Business Journal:

West Palm Beach Mayor Lois J. Frankel said the MerryPlace project will help bring working families back to one of the city's oldest, most historic neighborhoods.

"This is a pivotal redevelopment and affordable housing project for Pleasant City and all of West Palm Beach," Frankel said.

Construction of the whole project will take two years, although the first families will start moving in before Sept.

By the numbers:

• 240 homes, including:
• 128 affordable apartments;
• 114 homes for sale;
• community center;
• meets Fla. Green Building Coalition standards for energy efficiency;
• $5 million CWHIP investment;
• $8+ million W. Palm Bch. CRA investment (infrastructure);
• Bank of America construction financing
• MMA Financial equity investor
• additional investments from Palm Beach Co. Dept. of Housing and Community Dev't.
• qualifications: family of four, $19,320-$38,640 income for rentals, max. $77,280 income to buy
• technically, this is also a first for the Economic Council of Palm Bch. Co. and its offspring, the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach Co. While both arrived late at this particular party, they brought refreshments.

Page 2: more on the Florida Green Building Coalition standards and some history of Palm Beach...
From the So. Fla. Business Journal again:

All residences are to meet the Florida Green Building Coalition standards. Green features are to include waste minimization and material recycling during construction, high-efficiency drip irrigation, added building insulation, EnergyStar appliances and a resident education program that provides financial incentives for energy-efficient living.

Here are more details from our original report on MerryPlace:

Merry Place at Pleasant City: $5 million, 114 homes for sale

Touted as a "High Class Colored Subdivision" in 1913, (a progressive idea in an age when Klan chapters published their meeting notices in daily newspapers), Pleasant City is the oldest African-American community in Palm Beach Co. and descendents of its pioneer families still live in the area.

Developed to house the lowest-paid among thousands of workers Henry Flagler brought in to build Palm Beach, Pleasant City had its day, but West Palm Beach had the area officially designated as "blighted" in 1999, then designated it part of the Northwood/Pleasant City Community Redevelopment Area, where today the West Palm Beach Housing Authority (WPBHA) is developing homes a family of four earning $64,000 a year can afford to buy. 

Merry Place RPD (Residential Planned Development) was created by city ordinance two years ago. MerryPlace LLC was formed earlier this year by Charlotte, N.C.-based Banc of America Community Development Corp.

Merry Place at Pleasant City could benefit local school teachers: Two weeks ago, the school district pledged $500,000 to grant teachers up to $7,500 in down payment assistance if they buy a home at Merry Place at Pleasant City.

Palm Beach Post staff writer Christina DeNardo reported:

The development, which will include 18 single-family homes, 46 townhouses and 52 condominiums, is expected to be completed by December 2008. Some homes could be ready in a year.

To be eligible, teachers must teach at a school with a high percentage of poor children and their household earnings must fall between 80 and 120 percent of $64,000, the county's median income.

Teachers at the five schools closest to Merry Place at Pleasant City should benefit most.

The Economics Council web site posts a story "Published by Rhonda Miller Dec. 13, 2006" and copyrighted by the South Fla. Sun-Sentinel that concluded:

If the project is successful, it will give the district a well-needed tool to recruit and keep teachers.

Teachers have left for jobs in cheaper areas in Georgia and North Carolina.

According to its CWHIP proposal, Merry Place at Pleasant City will cost $24,295,034 to develop. The city and the housing authority have committed $8.9 million to the project.

Pricing is another story.

"The selling price is a moving target right now," Robinson said. "But we won't be selling $300,000 homes. Condos will be in the lower end of the affordable range."

Presumably, Merry Place at Pleasant City has the backing of the Economics Council:

The school district worked with the Housing Leadership Council of the Palm Beach Economic Council to evaluate four proposals for the partnership.

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:17:14 GMT FWHN staff http://www.floridaworkforcehousing.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=452