Proposed 60-unit affordable housing project receives $2.74 million from the City of St. Pete
/The proposed Bayou Court Apartments, a new three-story building featuring 60 two-bedroom apartments, all of which will be set aside for low- and moderate-income households | Gravel Road Partners
St. Petersburg City Council recently approved a resolution to allocate $2,740,000 in City funds for the construction of a new three-story affordable housing community in south St. Pete.
The new project, named Bayou Court Apartments, is set to rise near the southeast corner of Lake Maggiore at 4201 6th Street South.
The two-acre property, which was formerly home to The Old Landmark Cathedral of God, was purchased by Gravel Road Partners in 2022 for $1.7 million.
“We are an acutely focused workforce and affordable housing developer along the east coast,” said Tyler Herbert, Founding Partner at Washington D.C.-based Gravel Road Partners, during the November 30th City Council meeting. “We have about 1,200 units in our pipeline and all we do is public-private partnerships.”
Proposed plans call for the construction of a new three-story building featuring 60 two-bedroom apartments, approximately 1,050 square feet each, all of which will be set aside for low- and moderate-income households.
Bayou Court Apartments is set to rise near the southeast corner of Lake Maggiore at 4201 6th Street South. The property was formerly home to The Old Landmark Cathedral of God | Google Maps
“We’ve got a unique unit mix of all two-bedrooms and two baths which will really address the largest swath of tenant population and gives opportunities for small families, single parents with children, roommates, etc.,” said Herbert.
The units will be allocated as follows:
12 units for households at 50% of area median income and below (currently $39,150 annually for a household of three)
9 units for households at 80% of area median income and below (currently $62,550 for a family of three)
15 units for households at 100% of area median income and below (currently $78,255 for a family of three)
24 units for households at 120% of area median income and below (currently $93,960 for a household of three)
Additionally, Gravel Road Partners will prioritize applications from local municipal employees as well as public school employees. Directly to the south of the proposed apartment building sits Lakewood Elementary School.
“When I met the guys last year, I mentioned that a large number of the students at Lakewood Elementary are either homeless, housing insecure, or in foster care,” said Councilmember Gina Driscoll. “And they [the developers] reached out to them. And they are kind of adopting this school which I think is wonderful.”
The site plan for Bayou Court Apartments, An affordable housing community which will feature 60 two-bedroom apartments, approximately 1,050 square feet each | Gravel Road Partners
To achieve the proposed density, the $17.3 million project will utilize the City’s Workforce Housing Density Bonus Program and the State of Florida Graywater Density Bonus Program, meaning a significant portion of the community’s graywater will be captured, filtered, and reused on site.
In addition to the City of St. Pete’s $2.74 million commitment, funding sources include an $8.6 million commercial bank construction loan, a $3 million contribution by Pinellas County, and $2.9 million in developer and investor equity.
“They [the developers] got the numbers to pencil without the need for highly burdensome federal funding or highly competitive state funding,” said Mark Van Lue, Housing Development Manager for the City of St. Pete. “This is a commercial-, city-, and county-funded project. And because of that its very shovel ready.”
Next month, the Bayou Court Apartments will go before Pinellas County for approval.
Construction is slated to begin in February with a completion around May 2025.
“We’ve moved everything forward and are planning for a February groundbreaking,” said Herbert. “We’ve got all the subs bought so we don’t run the risk, like many projects today, of construction price increases over the next several months. We are ready to roll.”
In addition to Gravel Road Partners, the Bayou Apartments development team consists of Place Architecture, Park & Eleazor Construction, Osborn Civil Engineering, WGI Structural Engineering, and Carteret Property Management.
