By Eric Curl
April 23, 2023 – Developer Bill Gross said the tax credit application he will be submitting to develop affordable housing at the former fairgrounds site has a “very high probability” of success, following the city’s recent support for the effort.
“Whenever you have a community willing to help sponsor a project, it helps a lot,” Gross said. “I think that is going to be the thing that will really to put us in the winning category.”
Gross discussed the project’s chances with me on Friday, a little more than a week after the Savannah City Council authorized a $1.92 million loan to support the low-income housing tax credits application and help finance the construction of up to affordable 64 apartments for seniors. Affordable in this case means rates that can be paid by households earning 50%-60% of the area median income (AMI), a level between low-income (30-percent AMI) and market-rate housing, Gross said.
The senior housing is the first phase of the planned fairgrounds development, which is also expected to bring a production studio, recreational fields and public trails to the more than 60-acre site at 4801 Meding St.
Gross’s Kingsland, Ga.-based company, W.H. Gross Construction, was selected to develop the housing component of the fairgrounds site after previously leveraging the tax-credit program to renovate the historic Romana Riley elementary school at East Anderson Street and Waters Avenue. The 57-unit senior living community is one of about 15 projects he said he he successfully obtained the tax credits for.
With about 25-30 projects selected out of about 100 applications each year, the demand for more affordable housing has increased the competition, Gross said, and he has also had to cancel projects after failing to obtain tax credits.
“Nobody bats 100,” he said, while adding that he has been able to get about a third of his applications approved.
The tax credits are a key component for financing of the senior housing, and without them the affordable housing element will not be feasible, according to city officials.
Gross said the loan from the Savannah Affordable Housing Fund will boost the chances of the tax credit application fairgrounds project because it will reduce the amount of credits needed and increase the points awarded by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
“Communities like Savannah shine whenever they are able to leverage resources to help with the scoring,” he said.
The DCA typically announcing the selected projects in November. If successful, Gross said he construction could begin in the summer of 2024.
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