City council passes Cardinal Point, Foundation Communities prepares next for state funding process

FClogo-BEST-FOR-WEBBy LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

The Austin City Council passed six affordable housing projects last week including the controversial Cardinal Point development slated for Four Points Drive. The proposed Cardinal Point apartments would bring up to 125 affordable housing units to Four Points by as early as summer 2017.

“We’re grateful for the council’s support,” said Walter Moreau, the executive director of Foundation Communities. Two of the six proposed projects the council passed are Foundation Communities’ projects. In addition to the local project, the other one is located off of North Mopac.

“We will continue with the design of the community and the state funding process, which goes through the end of July,” Moreau said.

Foundation Communities — which has 18 communities located mostly throughout Greater Austin — applies for state tax credits which help with the cost of construction.

FC Cardinal Point Housing LP is making an application for 9 percent Housing Tax Credits with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to build Cardinal Point at approximately 11011 A½ Four Points Drive.

Foundation Communities said it will submit a full application to the TDHCA that is due at the end of February, which is why the city council needed to vote on this at this time.

Included with the full application is preliminary architectural and engineering work.

“Then things will be on hold until tax credits are awarded,” Moreau said. “The state process goes for about five months. They score projects and do a complete underwriting, verifying all of the points, and it’s a long process.”

Also during this process in April, TDHCA will host a public hearing to receive public comment on the proposed Cardinal Point project along with many other projects throughout Central Texas seeking funding, Moreau said.

Funding for the Cardinal Point project will compete with other applications throughout the state.

“It’s not a guarantee (we will be funded) but we think our odds are good,” Moreau said.

July is the earliest this project could be approved, he said. If approved, plans would be finalized by the end of July and then it would go through the city permitting process. The project would potentially break ground in 2016 and open a year later, Moreau said.

The development would have one-, two- and three-bedroom units that charge below-market rents from $576 a month to $736 a month.