Affordable housing development in North Sarasota given boost by Barancik grant
A project that could bring more than 370 affordable rental units to North Sarasota got a recent boost through the commitment of a $250,000 grant from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation.
The development will be on a 114-plus-acre parcel of land off Dr. Martin Luther King way near the Emma E. Booker Elementary School – surplus county land that the Sarasota County Commission agreed last year to sell to Gracewater Community Development to include affordable housing.
Gracewater is partnering with Community Assisted and Supported Living Inc. (CASL) and Blue Sky Communities to create a self-sustaining community to include a grocery store, pharmacy, medical clinic and wrap-around services for families, such as childcare and afterschool centers.
The Barancik grant provides significant help with start-up costs like architectural design and also as leverage for matching funds from everything like low-interest loans to state low-income tax credit financing, said Phillip “P.J.” Brooks, chief operating officer for CASL.
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While construction is at least two years away, he added, the project has the potential to be a “game-changer” in the area for the sheer number of affordable housing rental units expected eventually to be built on the site.
“It’s very exciting to get something like this rolling,” Brooks said.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Barancik grant boosts affordable housing development in North Sarasota
