Moulton Heights apartment complex would have rent keyed to tenant incomes

Mar. 12—A Michigan development group introduced its plan for "workforce housing" apartments at a community meeting last week that received a mixed response from Moulton Heights residents who still remember crime problems at a since-demolished apartment complex that was located nearby.

HōM Flats and Magnus Capital Group, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, presented their plan for roughly 262 units in an 11-building apartment complex off Eighth Street Southwest at Thursday's meeting at Turner-Surles Community Center. The complex would be geared toward moderate-income residents, and rents in the complex would vary based on income.

The development group is considering building the complex on 52 acres between Eighth Street, Moulton Heights Road and Bedford Drive Southwest. Owned by John Eyster Jr. and his family, the property is in the city limits and zoned R-2, detached residential homes. HōM is asking the city to rezone the property from R-2 to R-4, multi-family attached homes.

This is the second of two apartment complexes proposed recently for Moulton Heights, a predominantly Black community on the north end of Decatur that suffered through the Stonegate Village era.

Older residents of this area remember the apartments off Old Moulton Road that were built in the 1970s as AME Homes. By the late 1980s, the apartments had become Section 8 housing, and then they were sold to the Decatur Housing Authority and converted to low-income housing called Stonegate Village.

Stonegate deteriorated and became crime-ridden to the point that the city demolished it in 2003. The property sat vacant for more than a decade until the city, in a partnership with Community Action Partnership of North Alabama, developed the Seville subdivision in 2014. This 20-home subdivision is complete.

Councilman Billy Jackson, whose District 1 includes a portion of Moulton Heights, said Stonegate is the reason that the reaction he's received from local residents on HōM Flats has been tepid at best.

He said the city had a moratorium on building apartments in this area at one time because of the Stonegate experience.

"From what I've heard so far, the people in my district aren't feeling very strong about this," Jackson said.

Jackson said one concern of local residents is that the development group "doesn't live here." He said his district has become predominantly rental properties, and the city has had a problem with absentee landlords.

"It goes back again to having rental properties where the management doesn't live here and isn't on hand to run the property," Jackson said. "That's an alarming concern to a lot of people."

Nathaniel Torain, whose property is adjacent to the planned development, said the HōM Flats plan could either help or hurt the neighborhood. He said he didn't live in Stonegate but he remembers the crime issues that the development had.

Torain said the success of the new apartments would depend on the restrictions put in place.

"It seems like a good idea if it's an upbeat property that doesn't become run down in five years," Torain said. "They can't let people cruise through there and play loud music. It depends on what they do."

A HōM Flats flyer says the apartment complex will be "workforce housing," which it describes as "housing that is affordable to individuals and families with moderate incomes."

Magnus Vice President Amanda Inderbitzin, who would manage the apartments, defined moderate-income residents as those having incomes between low-income residents who make less than 30% of the area's median income (AMI) and residents who can afford to purchase a home.

"This is for the folks in the middle," Inderbitzin said.

She said they will have units for tenants whose incomes are 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 100% of AMI. Those making 100% or more of AMI would pay market rate. They will locate units from different AMI levels together. For example, she said one person could live in a two-bedroom apartment and pay $1,500 a month in rent while the next-door neighbor might also have a two-bedroom unit and pay only $1,310.

"We will have something for everybody," Inderbitzin said. "You get the same apartment and the same opportunity, but you pay at your level that you can afford to pay."

A chart displayed at the community meeting showed rents ranging from $663 a month for tenants with an average annual salary of $23,500, or 50% of AMI, to someone who makes the AMI or more who would pay the market rate of $1,585 in monthly rent.

Inderbitzin said they could only raise rent by 5% even if the area's median income increased by more than 5% when a new year begins.

Inderbitzin said they're considering Decatur because they know the city has a housing shortage. Failure to address that shortage, she said, would cause more prospective residents to move elsewhere and "take their money somewhere else, which is only going to depress the (Moulton Heights) neighborhood even more."

Inderbitzin said they hope to finance the apartments through a combination of private financing and tax credits for low-income housing from the Alabama Housing Finance Agency, which would commit them to managing the apartments for 15 to 25 years.

"We don't walk away," Inderbitzin said. "We are in this with our investors, the state housing agency. It's not something we just come in and then back out of your community. It's a long relationship."

She said surveillance cameras would be installed prior to construction and remain after completion to help them manage the activity around the complex.

Inderbitzin said the company would have an onsite manager running the complex who would also coordinate activities for tenants. Pets will be allowed, but tenants would have to agree to regular inspections of their apartments. The complex would have an indoor dog park, she said.

While local residents are vetting Magnus, Inderbitzin said they are vetting the Decatur community and, if they move forward, she believes the development will improve the area.

"We want to make sure this is a community where we want to focus our attention," Inderbitzin said. "We don't want to go anywhere where people don't see how this helps the missing middle (income resident). People keep getting priced out of their homes. What are they supposed to do?"

Inderbitzin said they don't plan to use all of the property. There will be a buffer between the complex and homes to the south of the development.

The HōM Flats property is heavily wooded, and the land on the west side near Eighth Street would be cleared for the apartment complex. She said the east side of the property will be left untouched except they plan to clean up a garbage-filled creek that flows through the land.

"When we walked back there it was full of tires, appliances and mattresses," Inderbitzin said.

Dodd Drive Southwest resident Tim Robinson, who is retired from the military and Nucor, said he is impressed with the HōM Flats plan, especially with the rental options.

Robinson said he believes the apartments will enhance the surrounding property values and possibly revive the Moulton Heights area.

"They seem like some nice apartments," Robinson said of the plan. "Everybody needs a place to live as long as they're equitable when they do it and give everyone an opportunity at getting an apartment."

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.