The Frank Callaghan Towers on Fairbanks Road in Oak Ridge will be renovated and renamed, a housing developer and manager said this week.
Officials with LHP Capital LLC announced Tuesday that they have signed the last document necessary to close on the acquisition and renovation of Oak Ridge’s Frank Callaghan Towers. That’s a 110-unit affordable rental housing community for seniors 62 and older and adults with disabilities, and it is located at 115 Fairbanks Road in east Oak Ridge.
LHP will oversee more than $5.8 million in renovations to the property, which was originally constructed in the late 1970s, a press release said. The sale to LHP will assure preservation of the property’s affordability status under federal guidelines, the press release said. LHP will also manage the apartments.
The renovations to the property will begin immediately and will start with a new name, according to Carr Hagan, president, LHP Development, a division of Knoxville-based LHP Capital, a real estate development firm specializing in affordable housing.
“A renovation of this magnitude gives the property a fresh, new face, and a new name signals change and progress,” Hagan said.
Upon the closing, Frank Callaghan Tower will be named Fairbanks Tower after the road on which it resides. The legacy of the building’s namesake will be preserved, the press release said. Hagan said that permanent recognition in honor of Frank Callaghan is planned for later as part of the rehabilitation and that the Callaghan family is supportive and will be involved.
“At a time when affordable housing is scarce, it gives all of us who worked on the deal great pride and satisfaction knowing we’re ensuring the homes are going to be attractive, safe, energy-efficient, and affordable for seniors on fixed incomes today and for many years to come,” Hagan said.
Every apartment unit will be refurbished from top to bottom and will include the installation of new kitchen cabinetry with quartz counter tops and luxury vinyl plank flooring throughout, the press release said. Each kitchen will receive a new refrigerator, range with vent hood and microwave, and the bath will be updated with new vanity, toilet, and modern fixtures.
Other interior renovations include replacement of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning units; windows; and plumbing fixtures to be more energy-efficient. Several units will have re-configured kitchens and baths to meet accessibility standards under the American with Disabilities Act, the press release said.
The development project also will allow for aesthetic updates to the apartment building’s common areas, laundry area, and community room as well as the addition of a new sidewalk at the front entry and re-surfacing of the existing exterior paved surfaces, the press release said.
Members of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, which approved a payment in lieu of taxes and tax-exempt bond, said that they look forward to the impact the renovations will have on the area.
“This is good news for our community and for the residents,” said David Wilson, IDB chair. “We talk about it in terms of the money that is being invested, but at the end of the day, it is really about improving the quality of life of the residents of this property.”
Financing for the project used a combination of public and private sources, the press release said. The Tennessee Housing Development Agency provided roughly $5,750,000 in tax credits during a 10-year period. The financing for the project includes an $11 million tax-exempt loan through SouthEast Bank and approximately $5.4 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity capital provided by First Tennessee Housing Corporation in its role as investor limited partner, the press release said.
“It takes many people from businesses and government working together to make a renovation like this possible as well as strong support from the community,” said Alvin Nance, chief executive officer of LHP Development. “We are fortunate to have local partners who support this effort to provide quality housing for our community’s most vulnerable citizens, and I want to personally thank Mayor Warren Gooch, City Manager Mark Watson, all the members of City Council, and Parker Hardy, president of the Chamber of Commerce, for their support.”
Hagan said the renovation will take about 18 months to complete. While their units are being renovated, residents will be lodged in vacant units or hotels at no cost to them. LHP has a fulltime relocation project manager who attends to every resident’s needs to make the temporary accommodations as comfortable as possible.
LHP Capital, along with its operating companies—LHP Development and LHP Management—is a developer and manager of multifamily housing properties with a primary emphasis on affordable housing, the press release said. Since 1998, the company formerly known as Lawler Wood Housing and rebranded LHP in 2015, has developed more than 13,000 apartment units in 98 properties with the majority of those developments using the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program as a source of investment capital. LHP currently manages 56 multi-family properties in eight states. The company is headquartered in Knoxville. For more information, visit www.lhp.net.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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