Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC) has been awarded $11 million in low-income housing tax credits to build new, efficient affordable housing at Five Points Phase 4. The credits were awarded through a competitive process from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.
This award facilitates the completion of the four-phase Five Points Master Plan.
Phase 4 will include 82 new, energy-efficient one- to three-bedroom affordable housing units for families, a playground and computer room. Construction is expected to begin in 2019.
The highlighted area shows targets for redevelopment at Five Points.
In a press statement, CEO Ben Bentley said the revitalization of Five Points in East Knoxville remains a priority for KDCD.
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is a credit against federal income tax liability each year for 10 years for owners and investors in low-income rental housing. The credits allow KCDC to raise private equity for Phase 4, the final phase of the Five Points Master Plan.
Designed by Knoxville’s BarberMcMurry Architects and Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates and located at the corner of McConnell Street and Kenner Avenue, Phase 4 construction will include 82 one- to five-bedroom units within duplex, triplex and single-family homes designed to reflect the fabric of the surrounding community. Phase 4 will also include a new playground and open green space.
Previous actions at Five Points:
- Beginning in 2009, the city of Knoxville committed $800,000 annually for 10 years to the total Master Plan project for infrastructure improvements. An additional $1.55 million was committed for 2018 in the city’s annual budget and $3.48 million in 2019. All phases of the Five Points Master Plan will use these funds to upgrade infrastructure, add or widen existing streets and construct new sidewalks with lighting to improve walkability and connectivity of housing to the community.
- Johnson Architecture developed a master plan, with extensive community input, as a guide to replace outdated complexes with modern, energy-efficient affordable housing units. This plan built on previous redevelopment in the area, including the adaptive reuse of the Eastport School as The Residences at Eastport, a 60-unit LIHTC project for elderly people.
- Phase 1 of the Five Points project was The Residences at Five Points on Bethel Avenue, a three-story, 90-unit housing complex for the elderly and disabled that opened in July 2017.
- In September 2018, officials held the official ribbon-cutting for the Five Points 2 development on McConnell Avenue – a 10-building, 84-unit housing development.
- The two completed developments include new infrastructure, new sidewalks and lighting, energy-efficient construction and other features; and marks the realization of Phases 1 and 2 of the Five Points Master Plan.
- Earlier this year, KCDC broke ground on the Five Points Phase 3 development, to be built on the west side of McConnell Street along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. Total construction cost for this phase is approximately $13 million. The 28-building, 80-unit development is expected to be completed in the summer of 2019.