Mixed Income Housing Development a Win for Residents, for Neighborhood, for Developer
Photo Credit: Villa del Sol Website Photo Gallery
Villa del Sol, developed by McCormack Baron and Salazar in 1997 has been a victory for the neighborhood residents, for the residents of the development, for the developer and its many sponsors. Located on Kansas City’s Westside Villa del Sol replaced West Pennway housing project, 222 deteriorated units owned by the Housing Authority of Kansas City. The new development lowered the density by 40% and is comprised of 130 units, a mix of 65 units reserved for public housing eligible residents, 25 tax credit units for households with incomes below 50 and 60% of area median, 30 rental units at market rate and 10 for sale single family homes. Built in 1997, Villa del Sol turned a seriously deteriorated and crime ridden development into a national award winning mixed use development.
McCormack Baron and Salazar has been designated by the Harvard Business Review as one of the top three developers of affordable rental housing in America. The challenges in creating this kind of development are many: assembling multiple sources of financing which permit rents for extremely low income up to market rate, constructing homes that are compatible with the neighborhood, having defensible space which can withstand the test of time, selecting good tenants who pay the rent on time, take care of the property and live well with people different from themselves, and forming working partnerships with the neighborhood, the City, the State, HUD and private philanthropists. Now in its 24th year of operation Villa del Sol continues to be a true asset to the Westside.
Community leader and former City Councilman, Robert Hernandez was born and raised a block from was then West Pennway and has since built a new home on the Westside just three blocks from Villa del Sol. Says Hernandez, “for all of us who worked hard to make Villa del Sol a reality, it is a dream come true: it has turned what was once a haven for criminals and drug lords and a seriously deteriorated property into a gem, a treasure for the Westside. I walk the development regularly; it is always well maintained; it does my heart goo to see very low income people living in harmony with middle class people. You genuinely can’t tell who lives where; all the homes are attractive. Clearly McCormack Baron is doing their job and the residents are proud and happy to live there.”
For more information, contact
Colleen Hernandez
Hernandez Consulting LLC WBE