Group breaks ground on west side mixed-income project
It has been a busy week in Salt Lake City for affordable housing. On Tuesday local and city officials celebrated the completion of the 9th Lofts at Bennion Plaza and today local and city officials broke ground on a large mixed-income project on the North Temple.
The project, the North Temple Flats, replaces the former Sleep Cheap Motel and a small mobile home community on the 2000 West block of North Temple. The development is one of the several residential projects underway in the area surrounding the 1940 West TRAX Station on North Temple.
“The TRAX is a huge part of what we look for,” said Rusty Snow, the vice president of Summit Housing Group, the developers of the North Temple Flats.
The Flats is the Summit group’s second recent affordable housing project in Salt Lake. The group developed the Ballpark Apartments, a six-story 62-unit affordable housing development on the 1300 South block of West Temple.
Like the North Temple Flats, the Ballpark Apartments are close to a TRAX station. Unlike the Flats, the Ballpark project is entirely affordable and the units are reserved for residents over the age of 55.
The North Temple Flats project will have a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments. The project consists of three four-story buildings with a combined 168 units, with 70 market-rate units and 98 affordable units. The units will be a mix of one and two bedroom apartments. Almost a third of the units, 29 will be reserved for special needs residents with five units reserved for residents transitioning from homelessness, 14 units set aside for residents with physical disabilities and 10 units reserved for residents with developmental disabilities. The remaining affordable units will be set aside for residents earning between 30 to 55 percent Area Median Income (AMI), or residents with yearly incomes around $20,000 to $30,000.
“We took the extra step with the amenities to ensure that the both the market-rate and affordable units are competitive,” said Snow.
Amenities for the North Temple Flats will include a clubroom, fitness room, pool, playground, dog park, computer room, wellness room and seven electric car charging stations.
The North Temple Flats is one of many affordable and mixed-income projects built near a transit station. The six-story 9th East Lofts is less than a block from the 900 East TRAX station, the 600 Lofts at State Street and 600 South is just over a block from the Courthouse TRAX station. The Moda Granary Place is a just over a block from the 900 South TRAX station.
According to Snow, the demand for parking is lower with affordable housing projects. Snow cited the Ballpark Apartments which have 50 parking stalls for 62 units and the parking is only 50 percent occupied. The North Temple Flats will have 0.93 parking stalls per unit.
The North Temple Flats is one of three projects under construction within a block of the 1940 West North Temple TRAX station. The other two projects, the West Station Apartments phase two and the Orange Street Apartments, will be market rate developments.
