East McCarty low-income apartments denied funding

Developer hopes to plan alternative Jefferson City project

The proposed 50-unit East McCarty Lofts housing project is dead, among those unfunded Thursday by the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) in bids to receive low-income housing tax credits.

The decision was posted on the MHDC website Thursday, hours before the commissioners were to meet Friday morning in Columbia.

Entrepreneurs Enterprises LLC, a Kansas City-based developer, had sought state and federal assistance to help make its proposal financially viable.

East McCarty Lofts, proposed for the 700 block of McCarty at Lafayette Street, would have offered 11 one-bedroom units with a projected rent of $335-$454 per month, 33 two-bedroom units with a projected rent of $400-$550 and six three-bedroom units at $500-$685. The complex would have targeted working families earning $24,000-$28,000 per year.

The decision not to favor the Jefferson City project followed an October public hearing in Columbia attended by 20 Jefferson Citians who opposed East McCarty Lofts. The MHDC examined 21 proposals seeking public funding at the hearing. East McCarty Lofts was the only one that attracted negative testimony. The developer did not advocate for its support at the hearing.

"Now we really need to look at the area and see how to make it the best it can be," Jefferson City resident Donna Deetz, one of the leaders of the delegation of October protesters, said of the MHDC decision to deny tax credits to the project.

In its brief summary of the rejection, which it provides for all of the proposals it receives, the MHDC said of the East McCarty Lofts, "Well-intended proposal; site was not ideal."

Similar proposals from Central Missouri were endorsed, however, including those from Columbia, Mexico, Boonville, Kirksville, Marshall and Hannibal.

Maximillian Howell, a principal in Entrepreneurs Enterprises, told the News Tribune on Thursday he and his colleagues are hopeful they can work with Jefferson City officials and residents "to get another development that the community can surround and support, and that they will believe more deserving."

Entrepreneurs Enterprises, officed on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, has existing housing developments in Branson and Hollister but none in Jefferson City. Howell said the firm has family connections to Jefferson City, has established contacts with city government and tried to connect with community activists to win their support for a future project.

"We've spoken with a lot of community members about this, and they believe we can find a project more deserving than (East McCarty Lofts)," Howell said. While he said it was too soon to speculate on what site might be chosen for such a project, he was excited to learn the East Capitol Avenue urban renewal project is near a launch date. The lofts venture would have been in the urban renewal area.

The General Assembly created the MHDC in 1969. It administers and provides financing for the construction of affordable housing. Mortgage financing is facilitated through the sale of mortgage-backed securities and through the sale of tax-exempt bonds the commission is authorized to issue. The MHDC administers the federal and Missouri Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) programs and several other housing assistance programs, including funds for permanent housing for the homeless.