Memorial Square gets city boost

Janet Imrick

Randolph Hub

ASHEBORO — Builders for the Memorial Square Apartments are getting additional help from the city for the rising costs. The Asheboro City Council approved a request for a loan at the Aug. 8 regular meeting, the same day they approved two rezoning requests.

Senior housing gap financing

Community Development Director Trevor Nuttall told the city council that project delays led to increased costs for Memorial Square Apartments, a four-story, 48-unit housing complex that will go up at 216 Lanier Avenue.

Wynnefield Forward, LLC has asked for additional funding from the Redevelopment Commission to induce the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency to reserve low-income housing credits for Memorial Square.

It asked the city for a $650,000 gap financing loan. The Redevelopment Commission recommended the city increase its rate from 2 percent to no more than 4 percent.

Davis Ray appeared before the city council to represent Wynnefield Forward. He said that since 2022, the cost per square foot has increased from about $92,000 to $112,000. “This is running tight as it can run right now. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel,” Ray said.

Finance Director Deborah Reaves said the city can provide money from Cash Reserves, which normally has an interest rate of 5 percent. In city staff’s proposal to city council, they recommended keeping it at 2 percent, the same rate they used when providing similar funding to Asheboro Mill Lofts and Sunset Place.

Mayor Pro Tem Walker Moffitt advocated for 2 percent, saying the city would benefit from a new building instead of dealing with costly renovations to old buildings, and it will generate property tax revenue, whereas money that sits in Cash Reserves earns the city nothing.

Council members Joseph Trogdon Jr. and Kelly Heath argued the interest rate was too low and said they would vote for the commission’s recommendation.

After the discussion, Ray said they would accept a loan at 4 percent. The city council approved gap financing with 4 percent interest and payments of $26,000 a year, with a term of 20 years.

Church, subdivision rezoned

The First Assembly of God asked to rezone its land on Meadowbrook Road. The city council approved changing the 13 acres to Office and Institutional zoning. In his request, Pastor Dave Snyder explained the R10 Medium Density Residential zoning was restricting his church’s ability to add an electronic sign.

The city also approved a rezoning request for Hillcrest Farm Estates, a development encompassing more than 90 acres along Zoo Parkway and Newbern Avenue, near Teachey Elementary. This development is still planning to build 350 residences, but Ridge Road Partners, LLC asked to change their original plan for building phases and change the arrangement of single-family dwellings and townhomes.

They will build 252 detached single-family homes and 98 townhomes which can be in rows of eight, instead of 286 single-family homes and 64 townhomes in rows of no more than seven. They are also making changes to the street layout and including a new cul-de-sac. To make the changes, they asked for the area to be rezoned to an amended R7.5 (CZ) district for a Residential Planned Unit Development.