See inside: Luxury affordable housing opens in Uptown with rooftop pickleball and podcast studio
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Trella Uptown is at 426 N. Tryon St. Photo: Alexandria Sands/Axios
Luxury apartments and public housing usually don't mix. But that's exactly what's happening at a new 353-unit high-rise in Uptown, which is expected to welcome its first residents next month.
Why it matters: Trella Uptown, at Eighth and North Tryon, sets aside 106 of 353 units as "affordable housing," rented at income-based rates. And residents get the same access to all the glossy amenities, from the podcasting studio to rooftop pickleball courts.
The big picture: Trella is the model of what Charlotte's public housing authority, Inlivian, wants to offer moving forward. They worked on the project with Washington, D.C.-based developer Urban Atlantic.
- Rather than concentrating poverty in a cluster of run-down homes, Inlivian has been evolving its strategy over the past decade. The goal is to mix incomes, providing residents the opportunity to live in an urban center, close to jobs and transit, where people are being outpriced.
- "Dignity does not come with a separate entrance," Fulton Meachem, Inlivian's president and CEO, said Thursday before cutting the ribbon on the $137.3 million development.
- Trella is believed to be the first fully integrated mixed-income, luxury housing in North Carolina.
Driving the news: Charlotte is lacking more than 40,000 affordable units to meet the city's needs. Many Trella applicants are expected to be waitlisted due to high demand.
- That deficit represents the estimated number of households making at or below 50% of the area median income, and the amount of rentals considered affordable for that income level, the Charlotte Ledger reported.
- And that gap is widening, fast. It was just 35,025 units in 2023.
By the numbers: The seven-story, 330,000-square-foot Trella building's affordable apartments range from one to three bedrooms. The breakdown is:
- 35 units for residents making 80% of the AMI (approximately $63,000 for one person)
- Two units for residents making 60% AMI ($47,000)
- 37 units for residents making 50% AMI ($40,000)
- 32 units for residents making 30% AMI ($23,000)
- 247 market-rate apartments, starting at $1,333 for one bedrooms and up to $3,600 for three bedrooms, an Inlivian spokesperson told Axios.
Follow the money: Making the project happen required a complex financing structure, with both public and corporate partners.
- That included low-income housing tax credits, a $6 million county contribution, $3.2 million from the city, and private equity and debt.
Flashback: Trella is where Hall House, a 12-story public housing tower, used to be until its demolition in 2022. Construction on Trella began in March 2023 and took nearly three years.
Let's take a peek inside the building, including its amenities and some staged units.
