Attainable housing project opens in Bentonville
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McAuley Place apartments. Photo: Alex Golden/Axios
A development intended to offer affordable housing to Bentonville School District employees and others making under a certain income is open, with plans for the first residents to move in this week.
Why it matters: The McAuley Place project serves as a blueprint for how housing can be offered to residents below market rate as Northwest Arkansas has seen housing prices rise sharply in recent years.
State of play: Nonprofit Excellerate Foundation opened McAuley Place with 160 units, including 120 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and 40 two-bedroom cottages on the property in front of the Bentonville Community Center off of I Street.
- 35 of the cottages are designated for Bentonville Public Schools employees, while the other five are for Mercy Health System employees, Excellerate Foundation president and CEO Brad Sikorski told Axios. The apartments are for people whose household earns 30%-60% of the area median income, which is about $32,000 to $64,000.
- McAuley already has a waitlist, Sikorski said.
The intrigue: The development also introduces the HOMES Program, which helps eligible Bentonville Schools employees build toward homeownership while living in an affordable home, according to a news release.
- Those participating in the program pay $1,535 in monthly rent, $500 of which is saved for them each month. Excellerate will match up to two-thirds of residents' savings, meaning they could have up to $50,000 after five years for a down payment.
What they're saying: "It's important for the people that educate our children, drive our buses and support our teachers and students to have the opportunity to live in the community they serve," Bentonville school board president Jennifer Faddis said at an opening event Friday.
- Bentonville Public Schools Superintendent Debbie Jones has said the district has had new teachers back out of jobs because they couldn't find an affordable place to live.
By the numbers: The apartments rent for $400 to $900 a month. The cottages rent for $1,035 for those not participating in the HOMES program.
- Typical rent in Bentonville ranges from $1,300 to $1,900 per month, Faddis said.
How it happened: Mercy Health System sold the land to Excellerate below market value at about $1.2 million, Excellerate spokesperson Ali Johnson told Axios.
- The $35 million project is being paid for with $17.4 million in state and federal tax credits; $10 million in philanthropy, including more than $5 million from Excellerate; $5 million in state and federal financing; and $2.7 million in bank financing, former Excellerate CEO Jeff Webster previously told Axios.
What's next: A 6,000-square-foot learning center where Bentonville Public Schools will offer child care and preschool programming is set to open in 2027 on the property.
- The center will also have programming for adults on evenings and weekends.