Provident Realty Advisors Inc. is teaming with New York City's CharterMac and Related Capital Co. to develop the Providence at Veterans Memorial, a 33.6-acre community that will sit at the intersection of Veterans Memorial Drive and Gears Road. CharterMac fueled the project with the $16.3-million purchase of tax-exempt and taxable bonds, with a 40-year term and amortization schedule. Related Capital put up $6.5 million in equity. According to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the tax credits will generate $677,432 per year for 10 years for Related Capital. The debt component carried a 6.6% fixed-interest rate financing for the first $15 million and 8.5% for the balance.

Saleem A Jafar, partner and managing director with Provident Odyssey Partners LP, the developer's affiliate, tells GlobeSt.com that the land and financing package closed simultaneously--a must-have because the firm doesn't undertake speculative projects. The Providence at Veterans Memorial, which will deliver in February 2005, is the firm's first affordable housing project in Houston, but it won't be the last, he says. In the past year, Provident and the pair of financial backers have built more than 1,000 affordable housing apartments in the state.

Providence at Veterans Memorial is designed with two-story, townhouse-style units on land adjacent to an elementary school. Designed with upscale exteriors with stucco and stone, covered porches and pitched roofs, the 17 apartment buildings will contain two-bedroom units with a minimum of 1,017 sf and three-bedroom designs with 1,325 sf and up.