WILMINGTON — Long-term connections are key to REACH Riverside’s plans to forge ahead with the transformative Imani Village, including its partnership with Cinnaire which has worked to finance the next phase of homes in the neighborhood.
Cinnaire, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) which has offices in Wilmington, announced it had closed on the largest low-income housing tax credit fund in the organization’s history. The $340 million fund includes tax credits for the fourth phase of Imani Village in Riverside Wilmington. The project, spearheaded by REACH Riverside, looks to tear down 70-year-old homes in the neighborhood and build 600 new ones; this recent round of Cinnaire funds 84 new units.
REACH Riverside CEO and President Logan Herring said that this funding round is just the latest step in his organization’s long partnership with the group. Cinnaire was REACH Riverside’ tax credit syndicator for the first two phases of Imani Village.
The low-income housing tax credit has long been a tool of business owners and developers to help bring more homes to America since the 1980s by subsidizing investors for buying, building or rehabilitation of low-and moderate-income homes. Investors are able to take a 10-year federal tax credit and tax losses in exchange for capital in a housing project. For Cinnaire, it’s also one of the major tools to help partner organizations get the funds to see a project through in four Midwest states as well as Delaware.
It’s estimated that there’s $30 million in tax credit equity spread between all five current and future phases of Imani Village, according to officials.
“It’s the primary financing vehicle for our housing, so without it and Cinnaire’s experience, we’d have to find an alternative form in capital,” REACH Riverside Chief Community Investment Officer Dave Ford said. “To have someone in your hometown that has a national presence as well as a local commitment is a pretty damn good thing. Relationships matter.”
Imani Village welcomed its first residents in 2022, once the first townhomes were built in the project boundary of Northeast Boulevard and the Brandywine Creek to the city limits. The project ranges from apartments, townhomes and senior living units, as well select units set aside for veterans and individuals with disabilities. In each phase, a set amount of units are set aside for residents with incomes from 30% to 60% of area median income (AMI) and 15 workforce housing units.
With 141 homes built and completely leased out, the third phase, which includes 101 units of mixed-income units, is ahead of schedule and tenants are set to move in by January. Cinnaire has also provided a grant for a splash pad and a community park in Imani Village’s town green.
The CDFI funds are also a welcome sign of stability for REACH Riverside, as Imani Village had also received a historic $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That federal agency is looking at deep cuts under the pending federal budget, though Ford said that the Choice Neighborhood Program, which administered the grant, was unscathed for now.
“It changes day by day. Our existing contracts are all working as planned now, albeit the staffing is cut so dramatically, so the timing and responsiveness is a bit drawn out,” Ford said.
Herring said that REACH Riverside’s partnership with Cinnaire also allows the project to secure favorable pricing for a $500 million project that has spanned years.
“There’s no secret that Delaware, and the entire country for that matter, is under a housing crisis and a housing shortage. To have that pricing provided to us on a consistent basis allows us not only to do financial modeling but to move dollars around where we can best use and most needed,” Herring said.
“That’s dollars we might not have to get from philanthropy and we can reallocate to the new Kingswood Community Center or a possible grocery store,” he added. “The ability to leverage as much money as possible through Cinnaire is critical.”
