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Affordable housing complex opens in mill community

Molly Hulsey //October 18, 2021//

Affordable housing complex opens in mill community

Molly Hulsey //October 18, 2021//

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Affordable housing advocates and civic leaders from across county lines toured Spartanburg’s 500 Northside Station, a 90-apartment complex on the campus of the bygone Spartan Mills for the first time today. 

Nonprofit Northside Development Group considers the project to be the catalyst of their redevelopment work in the neighborhood. 

“This has been a long time coming,” Michael Williamson, CEO of the Northside Development Group, told the crowd at the ribbon cutting. “This project has been here before I was here, so I think that makes it seven years in the making.” 

The urban-style building is a mixed-income community with nine market-rate units and 81 units for residents and with incomes ranging from 30% to 80% of area median income levels, developed through public-private partnerships between the city of Spartanburg, Spartanburg Housing, NHE Inc. and SCG Development. 

“As many have said before, partnerships are key to what we do,” Williamson said.

So far, 60% of the building has been leased, according to NHE’s Dawn Hall. 

Spartanburg Housing is committed to creating more affordable housing opportunities for the Spartanburg community,” Shaunté Evans, CEO of Spartanburg Housing, said in the release. “We are happy that we were able to be a strategic partner to help move Northside Station from a concept to a place where families can thrive.” 

The project was also supported by Community Works and the City of Spartanburg. JHP Architecture & Urban Design served as architects on the project, with Creative Builders Inc. serving as the general contractor. Tax exempt bonds and Low Income Housing Tax Credits credits from the S.C. State Housing Finance and Development Authority were used to finance the project. 

500 Northside Station joins more than 90 other NHE-managed affordable housing properties in markets across the Palmetto State, from Spartanburg and Gaffney to Rock Hill, Charleston and Greenville. 

“We continue to explore the right opportunities in markets across South Carolina for addition of high-quality affordable housing like this and are pleased to work with Northside Development and all of the other partners in this project to bring 500 Northside Station to reality,” Taylor Davis, CEO of NHE, said in the release. 

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