Housing Trust Group (HTG), an award-winning multifamily developer and one of the nation's top affordable housing developers, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mario Robaina II as Chief Financial Officer. Mario was promoted from Vice President of Finance to the new role. As CFO, he will be responsible for accounting, budgeting and forecasting, strategic planning, cash management, and asset management for the entire HTG enterprise. He reports to President and CEO Matthew A. Rieger.

HTG is a multifamily residential community developer with over 6,000 affordable and market-rate units throughout Florida, Texas, and Arizona, as well as more than 2,000 new apartments in the pipeline.

“Mario is an integral member of our team whose leadership skills, successful track record in finance and dedication to the mission of HTG has earned him the position of Chief Financial Officer,” said Matthew A. Rieger.

Mario joined HTG in 2015 as VP of Finance, where he oversaw structuring, modeling, underwriting, negotiating, and closing a range of multifamily 9 percent and 4 percent LIHTC developments. Prior to joining HTG, he held various roles at Cornerstone Group and Flagler, and had closed over $1 billion in new construction, redevelopment, and refinancing real estate transactions including condominium, market-rate rental, LIHTC rental, commercial, office, and industrial developments.

Mario received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and holds an MBA from the University of Miami focusing on Finance and Management.

Crescent Place will deliver 40 affordable apartments to Chicago’s Arlington Heights

CHICAGO (July 15, 2022) – Housing Trust Group (HTG), one of the nation’s largest developers of affordable housing, has closed on financing and broken ground on Crescent Place, a new $18.2 million affordable housing community in Arlington Heights, Illinois – roughly 25 minutes north of Downtown Chicago. Apartments at Crescent Place will be reserved for income-qualifying residents who earn at or below 30 and 60 percent of area median income (AMI), with rents ranging from $524 to $1,258 per month. Eight of the 40 units at Crescent Place are reserved using Section 811 rental assistance for persons with disabilities to live independently in the community. The property is scheduled to deliver in the spring of 2023.

Crescent Place is a joint venture between HTG and non-profit developer Turnstone Development Corporation, whose focus is to facilitate the creation and preservation of affordable housing in Illinois and Florida. 

“We are delighted to enter the state of Illinois with the development of Crescent Place, which will provide 40 high-quality, affordable apartments for small families and young professionals who want to live close to where they work,” said Matthew A. Rieger, President and CEO of HTG. “We are deeply grateful to the Illinois Housing Development Authority and Cook County for their support, to our development partner Turnstone, and to the many neighborhood advocates who championed this project on behalf of those who are suffering the most from the ongoing affordable housing crisis. We look forward to bringing HTG’s signature high-quality affordable housing to a community that needs it.”

Located on a 2.3-acre lot at 310 W Rand Road, the four-story community will offer a mix of one-, and two--bedroom units ranging from 646 square feet to 880 square feet. Amenities will include a community room, library, computer cafe, fitness room, tenant storage compartments, bicycle storage, and 80 outdoor parking spaces (8 of which are designed to meet ADA parking standards). Other features include a resident garden, an outdoor patio, and a walkway tying into the existing public sidewalk system.

Funding sources for Crescent Place include a $10.9 million construction loan and $1.6 million permanent loan from BMO Harris Bank; $12.1 million in 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credit Equity from National Equity Fund (NEF); $4 million from the COVID-19 Affordable Housing Grant Program provided by the Illinois Housing Development Authority; and a $110,214 ComEd grant for building to energy efficient standards.

The project team for Crescent Place includes general contractor Henry Bros Co., civil engineering Groundwork, landscape architect Krogstad Land Design, architect UrbanWorks Architecture, energy efficiency consultant Eco Achievers and property manager UpHoldings.

About Housing Trust Group   
Housing Trust Group (HTG) is an award-winning full-service developer of multifamily residential communities whose real estate transactions exceed $3 billion in commercial, land and residential developments across Florida, Texas, Illinois and Arizona. HTG develops, builds and manages a diverse portfolio of affordable housing, workforce housing, market-rate housing, and mixed-use developments. For more information, please visit www.htgf.com.

Housing Trust Group (HTG), an award-winning multifamily developer and one of the nation’s largest developers of affordable housing, announces the opening of Lafayette Gardens, a $21 million affordable housing community in Tallahassee, Florida. Lafayette Gardens delivers 96 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $415 to $1,093 per month available for income-qualifying individuals who make at or below 33 percent of area median income (AMI) or 60 percent of AMI. The property is 100 percent occupied.

HTG’s first development in Florida’s capital in several years, Lafayette Gardens is located at 1211 East Lafayette Street on a 5.76-acre site in the Woodland Drives neighborhood, approximately 1.5 miles from downtown. The site is in close proximity to many local businesses and stores, schools, parks and more, making it perfectly situated for families who work in the area to have the opportunity to cut their commutes.

“As rent and cost of living continues to skyrocket, so many working Americans are being priced out of the places they call home. Those people are the backbone of our local economies, and our goal has always been to create homes to keep them in the community,” said HTG President and CEO Matthew A. Rieger. “Lafayette Gardens has given Tallahassee’s working class a place they can call home, and we are proud to continue to make housing affordable for local families who need it.”

Lafayette Gardens is a garden-style community made up of four three-story buildings with apartments ranging from 709 square feet (one bedroom) to 1,159 square feet (three bedroom). Community amenities include a clubhouse, pool, playground, media center, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a bike/walk trail, and dog park. Residents will also have access to employment assistance, financial management, and literacy services on-site. The property is conveniently located just off Apalachee Parkway, close to popular performance venue The Moon, DeSoto Site Historic State Park and Cascades Park.

Funding sources for Lafayette Gardens include an initial $15 million construction loan by Chase Bank, $16.1 million in 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit Equity (LIHTC) provided by Raymond James and a $4.8 million permanent loan through Freddie Mac/Walker & Dunlop.

The project team for Lafayette Gardens includes general contractor Hennessy Construction Services; architect Fugleberg-Koch; engineering firm Inovia Group; interior designer Stiles Interiors; and landscape architect Wood + Partners. Both Inovia and Wood + Partners are Tallahassee-based firms.

Housing Trust Group (HTG), an award-winning multifamily developer and one of the nation’s leading developers of affordable housing, announces that it delivered 670 affordable housing units in 2021 – a year that will most likely go down in history for recording the biggest jump in apartment rent prices ever.

National median rental prices increased 17.8 percent since the beginning of the year, but many regions saw rents climb even higher – like South Florida, where rents jumped an alarming 36 percent year over year. 

By contrast, affordable housing communities like those that HTG develops and manages charge rents that are often a quarter or half of market rate rental communities, for residents that income-qualify (usually earning somewhere between 30 percent to 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI).

Needless to say, these apartments fill up quickly; all of the communities HTG opened in 2021 – Oaks at Lakeside (Bradenton), Twin Lakes Estates II (Lakeland), Max’s Landing (Miami), Village View (Fort Lauderdale), Valencia Grove II (Eustis) and Lafayette Gardens (Tallahassee), and Father Marquess Barry Apartments (Miami) – were fully occupied upon opening and each with long waiting lists.

“While we are proud to have made a positive impact in the communities in which we delivered much-needed affordable housing this year, we are humbled by the sheer level of need across the country,” said Matthew A. Rieger, President and CEO of HTG. “Over the last two years, the affordable housing crisis in the United States has gone from bad to worse and we’re now facing a shortage of more than 7 million affordable apartments. Our sincere hope is that our leaders in Washington D.C. will utilize the opportunity to act with the Build Back Better bill and allocate significantly more resources to the financing and building of new affordable housing.” 

In 2021, HTG also broke ground on three new affordable housing developments in Florida – Bryce Landing (Jacksonville), Shoreline Villas (Fort Walton Beach) and Park Ridge (Mulberry), closed on the purchase of two parcels of land in Texas that will be developed in 2022, and received approval for tax credits for a new development in Illinois, in addition to continuing construction on five other developments financed in 2020. HTG also submitted applications for low income housing tax credits (LIHTC) – the primary tool for subsidizing the cost of new affordable development – in five different states: Florida, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Arizona, winning numerous awards.

For more information on HTG, visit www.htgf.com.

Housing Trust Group (HTG), an award-winning multifamily developer and one of the nation’s leading developers of affordable housing, announces the opening of three new affordable housing communities in Southern and Central Florida: Valencia Grove II in Eustis, Twin Lakes Estates II in Lakeland and Oaks at Lakeside in Bradenton. The three communities delivered a combined total of 338 new affordable apartments reserved for income-qualifying residents in communities where the demand for affordable housing vastly exceeds the supply.

“Rents throughout Central Florida are rising at a pace faster than we have ever witnessed,” said Matthew A. Rieger, President and CEO of HTG. “While it’s gratifying to deliver these brand new communities at a time when the need is so urgent, the reality is that with thousands of people moving to Florida every day we need to build twice or triple the amount to meet the demand. Florida’s economy is heavily dependent on service workers – and those people need safe, clean and affordable places to live. If we want Florida to remain a place where service workers and seniors on restricted incomes are welcomed and able to provide for their families, then we need to prioritize the creation of more affordable housing.” 

In Eustis, just north of Orlando, Valencia Grove II is a new community for seniors (age 62 and over) with 110 one- and two-bedroom spacious rental homes for residents earning 22 percent, 35 percent, and 60 percent of area median income (AMI). Rents range from $286 to $937 for income-qualifying residents. The development is a partnership between HTG and non-profit AM Affordable Housing Inc., an organization founded by former Miami Heat player and NBA Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning, marking the third collaboration between the two partners. Situated ideally near both dine-in and take out restaurants, community centers and shopping centers, the community offers amenities that include a clubhouse with a state-of-the-art fitness center, a theatre room, a swimming pool, a picnic pavilion, a courtyard, shuffleboard courts, and a community garden.

Twin Lakes Estates II is a partnership between HTG and the Lakeland Housing Authority to redevelop an aging public housing complex on the southern tip of Lake Beulah (formerly West Lake Apartments) into a new, affordable community with state-of-the-art amenities. Twin Lakes Estates II is a 132-unit apartment community that offers rent ranges from $437 to $908 for residents earning at or below 40 to 60 percent of AMI. Amenities include a fully loaded 3,400-square-foot clubhouse with a large community room and catering kitchen, a lounge room and computer lab, picnic pavilion, walking promenades and a playground.

Oaks at Lakeside, located in Bradenton, is a 96-unit apartment community reserved for residents earning at or below 60 percent of AMI. It is HTG’s second affordable apartment community in the town of Bradenton; the firm also developed The Addison. The property offers one- two- and three-bedroom apartments and amenities include a 4,300-square-foot clubhouse, a swimming pool, a picnic and barbecue pavilion, a dog park, a playground and gazebos. Rents range from $335 to $1,270 per month.

For more information on each of these communities, visit www.htgf.com.

Village View delivers 100 new apartments for seniors in one of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods 

ANF Group, Inc., a full-service construction firm providing construction management, general contracting, development, and design-build services, is pleased to announce the completion of Village View, a 100-unit affordable apartment community located in the Flagler Village neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Village view was developed by Housing Trust Group (HTG), an award-winning multifamily developer and one of the nation’s leading developers of affordable housing. Apartments at the seven-story community are reserved for seniors (55 and older) earning at or below 30, 60 and 70 percent of area median income (AMI), with monthly rents ranging from $402 to $1,296.

“As demand for multifamily housing continues to be on the rise, we are excited to have been part of this residential project providing much needed affordable housing to residents in our community,” said Al Fernandez, President of ANF Group.  “We are proud to have completed this development in the Flagler Village neighborhood for HTG.”

Located at 640 N. Andrews Avenue, Village View consists of 68 one-bedroom apartments and 32 two-bedroom apartment homes ranging from 700 square feet to over 1,100 square feet, with terraces on both the first and third floors. Community amenities include a business/media center, a resort-style swimming pool with hardscape patio, a state-of-the-art fitness center, on-site management and maintenance, a pocket park, and structured parking. Units include open floor plans with porcelain floors, kitchens with granite countertops and full-size Energy Star kitchen appliances, and washer and dryers. Four of the ground-floor units offer direct access to the sidewalk via stoop entrances – fostering further connectivity between the building and the surrounding neighborhood. Camera and key fob access provide an added level of security to the community. The property is built to National Green Building Standards (NGBS).

The building design team for Village View included general contractor ANF Group; architect Corwil Architects; structural engineers Bliss & Nyitray, Inc; and MEP by Franyie Engineers, Inc. Thomas Engineering served as the civil engineer and landscape architect, while B. Pila Design Studio was the interior designer. This is Housing Trust Group’s second affordable community in Fort Lauderdale. 

Entering its 40th year in business, the award-winning firm ANF Group is perhaps best known for building the $80 million Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, the $50 million Nova Southeastern University Center for Collaborative Research Facility in Davie, and for its work on approximately 150 different projects for Memorial Healthcare System.  Founded in 1981, ANF is a family-owned and operated business led by Alberto Fernandez, Jr., Nelson Fernandez, and Alberto Gil. While continuing to maintain its healthcare-sector focus, the firm continues to expand into multifamily, residential, and industrial spaces.