Southwest Housing Solutions extends out to East Side with Mack-Alter Supportive Housing Development

Southwest Housing Solutions is currently extending its reach beyond Southwest Detroit into the northeast corner of the city. A new three-story construction development on the corner of Mack Avenue and Ashland near the border of Grosse Pointe Park is a partnership between Southwest Housing Solutions, the Warren/Conner Development Coalition (and its subsidiary LAND, Inc.), the Northeast Guidance Center, and the U-SNAP-BAC Community Development Corporation.
 
The $7.9 million, 40,000-square-foot Mack-Alter Supportive Housing Development will feature 39 subsidized supportive housing units as well as 6,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Funded by the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, Southwest Housing Solutions is spearheading this project as the developer as they have the necessary real estate development experience.
 
"This is different for Southwest," says Tim Thorland, Executive Director of Southwest Housing Solutions. "Three groups from the East Side approached us (because they) don’t have the experience as real estate developers and asked (if we would help them) as co-owners. We’re really the project developer (and property manager)."
 
The Northeast Guidance Center will work with its clients to fill the 39 available housing units and the Warren/Conner Development Coalition will handle the commercial spaces. "This is really an example of the power of collaboration between nonprofits in the city," says Thorland. "We’re colleagues with common goals but also competitors (for resources). Here, we’re helping each other achieve what (we all want to do)."
 
This is not the first time Southwest Housing Solutions has partnered on a project outside of its usual neighborhood. They also served as the real estate developer of the Piquette Square project in New Center, which welcomed its first tenants in 2010.
 
Thorland says they expect this project to be completed early this summer, targeting for a full year after initially breaking ground in June 2012.
 
Source: Tim Thorland, Executive Director of Southwest Housing Solutions
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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