Two of Cinnaire’s investments have been selected as finalists for the 2022 Affordable Housing Finance (AHF) Readers’ Choice Awards. Kinser Flats, a 50-unit supportive housing project in Bloomington, IN, is a finalist in the Special Needs category and 1300 Residences, a 50-unit senior and veterans housing project in River Falls, WI, is a finalist in the Green category. AHF recently announced 36 outstanding developments have been named finalists in the 2022 AHF Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards. The developments show the enormous range of housing being built for families, seniors, farmworkers, veterans, and people with special needs. In its 18th year, the program recognizes the best affordable housing developments nationally in 10 categories.
Winners in each category are selected by reader votes, Please join us in voting for Kinser Flats and 1300 Residences by clicking here to vote! AHF magazine and newsletter subscribers can vote online for the 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards until August 24th, 2022. The winners will be recognized at AHF Live: The Affordable Housing Developers Summit, November 14 – 16 in Chicago.
We extend our congratulations to our partners at Centerstone, Milner and Caringella, 1300 LLC and West Cap for being recognized as finalists for the 2022 AHF Readers’ Choice Awards!
Kinser Flats
Special Needs Finalist
Developers: Centerstone of Indiana; Milner & Caringella, Inc.
Located in Bloomington, IN, Kinser Flats provides 50-units of affordable housing paired with support services for homeless families and individuals with substance abuse disorders or co-occuring substance abuse and mental health disorders. The project was designed to include space for onsite recovery-focused support services for tenants provided by Centerstone, a nonprofit health system providing mental health and substance use disorder treatments. Kinser Flats operates as a low-barrier facility guided by the Housing First, harm-reduction approach, which prioritizes housing as a foundation for life improvement. The development, the first project of its kind in Indiana, addresses the need to provide affordable, accessible housing for people struggling with homelessness and substance abuse.
The four-level Kinser Flats building includes 38 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom units. The innovative development provides modern, light-filled interiors and spacious floor plans and is conveniently located near public transportation. Each unit includes a bedroom, kitchen, and living area furnished with appliances, beds, chairs, tables, and a couch. Residents are provided with towels and bed linens.
Cinnaire provided a $9.5 million LIHTC investment and a $400,000 predevelopment loan to support Kinser Flats. Cinnaire’s investment was facilitated by CDFI Friendly Bloomington, a nonprofit organization established to connect local investment opportunities with regional and national CDFIs. Additional funding partners include the City of Bloomington Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND), the Bloomington Housing Authority, Old National Bank, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (FHLBI), and the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA).
1300 Residences
Green Finalist
Developer: 1300 LLC; West CAP
Located on Main Street in River Falls, WI, 1300 Residences provides 50-units of much needed affordable housing both for the local workforce and some very low-income senior, disabled, and veteran households in one of the fastest growing towns in western Wisconsin. The development team worked with Cornerstone Architects to design not only high-quality, affordable multi-family housing in a community that needs it, but to also meaningfully address climate change and contribute to the sustainability of a future we all share.
As the sun shines on 1300 Residences, some truly remarkable things begin to happen: 580 photoelectric panels silently begin to transform the free, perfectly clean, and endless renewable sunlight into electricity. Three larger Smartflowers, each with 12 solar panels of its own, open and begin to follow the sun across the sky. The electricity that these solar panels generate power state of the art air source variable flow heat pumps that harvest equally clean and renewable energy right out of thin air. The result – 50 households will wake up warm on a winter morning, stay comfortably cool on the hottest summer day, and make breakfast in a kitchen featuring an abundance of sunlight brought in through super insulated glass windows. Not only that, but even though these households earn less, some far less than 80% of area median income, they have a few extra dollars to spend each month because the sunlight is free, and those energy cost savings are passed along to the residents. 1300 received recognition from the Green Built Home’s certification with the highest score ever awarded on an affordable housing development.
Cinnaire provided a $5.5 million investment to support the $11.7 million project. 1300 Residences received widespread community support, including from state and local partners. The cutting edge, solar based development provides a unique living experience for residents and has been warmly welcomed by the River Falls community.