Affordable Housing Making Significant Progress in Nashville

Red Oak Flats at Cayce, Nashville, TN affordable housing groundbreaking by local leadership and HUD SE Regional Administrator Denise Cleveland-Leggett (seventh from the right). Photo courtesy MDHA.

HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Denise Cleveland-Leggett with Metropolitan Nashville law enforcement officers at Red Oak Flats groundbreaking.

HUD SE Regional Administrator Denise Cleveland-Leggett participates in Red Oak Flats at Cayce groundbreaking

The third week of August was marked by the celebratory groundbreaking of Red Oak Flats at Cayce in Nashville as HUD Regional Administrator Denise Cleveland-Leggett joined Mayor David Briley, Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency leadership, Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) representatives and elected officials marking Envision Cayce's fifth new residential construction and fourth mixed-income development. Red Oak Flats is a four-story apartment building and features 102 apartments, with 45 set aside for Cayce Place residents. The remaining 57 units will be a mix of workforce and market-rate and once completed will be less than a mile from downtown.

"Today is the latest chapter in the new era of our city - one that brings everyone along," said Mayor David Briley. "Red Oak Flats and related mixed-income developments are exactly what my Under One Roof 2029 affordable housing program is about - deconcentrating poverty and allowing people to afford to live in the urban core. I'd like to thank MDHA and our federal partners for their continued hard work to make this a reality."

"The city of Nashville, MDHA and community leadership are to be commended for their vision and continued commitment to make a difference in the lives of those we mutually serve," said HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Denise Cleveland-Leggett. "Red Oaks Flats is evidence of that commitment and continued efforts to address the affordable housing challenges in Nashville."

The development is being constructed by R.G. Anderson Company Inc. and is being financially supported with a combination of HOME funds, a market rate loan, a Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) loan, as well as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), competitively awarded by THDA.

Red Oak Flats development features covered parking, a computer room, a large courtyard and a playground. Each apartment also includes an outdoor space such as a balcony or porch.

"During a recent visit to the site, I couldn't help but notice the viewpoint from Red Oak Flats. You can see current Cayce, the downtown Nashville skyline, two of our new residential construction developments coming out of the ground and the brand new Explore! Community School," said MDHA Executive Director Jim Harbison. "This site gives us a glimpse of the past, new present and the future - a future where people of all backgrounds, incomes and views can live and thrive together."

Red Oak Flats is expected to be completed in 2021.

The new construction is part of the larger strategic MDHA's plan to rebuild Cayce Place, Nashville's largest subsidized housing which is home to almost 800 families. The Envision Cayce Master Plan calls for more than 2,000 units and is focused on ensuring a one-for-one replacement of all subsidized units while adding new affordable, workforce and market-rate units.

MDHA plans to break ground on the next two residential construction developments at Envision Cayce in 2020.

###