NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A joint-venture between New Jersey developer and entrepreneur Adenah Bayoh and community organizer Octavia Frazier-Porter, has applied for a nine-percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) for the affordable housing community, Southside View. The 40-unit property will be located at 654-668 South 11th Street in Newark’s South Ward.
If awarded by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, Southside View would be the first woman-owned and Black-owned real estate development entity in New Jersey to receive this beneficial funding.
“Affordable housing finance in New Jersey has a blind spot when it comes to race and gender,” said Bayoh. “Newark needs projects like Southside View, both to help the city reach its five-year plan of creating 6,660 new affordable housing units and to bridge the disparity, especially the racial disparity, of who gets to decide what gets built in our community and how. I am compelled to use my platform to bring attention to the lack of Black women in affordable housing development. It is my hope that by receiving this tax credit, I can inspire other women and girls to enter this sector and change the lives of families across the country. The affordable housing crisis isn’t just a New Jersey issue, it’s an American issue.”
The proposed five-story, 100% affordable housing community will transform an underutilized parcel near the corner of Springfield Avenue, a major Newark corridor, into homes for 40 families with low and very low incomes and advance the on-going revitalization of the Kent-Brenner-Springfield Redevelopment Area.
The community will comprise six one-bedroom, 24 two-bedroom, and 10 three-bedroom apartment homes. Thirty-four apartments will be reserved for households with incomes of 60% Area Median Income (AMI) or less, five apartments will be reserved for homeless households, and one superintendent’s unit will be non-income restricted.
Southside View’s design and programming have been tailored to the needs of the community. Supportive services offered to residents will include job training, financial management and credit counseling, as well as health, wellness, and counseling programs. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, having reliable access to high-speed internet has become a growing equity issue. To address this hurdle, residents of Southside View will have access to free high-speed internet on site and in-unit.
Each unit will include central heating and air conditioning and luxury vinyl flooring. Residents will have access to free on-site parking and laundry facilities as well as a beautifully designed community center for programmed activities and an on-site management/leasing office.
To foster a healthy living environment for residents and lower operating costs and maintenance needs, energy saving measures will be incorporated into the building’s design. These will include energy-efficient refrigerators, stovetops, ovens, and dishwashers. The development is expected to earn green building certification through the New Jersey Energy Star program.
Other members of the development team include architectural firm Kitchen and Associates, Grant Engineering and Construction Group, municipal attorney Connell Foley, professional property management MMS Group, and housing consultant Monarch Housing Associates.
Since 2012, Bayoh has successfully developed 373 units of rental housing, including 251 of restricted affordable units financed by federal LIHTC. Affordable housing represents 67 percent of Bayoh’s total development portfolio to date. However, Southside View would be the first project on which Bayoh is the lead developer.
About Southside View LLC
Southside View LLC is co-owned by the dynamic team of Adenah Bayoh and Octavia Frazier-Porter, who are both community-focused and minority-owned developers of multifamily housing.
About Adenah Bayoh
Adenah Bayoh escaped civil war in Liberia and grew up living in public housing and attended public schools in Newark, before building a real estate development and restaurant portfolio and becoming the second-largest employer in Irvington, New Jersey.
After opening four IHOP franchises in northern New Jersey, Bayoh teamed up with fellow entrepreneur Zadie B. Smith, to develop concepts for two original restaurants: Cornbread, a fast casual purveyor of farm-to-table soul food, and Urban Vegan, which serves affordable, plant-based comfort food made with locally sourced ingredients.
Bayoh’s real estate portfolio includes major residential and mixed-use urban redevelopment projects across northern New Jersey, including 280 Park Place, the first phase of a multi-phase development that is transforming the former Irvington General Hospital Site into a vibrant, mixed-income residential community, and 722 Chancellor Avenue, an affordable housing community developed in joint-venture with The NRP Group.
About Octavia Frazier-Porter
Octavia Frazier-Porter is an educator and therapist with a passion for community organization and youth development. She is an adjunct professor at Essex County College and has previously worked in the Newark public school system as director of college counseling. Growing up in poverty in Brooklyn, New York, and working with students in Newark’s education ecosystem, gave Frazier-Porter first-hand experience and insight into affordable housing, which gave her a desire for developing modern and cost-effective housing that the Newark Community deserves.
