The development, titled 380 Villas, is a product of Sphinx Development, a Dallas-based development company that specializes in affordable housing. The project broke ground at 820 E. University Drive, east of Throckmorton Street, on Oct. 4.
The nearly $65 million project will include 260 units across 11 residential buildings, with three buildings being townhomes and the other eight buildings being two- or three-story apartments, according to Joseph Agumadu, Sphinx Development chief financial officer. The property will have 36 studio apartment units, 82 one-bedroom apartment units, and 120 two-bedroom units and 22 three-bedroom units across both the townhome and apartment buildings.
The 14-acre development designed by Nunnally Studio Architects is expected to be completed in spring 2024 and will begin leasing in early 2024, Agumadu said. The full-service community will have a pool, a playground, a half-court basketball court, a clubhouse with coworking space, a dog park and more, according to site plans. The property will be managed by Sphinx Development’s property management branch, Sphinx Residential, Agumadu said.
Earlier site plans for the project included commercial use requirements that were removed after the developers met with the McKinney City Council. The project received a 4% housing tax credit at an April 19 City Council meeting, which will allow the units to be rented out at a reduced rate. Other funding for the project came from tax-exempt bonds and a multifamily direct loan from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, according to Sphinx Development. The affordable housing component will not inhibit the quality of the development, Agumadu said.
“We build them as if the cost is not compromised at all, so we could have ... built next to the Galleria [Dallas], and the cost [would be] the same,” he said.
Development preview documents from Sphinx Development said the tenants eligible for this community must make 60% or less of the area’s median income of $97,400, according to data from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Monthly rental rates will average between $866-$1,400 depending on unit size and income restrictions on the unit, according to Amarachi Oji, an asset manager and development analyst for Sphinx Development.
“It makes [the housing] accessible to your typical blue collar workers, you know, like your teacher, your police officer, people like that,” Agumadu said.
The project began in 2017 when Sphinx Development purchased the land from The McKinney First Baptist Church.
The church’s pastor Louis Rosenthal said when he came to the church in 2012, the church had land to develop a new building once the church grew to the point that it was needed. As Rosenthal prayed about the church’s growth and the land the church had, he said God presented a different vision to him, one that included an affordable housing development instead of a new church building.
“The Lord wanted our church to stay planted right where it is, because we're in the middle of a community that has great needs,” he said.
The church’s land was put on the market. Over the years a few interested parties came forward to purchase the land, but the church wanted to make sure it was purchased by the right group.
“The people who were trying to buy the land never would tell us exactly what they wanted to do,” Rosenthal said. “And we didn't want to use the land but for the purpose that God had told us, and that is someone who wanted to build either a housing development, affordable housing there or an apartment complex there.”
Sphinx Development approached the church about four years ago to inquire about buying the land and putting apartments on it, Rosenthal said. With the City Council approving the project over the summer, the project is now able to get underway.
“It is going to be aesthetically a beautiful apartment complex that will give people great pride in where they're living when they move in there. It is going to be a great feather in the cap of East McKinney,” Rosenthal said.
