BY RACHEL LELAND & HALEY VELASCO
Webster apartment complex paves way to preserve a ordable housing
Assessing the need
Number of cost-burden rental households O cials say preserving complexes like Baypointe is vital in areas where many renters are cost-burdened.
Baypointe Apartments in Webster is undergoing $20 million in renovations to ensure modern, a ordable housing for residents for over 30 years. April Housing, Blackstone Real Estate’s a ordable housing portfolio company, is partnering with the Harris County Housing Finance Corporation, or HCHFC, to renovate over 235 units, according to a news release from April Housing. Rather than demolish the aging complex, which was originally built in 2007, the county and its partners chose to re nance and overhaul it, using a mix of low-income housing tax credits and bonds to pay for the work, HCHFC’s Executive Director Rene Martinez said.
4,317
Renovation features
2,026
1,845
Nassau Bay 691
Modernized kitchens and bathrooms, with energy-e cient appliances and updated lighting
Seabrook 367
Clear Lake
Webster
Friendswood (Harris County)
New HVAC systems with lower utility costs
Median residential structure ages Housing around Baypointe is relatively old, re ecting the county’s aging multifamily stock. Webster 20 years Friendswood 37 years Clear Lake 39 years Seabrook 32 years Nassau Bay 48 years SOURCE: KINDER INSTITUTE FOR URBAN RESEARCH COMMUNITY IMPACT *CALCULATIONS ARE BASED ON 2023 DATA. to tackle problems that are very complex and create enough scale with our preservation and our new construction investments.” The corporation is also pursuing new construction, partnerships with developers and innovative nancing tools to reach households across the income spectrum while allowing long-time residents to stay within their communities, Martinez said.
Revitalized community spaces
Rooftop solar installation
Baypointe Apartments
45
KOBAYASHI RD. S.
N
SOURCE: APRIL HOUSING COMMUNITY IMPACT
What’s next
supporting about 10,000 single- and multifamily units per year, HCHFC’s Vice President Bryan Sanchez said. Preservation projects like Baypointe, he added, are only one piece of that strategy. “That’s [a] very aspirational [goal], but Harris County has a population of almost 4.8 million people by itself, 1,800 square miles,” he said. “It’s very large, very diverse, and so we’re trying
A formal grand reopening for Baypointe Apartments is planned once renovations are complete in late 2026, according to the news release. HCHFC is trying to dramatically ramp up its impact, aiming to become one of the strongest local agencies of its kind in the country by
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BAY AREA EDITION
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