Stimulus Funds Help Renovation of Affordable Housing in Delaware

In 2008, Hollybrook Farms in Laurel, Delaware, received a variety of public and private financing to complete the extensive renovation of the aging community. The majority of financing was in the form of private equity raised from the sale of federal low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC). In May 2009, while the renovations were 58 percent complete, the investor defaulted on its contractual obligations, leaving the project with a $4.8 million funding gap. Working with the Delaware State Housing Authority, $4.2 million of federal stimulus funds were requested and approved in the form of Tax Credit Exchange Funds.

With the assistance of attorneys Richard Price of Nixon Peabody in Washington, D.C., and George Danneman of Salvo, Landau, Gruen & Rogers in Wilmington, the developer was able to design a successful workout plan.

Now nearly 80 percent complete, the general contractor, Gillis Gilkerson Incorporated, Salisbury, Maryland, expects Hollybrook Farms to be complete in the first week of December 2009.