Geneva aldermen approve Emma’s Landing affordable housing agreement

Closing on city’s sale of 7.75 acres set later in July

GENEVA – Aldermen unanimously approved an affordable housing agreement Tuesday related to the Emma’s Landing subdivision, a 45-unit affordable rental townhouse development on 7.75 acres just north of Lewis Road that the city agreed to sell to the Burton Foundation.

In March, the council passed an ordinance granting the subdivision and planned unit development plan for Emma’s Landing, which stated that the agreement would be approved before a building permit could be issued, officials said.

City Administrator Stephanie Dawkins said the closing on the property is scheduled for later this month.

The Burton Foundation’s legal counsel and the city attorney reviewed the agreement, which requires affordability restrictions to remain in place for a minimum of 15 years in exchange for a partial waiver of the city’s building permit. inspection fees, water and sanitary sewer connection fees, officials said.

Fees would be be limited to $150,000, an estimated savings of approximately $120,000.

Eighteen units are required to be occupied by a person, family, or unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is less than or equal to 80 percent of the area median income and 27 units are required to be occupied by a person, family, or unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is less than or equal to 60 percent of the area median income, documents show.

The agreement is between ELA LLC, which is listed as the purchaser, records show.

Burton Foundation president Tracey Manning said that ELA LLC is the corporation between the investors and the Burton Foundation as the developer.

“That is all of the owners within one partner, one LLC,” Manning said. “Emma’s Landing GP (General Partnership) LLC is the single asset entity that’s created to own this specific development, so it’s separate and apart from the Burton Foundation in every other development in our portfolio.”

Emma’s Landing is the development itself, so the Burton Foundation is 100% the owner, Manning said, and member of Emma’s Landing GP LLC.

ELA LLC is the joint ownership and partnership between the investor and the Burton Foundation, Manning said.

“This is the structure for every development financed this way,” Manning said.

Hudson Housing Capital LLC is the investor.

“They create a fund, either with multiple investors or a single guaranteed fund for one investor, and they will take one large fund and have several fortune 500 companies investing in that particular fund,” Manning said. “Hudson is the syndicator for the development and they find the investors for this particular property. … They are the syndicator between the investors who are private and the developer.”

The project was controversial, with some residents of nearby Sterling Manor subdivision opposing it over storm drainage, traffic and the effect of affordable housing on surrounding home values.

In 2019, the City Council approved an incentive program to attract potential affordable housing, which included donating land for a nominal fee. Though the land was valued at $720,000, the council agreed to sell the land for $576,000 to the Burton Foundation because there were no other offers to buy it and because support for affordable housing is in the city’s strategic plan.

The vote Tuesday was 8-0 with two absent – 3rd Ward Alderman Dean Kilburg and 4th Ward Alderman Gabriel Kaven.

If the Burton Foundation does not begin construction of Emma’s Landing within six months of the new closing date, the property would revert back to the city, according to the agreement.