Burnet approves EDC funds for affordable housing project
This map shows the general location of the proposed apartment building, Sunset Ridge Apartments, at 310 E. Third Street In order to receive funding from the city, the Burnet City Council established a completion date of no later than Dec. 31, 2027. Google Maps
Burnet leadership recently approved up to $150,000 in public funds to serve as a life preserver for an over-budget apartment building project that was in jeopardy of failure without outside support. Officials hope that the development, once complete, will help remedy affordable housing shortfalls in the city.
At a Dec. 17 joint special meeting, the Burnet City Council and Burnet Economic Development Corporation agreed to help ease financial pressure that developer Hamilton Valley Management (HVM) was facing on a new affordable housing project– a 36-unit complex, Sunset Ridge Apartments, to be located at 310 E. Third Street in Burnet.
According to HVM, the development faced multiple delays in the planning phase, pushing it $700,000 over its initial $6 million budget.
“Our request gets us back down to the danger point,” HVM President Dennis Hoover said during the Dec. 17 meeting. “It would give us a little insurance against our limited partner’s decision to abandon the project at the next unforeseen event.”
The $150,000 approved during the special meeting will come from the Burnet EDC. The EDC is a nonprofit, quasi-governmental organization that collects a small sales tax within city limits and uses the gathered funds to support economic development and prosperity.
Certain conditions were attached to the funding, requiring HVM to provide regular progress updates on the complex’s construction, and to meet a minimum investment of $8 million. So long as HVM complies, funding will be paid out near the proposed completion date on Dec. 31, 2027.
City and EDC leadership were vocal about the project’s potential contributions to Burnet’s sparse entry-level workforce.
“One of the things that we know we struggle with here is our workforce, especially within our entry-level positions, and part of the problem is we don’t have housing for them,” said Philip Thurman, Mayor Pro Tem and President of the Burnet EDC. “This really checks a lot of boxes for us.”
Burnet has historically supported HVM and their development within the city, which began back in the 1980s. The founder and former president of HVM, John W. Hoover, was instrumental in the development of CR 340A and beyond in Burnet. The city even honored Hoover’s contributions in 2017 by renaming the aforementioned roadway after him, “John W. Hoover Parkway.”
For more information on the project, visit Hamilton Valley Management’s website at hvitexas.com, or reach out by email at info@hamiltonvalley.com.