It’s official: An affordable housing project is coming to North Central Expressway in District 10.
The project took on a life of its own as developers with Sycamore Strategies fought through prohibitive deed restrictions, one of the most contentious town hall meetings in recent memory, a failed attempt to use Public Facility Corporation financing, and a whole lot of pushback from term-limited Councilman Adam McGough.
Wednesday was McGough’s final meeting in the D10 seat. Kathy Stewart, who was elected on May 6, will be sworn into office next week.
The Cypress Creek at Forest Lane Class A project will offer 189 units in a high-opportunity area of North Dallas, according to advocates for the project. It was approved 12-3 during Wednesday’s Dallas City Council meeting. Council members McGough, Cara Mendelsohn, and Casey Thomas voted against it.
“This has basically unanimous community opposition from those near and far away for various reasons,” McGough said. “We know there will be litigation. I believe the litigation will be successful … There haven’t been good-faith negotiations with the community on what needs to happen and what could happen to make this project safer and better.”
Attorney and former District 14 Councilman Philip Kingston spoke on behalf of the developer at Wednesday’s meeting.
“The only way that a neighboring property owner can say that he or she is damaged by this project is to find an expert in real estate to say that having a $60 million apartment project next to your office somehow devalues the office,” Kingston said. “That person doesn’t exist.”
William Roth, who owns an office building adjacent to the project site, said the area is a commercial-industrial location.
“Why would you isolate these 180 families in a commercial-industrial location and deny them the benefit of the safety, security, and better quality of life that would be generated by them living in an appropriate residential area nearby other families and supportive residential neighbors?” he said.
Resolution Approving Cypress Creek at Forest Lane
Here’s an excerpt from the resolution approved Wednesday:
The City hereby identifies a severe lack of affordable housing. The City further finds that mixed-income communities create healthier and more sustainable affordable housing.
The City hereby establishes as a public purpose the desire to enter into a ground lease to lease the Land to Tax Credit Partnership/Tenant allowing the Tax Credit Partnership/Tenant to, at their sole cost and expense, design, construct and operate the Project as a mixed-income, affordable housing community.
The City Manager is hereby authorized to negotiate and execute a ground lease for a term of 39 years with Tax Credit Partnership/Tenant, approved as to form by City Attorney, allowing the construction and operation of the Project. The lease will be prepared once lenders for the Project are identified and will include commercially reasonable provisions agreed to by the parties and approved as to form by the City Attorney.
Dallas City Council Resolution
Cypress Creek at Forest Lane
About a month ago, council members debated the project, ultimately authorizing City Manager T.C. Broadnax to move forward with closing and acquisition in an 11-3 vote.
McGough said at the time that Sycamore Strategies developers didn’t take feedback from residents and continued to force the development through, despite threats of a lawsuit and deed restrictions saying housing can’t be built there.
The site at 11520 North Central Expressway isn’t a safe place for people to live, McGough added.
Sycamore Strategies developer Zachary Krochtengel proposed the development as a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project, saying that District 10 contains less than 1 percent of the city’s LIHTC units.
“There’s no statistical reason this proposed development should not move forward,” Krochtengel said.
