Projects

501 Eastern

501 Eastern Apartments was an infill new construction multifamily development comprising 65 housing units provided for amongst 2 4 story buildings in southeast Grand Rapids. To meet the zoning ordinance the first-floor space, which included common area amenities, office etc, was also dedicated as 6 large ground level units as live work units for small business owners or self-entrepreneurs.

CCA was brought in to partner with an established local nonprofit based group, Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF), to help them assemble a development plan that could be executed upon after they had spent nearly 10 years working on assembling multiple land parcels and trying to develop the project on their own.  CCA was able to help ICCF bring this project to reality while also helping them nearly double the size of their conceptual initial plans for the project. 

The 501 Eastern project was made up of two unique mixed-use, mixed-income buildings with 65 total residential rental units providing for 1BR – 3BR units, 6 of which were live work units while 4 were market rate and 61 were affordable units serving families in the 30% AMI – 60% AMI range.  ICCF partnered with a local service provider whereby 17 of the 61 affordable units were dedicated to be housed by homeless youth.

CCA assembled a financially feasible development plan and was able to help secure a 9% LIHTC reservation from MSHDA for the project and ultimately secured and closed on all financing for the project in addition to assisting ICCF during the development process thru lease up, stabilization and conversion to perm financing.  The project was LEED Silver certified with many high end market rate finishes and brought together housing opportunities for a uniquely wide range of families in the area.

Specifications

Development Type
1 BDRM, 2 BDRM, 3 BDRM
Number of Units
65
Development Cost
$17.75M
Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Project Start
January 2018
Project Complete
January 2020
Development Role
Co-Developer/Co-General Partner
Unit Mix
1 BDRM, 2 BDRM, 3 BDRM
Architect
Destigter Architecture
Contractor
Rockford Construction Company
Developer
Inner City Christian Federation , CCA
Owner
Inner City Christian Federation
Investor
Chemical Bank, Insite Capital
Lender
Love Funding, Chemical Bank, City of Grand Rapids, MDEQ

What Others Are Saying About Us

“I have worked with the principals of Chesapeake since the inception of Cinnaire in 1993. They have proven to be the most highly skilled and knowledgeable group of professionals we have ever worked with in this industry. Their creative and entrepreneurial approach to real estate development and finance have made them the number one choice for Cinnaire to assist us in complex and difficult real estate transactions. The use of Chesapeake in our Housing Tax Credit Year 15 disposition strategies has produced results for our investors that were beyond their expectations and has been a model we use in all of our disposition strategies. They are real estate experts extraordinaire with the added benefit of being socially minded. They not only care about the investor and owner benefits but also take into account a positive outcome for the residents.”