Two new apartment projects that will be discussed by New Hanover County's Technical Review Committee this week could add 160 apartment units to the area’s list of affordable housing options.

But first, they have to gain county approvals and compete for federal dollars that would make the projects viable. Both 80-unit complexes are planned by separate developers for different properties on Carolina Beach Road.

Aaronfield Cove, which at one time was expected to be called Abbington Cove, would be developed at 4713 Carolina Beach Road by Brock Ventures Inc. and Kent Place Holdings LLC. The developers applied for, but did not win, federal housing tax credits for the apartments last year, but Kent Place Holdings has applied again this year.
 
Connelly Development NC LLC has also applied for the credits for Woodridge Pointe, an apartment complex planned for 5025 Carolina Beach Road, and Stonebrook Apartments, another 80-unit apartment community that would be built at 410 Village Road in Leland.

For developers, the credits offset the cost of building apartments that allow tenants to pay less than the current market rate.

“We see a lot of young people that have maybe just gotten out of school and are getting started in their careers, and they’re not making big dollars ... they can’t afford $1,000, $1,200 a month in rent but they can afford $500, $600, $700 in rent,” said Bill Chamblin, who works in Connelly’s development division.

The rents at Woodridge Pointe could start at about $545 for a one-bedroom apartment, Chamblin said. That amount does not include an estimated $145 utility allowance, he said.

Chamblin said that about 90 percent of Connelly Development’s business involves putting together affordable housing projects using the federal housing tax credit program, competing for those dollars in North Carolina and South Carolina. Based in Lexington, South Carolina, Connelly also has an office in Durham, Chamblin said. The Connelly family of companies includes Connelly Builders Inc.

In 2011, Connelly Development was awarded nearly $849,000 in credits to build Westgate Senior Apartments in Leland, according to the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. The agency’s lists of funded projects in the state show that no newly planned apartment communities in New Hanover County have been awarded the tax credits since 2013, when 60-unit Lockwood Village on South College Road received them in the amount of $540,000.

An announcement about which projects receive the credits won’t take place until August. But the county’s TRC is expected to discuss Aaronfield Cove and Woodridge Pointe, which would both need conditional use district rezonings, at its meeting Wednesday. The meeting begins at 2 p.m. in the Lucie Harrell Conference Room at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive.

Before the county's TRC meets, a community information meeting on Woodridge Pointe will be held 6-7 p.m. Feb. 23 at Moose Lodge No. 343, 4610 Carolina Beach Road.

Woodridge Pointe and Aaronfield Cove are two of seven projects in Brunswick and New Hanover counties that are in the running for the federal tax credits.

Recent discussions on the need for more affordable housing in the Cape Fear region have led officials to begin forming the Wilmington/New Hanover County Ad Hoc Committee on Improving Workforce/Affordable Housing. The deadline to apply to serve on the committee is Monday, Feb. 29, and an online application and more information about the new panel is available on the city's website.