NEW SMYRNA BEACH — In February, the New Smyrna Beach Housing Authority broke ground on Greenlawn Manor, the $23 million senior affordable housing project. Now the city is preparing to take the next steps.

The Greenlawn Manor project will be the first senior affordable housing project in the city in 70 years. Other such housing projects have since become mixed-use properties.

The first phase of the project consists of a three-story building with 80 individual units – 65 one-bedroom units and 15 two-bedroom units – along with other amenities, such as offices and community rooms. It is expected to be completed in approximately 14 months.

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At Tuesday's Community Redevelopment Agency meeting, the New Smyrna Beach Housing Authority and Fortis Development (the firm partnering with the housing authority on the project) gave a presentation about the project's progress and opened discussion regarding phase II.

“We’re really on track with phase I,” said Joe Chambers, a representative of Fortis Development.

“The two wings blocks are up, covering the whole first floor — we’re waiting on the middle wing to get poured,” Chambers added. “We’ve got hollow core block, hollow core plank coming in for the floor in the next month or so. Things are really progressing very well.”

With phase I now underway, phase II of the project, which will be called the Greenlawn Villas, is still a few years from completion.

“It was never just about that first phase,” Chambers said. “It’s about trying to redevelop the entire site overall and get to a modern situation with housing. First phase was elderly, and then we’ll go on to the family phase.”

The second phase will consist of an 80-unit building of workforce housing, with 16 one-bedrooms, 48 two-bedrooms and 16 three-bedrooms. It will be located right next door to the Greenlawn Manor building (600 Greenlawn St.) at 500 Brooks St. 

“We say ‘workforce,’ which is the new popular term instead of ‘affordable' housing, but truly, when we do these developments, it’s (for) the cashiers, hotel workers, janitors, mechanics — it’s really everyone,” Chambers said.

But the initial steps to get phase II off the ground, which Chambers said were also crucial for the first phase, are now just beginning.

The Greenlawn Manor project was made possible due to two low-income housing tax credit applications from the New Smyrna Beach Housing Authority to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. The state rejected the first application in 2018 but approved the second one in 2019. 

As the housing authority and Fortis Development now prepare the phase II design and application, Chambers reminded commissioners that the application process is “very competitive” with the state.

“The state likes to see local governments participate,” Chambers said of the city’s financial contribution. “They want to see you help prioritize your own developments.”

The city pledged in 2018, in its first application attempt, to provide $425,000 for the first phase of the project. A similar pledge amount will be necessary for the phase II application.

“This is the state’s way of saying ‘OK, local government, you help prioritize the developments you want,’” Chambers added. “Again, to be a small piece but a meaningful piece to the development.”

He also said that another important part of the process is reapplying for the tax credit if the development is rejected by the state. For phase I, “it took us two years of applying to the state. We got it the second year because we applied the year before,” Chambers said.

“Your chances are better, because they recognize you are coming back more, you are building the backstory,” he added.

City Commissioner Michael Kolody, who represents the project's neighborhood, said he has been following the project’s progress and is “very pleased with the way it’s going.”

“We’re blending into the neighborhood,” he said.

Commissioner Randy Hartman said he thinks phase II is going to be a “good continuation of (the Greenlawn Manor) project.”

“It’s suited for that area,” Hartman said. “They have done a great job in how they have designed the buildings. It’s certainly something that’s needed not only in our community but in Volusia County.

“And who knows? Maybe we’ll get picked first year,” he added.