Economic Development Trust approves housing agreement changes, alley funding and loan subordination

Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust trustees on Jan. 28 approved a set of routine and housing-related actions, including amendments to affordable-housing agreements, a $34,000 alley-improvement payment, a subordination agreement for permanent financing on a housing project and acceptance of the Greater Oklahoma City Economic Development Foundation’s annual report.

The approvals affect: an administrative time extension for a multifamily affordable housing project; a sale and temporary pause procedure for a nonprofit-owned affordable complex; small infrastructure alley funding to support new single-family development; and a subordination of the trust’s forgivable loan to a senior lender for a previously funded project.

Trustees voted to approve Amendment No. 1 to the economic development agreement with 1 Red Oak LLC, allowing an administrative extension of time for the Harmony School Residential Multifamily Affordable Housing Project until the end of February 2025. Mr. Suttel, a trust staff member who presented the item, described the change as administrative and tied to permitting and pandemic-era delays. The motion passed after a motion and second; the transcript does not record the mover, seconder or a roll-call tally.

Trustees also approved Amendment No. 1 to the agreement with Community Enhancement Corporation for the Mount Vernon Affordable Housing Project, a transaction that the trust described as following provisions already in the original forgivable-loan structure. Mark Gillott, president and chief executive officer of the Community Enhancement Corporation, said Mount Vernon (renamed in discussion) was an “experiment we went into about 5 years ago”…