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Commission endorses Warrington Senior Living for local LGAO support to compete for 9% tax credits
Summary
After presentations from three developers, the county ranked Warrington Senior Living first and voted unanimously to support that application for the Local Government Area of Opportunity (LGAO) designation, which improves competitiveness for state 9% housing tax credits.
The Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 to designate Warrington Senior Living (National Core) as the county’s Local Government Area of Opportunity (LGAO) selection for the state 9% housing tax-credit process.
Three proposals were considered: Warrington Senior Living (National Core), Keystone Place (Keystone/Greenville Group) and Leah Gardens (Best Core). Presenters described unit counts, income bands and community-service commitments; Warrington’s team emphasized 96 senior units, including units at 40% and 60% of area median income, and said the project would represent about a $30 million private investment locally.
Staff explained LGAO rules and the strategic value of a county contribution: while a small local contribution ($37,050) is common, a larger LGAO contribution ($460,000) can improve competitive scoring for the 9% tax-credit application. Presenters and staff also discussed resubmittal preference for projects that reapply year-to-year; staff clarified that none of the three applicants had built the resubmittal preference into the current cycle.
Commissioners asked about site conditions, local contractor use, long-term ownership and commitments after the 15-year compliance period. National Core and local partners said they would use local contractors and operate the property long term rather than selling it after the credit period. After district-by-district ballots, the board ranked Warrington first (four of five first-place rankings) and approved staff’s recommended designation by motion.
The designation does not itself allocate state funds; it makes the applicant more competitive in the Florida Housing Finance Corporation’s 9% tax-credit competition. Staff will document the local support per Florida Housing instructions and transmit the county’s endorsement to the state agency.
