Special Needs Finalist

Developers: Centerstone of Indiana; Milner & Caringella, Inc.

Located in Bloomington, IN, Kinser Flats provides 50-units of affordable housing paired with support services for homeless families and individuals with substance abuse disorders or co-occuring substance abuse and mental health disorders. The project was designed to include space for onsite recovery-focused support services for tenants provided by Centerstone, a nonprofit health system providing mental health and substance use disorder treatments. Kinser Flats operates as a low-barrier facility guided by the Housing First, harm-reduction approach, which prioritizes housing as a foundation for life improvement. The development, the first project of its kind in Indiana, addresses the need to provide affordable, accessible housing for people struggling with homelessness and substance abuse.

The four-level Kinser Flats building includes 38 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom units. The innovative development provides modern, light-filled interiors and spacious floor plans and is conveniently located near public transportation. Each unit includes a bedroom, kitchen, and living area furnished with appliances, beds, chairs, tables, and a couch. Residents are provided with towels and bed linens.

Cinnaire provided a $9.5 million LIHTC investment and a $400,000 predevelopment loan to support Kinser Flats. Cinnaire’s investment was facilitated by CDFI Friendly Bloomington, a nonprofit organization established to connect local investment opportunities with regional and national CDFIs. Additional funding partners include the City of Bloomington Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND), the Bloomington Housing Authority, Old National Bank, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (FHLBI), and the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA).

Green Finalist

Developer: 1300 LLC; West CAP

Located on Main Street in River Falls, WI, 1300 Residences provides 50-units of much-needed affordable housing both for the local workforce and some very low-income senior, disabled, and veteran households in one of the fastest growing towns in western Wisconsin. The development team worked with Cornerstone Architects to design not only high-quality, affordable multi-family housing in a community that needs it, but to also meaningfully address climate change and contribute to the sustainability of a future we all share.

As the sun shines on 1300 Residences, some truly remarkable things begin to happen: 580 photoelectric panels silently begin to transform the free, perfectly clean, and endless renewable sunlight into electricity. Three larger Smartflowers, each with 12 solar panels of its own, open and begin to follow the sun across the sky. The electricity that these solar panels generate power state of the art air source variable flow heat pumps that harvest equally clean and renewable energy right out of thin air. The result – 50 households will wake up warm on a winter morning, stay comfortably cool on the hottest summer day, and make breakfast in a kitchen featuring an abundance of sunlight brought in through super-insulated glass windows. Not only that, but even though these households earn less, some far less than 80% of area median income, they have a few extra dollars to spend each month because the sunlight is free, and those energy cost savings are passed along to the residents. 1300 received recognition from the Green Built Home’s certification with the highest score ever awarded on an affordable housing development.

Cinnaire provided a $5.5 million investment to support the $11.7 million project. 1300 Residences received widespread community support, including from state and local partners. The cutting-edge, solar-based development provides a unique living experience for residents and has been warmly welcomed by the River Falls community.