Bayou Court Apartments offer affordable homes for school employees and other local workers
Amid a boom in upscale condos and apartments, Bayou Court offers affordability to school employees and other frontline workers struggling with the high cost of housing in Pinellas County.
The 60-unit apartment complex in St. Petersburg marked its grand opening Wednesday with officials from the County and City celebrating the latest success of a countywide partnership focused on making sure Pinellas remains affordable to longtime residents and essential workers.
Bayou Court Apartments, 4301 6th St. S., St. Petersburg, will see its first residents begin moving in over the next few weeks, with 21 units already leased, including four local school employees and three local government employees.
Developer Gravel Road Partners shifted plans to build the apartments at full market rate due to support from Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg that made it financially viable to lower rent prices to meet the needs of local workers.
All the apartments have two bedrooms and two baths and rent for rates that are affordable for moderate to low wage workers, with 24 units for those making 120 percent of the area’s median income (AMI), 15 for those making 100 percent of AMI, 9 for those making 80 percent of AMI and 12 for those making 50 percent or less of AMI.
“These apartments could have been all market rate, but we had a partner in Gravel Road that recognized the need in the community for more affordable housing, and everybody had some skin in the game – the developer, the City and Pinellas County,” said Pinellas County Commission Chair Brian Scott.
“You can’t do this without partners. Government cannot do this on our own. This is really a market-driven problem and it’s going to take all three of those partners coming together to solve it.”
While this area of South St. Petersburg has seen a spike in multifamily construction, most new market-rate apartments are not affordable to people earning at or below average income levels. The $17-million Bayou Court development project was made possible through support from Pinellas County’s Penny for Pinellas fund with $2.8 million and $2.74 million from the City of St. Petersburg.
“Through thoughtful collaboration, we are setting the standard for what innovative housing partnerships can look like. The Bayou Court Apartments are a true representation of inclusive progress, creating safe and affordable housing opportunities for educators, city employees, and service industry workers – the very residents we rely on to keep our city going,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth T. Welch.
The success of the project, which broke ground almost exactly one year ago, has inspired developer Gravel Road to pursue more opportunities for affordable development in Pinellas County, including the rehabilitation of 258 units in Oasis at Bayside in Largo, converting market-priced rentals to affordable housing.
The County and cities partnering in the Advantage Pinellas Housing Compact have helped thousands of individuals and families find a quality home they can afford in recent years. Local governments in the compact work together to promote consistent policies and programs and support projects that create more housing choices.