Amarillo Vineyard Manor renovation complete

AMARILLO – Vineyard Manor LLC has completed the rehabilitation of a 1920s apartment building in downtown Amarillo. It will be a combination of affordable housing and commercial development on the first floor.

The project to renovate the historic apartment house at 1201 S. Polk St. combined private resources with federal affordable housing funds from the City of Amarillo, downtown streetscape incentives and nonprofit grants.

City of Amarillo documents showed a total project cost of $2 million in October 2012, when the Amarillo City Commission approved increasing the Home Rental Rehabilitation funds pledged from $500,000 to $831,255.

The money from the Home Investment Partnership Program essentially constitutes a forgivable no-interest loan for the developer.

Vineyard Manor’s 16 one- and two-bedroom units must remain affordable housing available to low- to moderate-income renters for 20 years. The Department of Housing and Urban Development establishes the income limits annually, as well as the maximum rents charged for affordable units.

A 2010 housing survey commissioned by Downtown Amarillo Inc. showed that demand in Amarillo could support an estimated 630 market-rate residential units downtown.