In a county where residential development of any kind has not been met with much fanfare in recent years, Ability Housing just finished a project embraced by much of the West Augustine community.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit developer of attainable housing took a moment Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the 92-unit Village of New Augustine<\/a>, its first project in St. Johns County.<\/p>\n The project started with the concept and location in 2018, but it took years to acquire the property, reach agreements with the city of St. Augustine and St. Johns County on utilities and infrastructure, and secure financing. And then construction took about 2\u00bd years.<\/p>\n The affordable apartment community at 280 N. Volusia St. began with partnership between the West Augustine Historical Community Development Corp. and Ability Housing.<\/p>\n Village of New Augustine was designed to serve households unable to afford fair-market rent in one of the state\u2019s fastest-growing counties. All units are available for individuals and families earning up to 60% of the area median income, with rents currently ranging from about $634 per month for a one-bedroom unit to $1,599 per month for a three-bedroom unit.<\/p>\n It\u2019s currently 30% to 40% leased.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope this project will inspire further investment in affordable housing solutions because it\u2019s a symbolic of what\u2019s possible when the public, private and nonprofit sectors work together,\u201d Ability CEO Reggie Fullwood said in a news release.<\/p>\n Funding for the $26.5 million project came from state, local and private sources. Florida Housing Finance Corp. provided $4.265 million in affordable housing loan financing and awarded $1.625 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which resulted in a $14.867 million equity investment from a nonprofit syndicator, National Equity Fund, with Bank of America providing the equity investment.<\/p>\n Bank of America also provided a construction loan of $14.22 million. Churchill Stateside Group provided the post-construction permanent financing with a $5.37 million mortgage.<\/p>\n St. Johns County approved a $460,000 Affordable Housing Grant and a $1.2 million award of American Rescue Plan funds. The county also made it possible to defer impact fees in 2022. Florida Housing Finance Corp. provided a $724,000 pre-development loan to the West Augustine Community Development Corp.<\/p>\n Bradley Construction Co. was the contractor. Group 4 Design Inc. was the architect, and the civil engineering firm was JBPro.<\/p>\n Recently, Ability has been busy in Jacksonville. It opened\u00a0the $31 million, 90-unit Village at Cedar Hills in December 2025<\/a>\u00a0and broke ground on\u00a0the $46 million, 120-unit Villages at Lake Forest<\/a>\u00a0in April. It\u2019s at the former site of Lake Forest Elementary School.<\/p>\n Q&A with Ability Housing<\/p>\n