CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, city leaders approved for developers to build four new affordable housing projects near the former Lamar Elementary School site.
We first reported in January that the city decided to turn the former school grounds into a senior housing development. Now, there are several other properties nearby that will accompany that facelift.
Vacant lots on Morris Street, 19th Street and Mary Street will be the place for the new developments.
District 1 City Councilmember Everett Roy said he’s excited to see positive changes being made to help people live comfortably in that particular neighborhood.
“One of the things in our area, the housing costs have just skyrocketed," Roy said." Even when you look at what they consider as affordable, it still costs some money. To really have families there; to have that family environment is going to really benefit and continue to grow that area the way that we want to.”
The old Lamar Elementary School, which opened in 1941, was closed in 2010 and in 2018, the Ed Rachal Foundation purchased the school building and announced their expectation of turning it to a Good Samaritan shelter in 2020. The foundation later gave the property to the city of Corpus Christi, where it was demolished in 2021.
The other lots were also included in the ownership of the city. Now, the city has decided to sell the property investments to three non-profit developers, Habitat for Humanity Corpus Christi, Thanksgiving Homes, Come Dream Come Build (CDCB), and a for-profit developer, DSW Homes.
“The good thing about this is that each organization is actually going to bring their little flare to that area so that it’s not going to be a cookie cutter type neighborhood," Roy said. "I’m really excited, at the end of the day, I think it’s really going to make a difference in that community.”
Community members can expect the lots to have single and multi-family homes and affordable senior housing. A rezoning application for the projects are currently in progress.
No word on when the projects will be completed. According to city officials, they are waiting on the Texas Department of Housing and Urban Development to release their decision on the allocation of Low-income Housing Tax Credits. That could happen during their July board meeting.
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