Habitat Breaks Ground on 26 Affordable Townhomes in Lealman

Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside broke ground on October 15 on Lealman Heights, a 26 townhome affordable homeownership community at 4000 58th Avenue North in unincorporated Lealman, north of St. Petersburg, as reported by St. Pete Rising and the St. Pete Catalyst.

What Happened

Local and state officials joined Habitat leaders for the Thursday ceremony at the corner of 58th Avenue North and 40th Street North, across from Lealman Elementary School St. Pete Rising. Speakers included Habitat President and CEO Mike Sutton, Pinellas County Commissioner René Flowers, State Representative Linda Chaney and former County Commissioner Charlie Justice St. Pete Catalyst.

The townhomes are part of a broader 57 home Habitat community on the surrounding blocks. The other 31 homes are single family houses that are already under construction St. Pete Rising.

The Project

Each townhome will be a two story, three bedroom unit of about 1,500 square feet with a garage St. Pete Rising. Prices will range from $240,000 to $280,000 depending on the buyer's income. The homes are reserved for households earning 30 to 80 percent of area median income.

Habitat will hold the land in a community land trust and lease it to owners under a 99 year renewable ground lease St. Pete Rising. Buyers will receive a fixed rate, zero percent interest mortgage. The Catalyst reported that the financing also requires no down payment and no private mortgage insurance St. Pete Catalyst.

Buyers must complete 38 homebuyer education classes and contribute 350 to 450 hours of "sweat equity" St. Pete Rising. "The families we partner with have to have steady employment and show the ability to pay a mortgage," Sutton said St. Pete Catalyst. Residents will be selected based on housing need and interest in living in Lealman.

Funding and Team

The project costs roughly $10 million. Pinellas County is contributing about $2.29 million, including $1.8 million in Penny for Pinellas sales tax funds for vertical construction and $465,000 from the Lealman Community Redevelopment Area St. Pete Rising. High Point Engineering and G2 Design lead the project team. Neither outlet named a general contractor.

The new streets will carry two names: Justice Way, for Charlie Justice, and Carter Drive, for former President Jimmy Carter.

Where Things Stand

Infrastructure work began with the groundbreaking. The two outlets describe the vertical schedule slightly differently: St. Pete Rising reported that vertical construction is expected to start in summer 2027 St. Pete Rising, while the Catalyst reported that homes should be vertical by late 2027 St. Pete Catalyst. Either way, site work comes first.

Habitat has completed more than 100 homes in Lealman, nearly 40 of them on the blocks around the new site St. Pete Rising. "The beautiful design speaks to the renaissance that we are seeing Lealman go through," Chaney said. Flowers tied the project to keeping local workers housed, including "making sure that we have enough teachers that live in our community and work in our community."

Implications for Owners, Developers, Contractors and Subs

• Attached product stretches subsidy. Two story townhomes on a shared site let a nonprofit deliver 26 ownership units on one parcel, with less land and infrastructure per home than detached houses.
• Local tax dollars fill the gap. Penny for Pinellas and CRA money cover more than a fifth of the roughly $10 million budget, showing how county sales tax and redevelopment funds can anchor ownership housing.
• Site work is the near term scope. Utilities, grading, paving and the two new streets come before any vertical framing, which gives civil and underground subs the first opportunity.
• Sweat equity changes the schedule. With buyers contributing hundreds of hours each, phasing and supervision look different from a conventional builder's job, so trade partners should plan for a staged build.

What to Watch

• Completion of site infrastructure and the start of vertical construction in 2027.
• Progress on the 31 single family homes already under construction nearby.
• Further county affordable housing awards as Pinellas continues to fund ownership projects.

Bottom Line

Lealman Heights adds 26 affordable ownership units to a neighborhood where Habitat has already built more than 100 homes, using a land trust model and county funds. It joins a run of affordable housing activity in the St. Petersburg area, including the city's recent $40.85 million disaster recovery awards for six housing projects.

Related Coverage

• St. Petersburg Approves $40.85M in Disaster Recovery Funds for Six Housing Projects
• Azalea Cay Starts $109.8 Million First Phase on Former Raytheon Site in St. Petersburg
• Rochester Habitat Completes First Modular Home in City

Image credit: G2 Design, LLC, conceptual rendering of the Lealman townhomes. Image from the source article.

Sources

• St. Pete Rising, "Habitat breaks ground on 26-townhome affordable housing community in Lealman": https://stpeterising.com/home/habitat-for-humanity-to-build-26-unit-affordable-townhome-community-in-st-petes-lealman-neighborhood
• St. Pete Catalyst, "Ground broken for Habitat's Lealman Heights community": https://stpetecatalyst.com/ground-broken-for-habitats-lealman-heights-community/