Turner: Huntington at Bay Area development not ‘recommended for funding’

A housing community that was to create 148, one- and two-bedroom apartments for seniors near Clear Lake and other southern communities of Houston has lost support from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in the wake of accusations of a controversial deal.

Turner announced on Oct. 11 withdrawal of his support of Huntington at Bay Area, a new mixed-income community for seniors in Council District E that would have received an allocation from the Harvey Multifamily Program, a press release said. Huntington at Bay Area and New Hope Housing Berry (providing 240 affordable homes in the Northside/Northline area) were to received $25 million “remaining as part of funding allocated for the Harvey Multifamily Program.” The main goal of the program is facilitating the building of multifamily properties around Houston to replace those lost in Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane that landed in August 2017.

“The Huntington at Bay Area development, will not be recommended for funding,” Turner said in the “Statement on Multifamily DR-17 Housing.” “While it would have created affordable housing for seniors in District E, where there has been no affordable multifamily housing constructed since 2016, and never in the Clear Lake area, the project has become too much of a distraction for the administration’s agenda and for this city.”

Turner’s withdrawal of his recommendation to use $15 million in city funds for Huntington at Bay Area came after he was accused of “steering money to a specific developer.” MGroup Companies was developing the community, the Houston Chronicle said.

Turner denies accusations by his former housing director, Tom McCasland, who accused him of “picking Huntington over four better scoring projects recommended by staff,” the Houston Chronicle said.

“Those four developments would have used roughly the same amount of money, $16.2 million, to fund 274 more affordable units,” the Houston Chronicle said. “Turner’s longtime former law partner, Barry Barnes, was a co-developer on the Huntington deal. MGroup, led by Mark Musemeche, was the primary developer. Both McCasland and Turner said they did not know Barnes was involved until the Chronicle reported it.”

Turner’s administration will recommend “for council consideration to receive gap funding from the NOFA (Notice of Funding Availability)” the multifamily development Fairways at Westwood,120 apartments for low-income families in the Alief/Westwood Complete Community and New Hope Housing at Berry, Turner’s statement said.