Developer adds attainable homes to Santé Matthews plan

MATTHEWS – Pappas Properties has amended its commitment to provide attainable housing within its Santé Matthews proposal following the Feb. 13 public hearing with the Matthews Board of Commissioners. 

The project includes 570 residential units on nearly 83 acres at 14704 Idlewild Road.

The revised plan includes 24 attainable homes, an addition of two homes from when they originally presented.  

Their proposal now includes 14 attainable for-lease housing units and 10 attainable for-sale townhomes. The for-lease attainable homes will be available for those with household incomes equal to or less than 80% of the area median income, or AMI. 

The for-sale attainable project will now include income targeting with two units restricted at 60% and two  units at 80% AMI in addition to the six restricted at 100% AMI. 

The homes will be sold below market rate thanks to voluntary subsidies from the developer. Priority will be given to first-responders, teachers, active-duty and veteran military members and those who work in Matthews. The attainable for-sale homes will have a 99-year deed restriction.

Natisha Rivera-Patrick, president & CEO of Greater Matthews Habitat for Humanity, has voiced her support for the project.

Rivera-Patrick said the project would provide much needed housing opportunities for town staff, teachers, firefighters and police officers that tend to be priced out of the community they work.

Rivera-Patrick said the project “allows for a mixed-income, mixed-use active walkable community” that would “provide much-needed housing opportunities.” 

“We continue to discuss the need for attainable housing in the Town of Matthews,” she wrote in a letter to town leaders. “The Santé  Matthews has taken an intentional approach to ensure equitable access to housing.”

The for-sale and for-lease attainable homes will be included within the same neighborhoods as the market-rate homes.

“We want to keep the attainable homes integrated throughout the townhome and multifamily communities, and not isolated,” said Tom Walsh, managing director for Pappas Properties. “All the attainable homes within Santé Matthews  will have the same quality exterior architecture as the market homes, and the residents will  have access to the Wellness Center and Santé amenities.”  

Pappas Properties is evaluating other changes to its plan in response to feedback from the public hearing.