Beulah Land Development Corp. is working in partnership with New York-based construction company Spiritos Properties, and housing nonprofit HELP Development Corp., to develop vacant lots at 340 Dixwell Ave. into a 69-unit mixed-use project. The $28 million project was partly financed by the National Equity Fund (NEF)—a LISC affiliate focused on LIHTC and other housing investments. 340 Dixwell is the first Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project on the East Coast utilizing mass timber, an eco-friendly alternative to steel and concrete, and will include 55 affordable units for low-income households earning 60 percent or less of the area median income, and an additional 20 units for people experiencing homelessness.
Bishop Theodore Brooks, Sr. began dreaming up ideas to develop the Dixwell neighborhood in New Haven, Conn., back in the 1960s as he confronted the growing need for safe and affordable housing in the historic African American community. In the intervening years, his church, Beulah Heights First Pentecostal, together with its community development arm, purchased and renovated single-family homes and created homeownership opportunities for residents.
Now, Darrell Brooks, the bishop’s son and chief operating officer of the Beulah Land Development Corporation, is expanding on that dream with sustainable development approaches, including the first Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project on the East Coast utilizing mass timber, an eco-friendly alternative to steel and concrete.
Beulah is working in partnership with New York-based construction company Spiritos Properties, and housing nonprofit HELP Development Corp., to develop vacant lots at 340 Dixwell Ave. into a 69-unit mixed-use project. It will include 55 affordable units ranging from one to three bedrooms for low-income households earning 60 percent or less of the area median income, which for a family of four in New Haven is just under $69,000, and an additional 20 units for people experiencing homelessness. The $28 million project was financed by the National Equity Fund (NEF)—a LISC affiliate focused on LIHTC and other housing investments—as well as TD Bank, Community Preservation Corporation, Connecticut Department of Housing, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, and the City of New Haven Livable City Initiative. In recent years, LISC Connecticut has also provided capacity-building support to Beulah to strengthen its ability to develop quality housing.
“We're excited to be involved in a project that benefits the residents of this neighborhood, and we're hopeful that 340 Dixwell will serve as a model for a community-led development that offers cutting-edge design, environmental impact and quality affordable and supportive housing,” said Hugh Allen, US Head of Commercial Real Estate at TD Bank. “[This development] will have a significant impact on the New Haven community and we’re proud to be a part of that.”
The project is important not just as a model for green and healthy housing development, but as a strategy to protect residents from displacement, as new market-rate developments in the area push up rents and property taxes, of 340 Dixwell’s affordable rate. “We believe that no matter what your zip code is, no matter what your income status is, everybody's entitled to have quality affordable living,” said Darrell Brooks. “[Mass timber] just has a sense of elegance that you won't typically see in low-income communities."
Everyone is also entitled to a healthy living environment, Brooks noted. When using durable and sustainable cross-laminated timber (CLT)—also known as mass timber—there is no need for drywall, allowing for a natural aesthetic that brings a sense of the outdoors to a modern interior, and helps reduce asthma triggers. Mass timber buildings can even, according to Beulah, promote a more focusd state of mind for the people who live or work in them.
Mass timber is engineered to be light, inherently fireproof, and strong enough to withstand natural disasters like earthquakes. It is created by grouping together milled and cut lumber with environmentally safe glue to create “glulam” columns and beams, and mass timber walls and floors.
Studies have shown that mass timber buildings have a lower carbon footprint than those made out of concrete and steel. Steel and cement generate significant shares of greenhouse gasses during every phase of their production, whereas wood stores carbon. Mass timber also streamlines construction. Building components can be manufactured in factories and then assembled on-site, minimizing the need for extensive labor and reducing waste. Projects can be erected approximately 25 percent faster than their concrete counterparts and decrease construction traffic by up to 90 percent.
While mass timber requires less labor and presents a promising avenue for sustainable and expedited construction, it’s still in an early adoption phase in the United States compared to Europe, where it originated, and Canada where it’s gaining popularity. And the material has its critics. Despite the purported advantages of mass timber, not all environmentalists are pushing for its integration. Mass timber’s advantages rely heavily on sustainable forestry practices and efficient logistical operations that if not properly managed, can compromise benefits. Environmental group The Sierra Club argues the amount of carbon lost in the atmosphere when forests are cut and milled isn’t always offset by replanting young trees.
Nonetheless, mass timber worked well for 340 Dixwell, Brooks said, despite some challenges. Between trying to secure funding for a project utilizing new construction technology and slowdowns from COVID-19, getting the project off the ground wasn’t an easy feat. Brooks said an “astronomical” increase in cost of materials, including wood, plastics, and metal, further complicated an already complex project.
Co-developer Jeff Spiritos, of Spiritos Properties, who has pioneered mass timber projects in New York, has seen costs cause hesitation around investments in the use of the technology. “In the private sector, introducing a new concept is really a disruptor when somebody says the first question, second question, and third is, well, how much does it cost?” he said.
Affordable housing investors expressed similar concerns about 340 Dixwell, when the initial upfront costs appeared to be somewhat higher than traditional construction, Brooks explained. Even though the property is expected to save money over time in energy costs, it’s still a tricky evaluation for investors; the promise of a lower environmental impact is often seen as an intangible benefit, not central to the overall development.
“We faced all the traditional barriers and difficulties of development, and then add [in] the pandemic with all of these other issues. They were interesting, interesting times,” Brooks said. “When you're small and you don't have a lot of money, it takes a lot of prayer,” he noted of Beulah’s work.
The incentive of being a part of a project of 340 Dixwell’s magnitude eventually piqued the interest of capital providers like NEF, although it took some extra effort to understand and get comfortable with the risks and benefits.
“At NEF, we’re always looking to expand our capabilities and diversify our investment portfolio,” said Tony Lyons, managing director at NEF. “Innovation is a core component of who we are as an organization and our team was eager to collaborate on a project with mass timber. Despite our initial lack of knowledge, our extensive history with HELP Development Corp. allowed us to familiarize ourselves quickly with the new technology, creating an environment of collaboration, support and confidence.”
Knowing HELP Development Corp.’s abilities, a longtime NEF partner, was further encouragement. NEF was able to move forward with a $15 million LIHTC investment, syndicating the project’s tax credits to TD Bank, to finance units at or below 60% AMI.
In 2023, LISC Connecticut invited Beulah to join its innovative capacity-building cohort. The 18-month program supported by JPMorgan Chase helps underserved nonprofits gain access to funding, operational expertise and management support so they can effectively serve their communities. LISC provided Beulah with a $15,000 grant and is guiding them through the process of securing another Section 4 grant which, if committed before the end of the year, will help expand the group’s capacity to pursue additional real estate development projects. With funds already secured for 340 Dixwell, LISC, which has helped Connecticut partners build more than 4,900 affordable homes, stepped in to provide technical assistance to Beulah Land Development Corp.
“They're doing a lot with very little,” said Kasey LaFlam, LISC Connecticut’s partnerships and programs director, of Beulah. “It's impressive to see this small, under-resourced organization able to bring such advanced technology and innovative thinking to affordable rental housing.”
In fact, 340 Dixwell is another example of what resilience looks like for an African American community known as an important waystation on the Underground Railroad, said Alison Cunningham, board member at Beulah and former CEO of Columbus House, a New Haven housing organization.
“To be in this community [is] always saying, ‘We're not going anywhere. This is our community. We've been displaced before from this community. We've been kicked out and no, we're staying here. This is where this community lives and belongs.’”
At 340 Dixwell, supportive services will be in place to help people keep their residences amidst a painful affordable housing crisis. Connecticut has one of the most difficult rental markets in the country, with a 3.5 percent vacancy rate; the percentage of people who are unhoused in the state jumped 13 percent from 2023 to 2024.
“There's a huge demand for affordable housing in New Haven. This site is only a couple blocks from Yale University, an area that has very high housing costs and not a lot of options for people with lower incomes,” NEF’s Lyons said. “There's a need for housing like this just about everywhere, but this project is necessary for the community.”
“I do not think that this is a one-time event,” said Brooks of the project. “I do think that funding sources are going to want to see projects like this, in particular in affordable housing,” he said. “I think everybody really wants to be a part of something that's new and innovative.”