Affordable housing for seniors proposed for East Raleigh church without a congregation
Nearly a century after it was formed, the congregation of Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church held its final service last March. Now there’s a plan to turn the church’s former home off New Bern Avenue into affordable housing for senior citizens.
Two nonprofits, The Presbyterian Homes Inc. and DHIC, announced Thursday that they hope to build 150 apartments for low-income seniors on the 4.6-acre Milner site, where New Bern meets King Charles Road.
The Presbytery of New Hope, which oversees Presbyterian churches in 33 counties in Eastern North Carolina, will lease the land to the two groups for 75 years for a nominal, one-time payment of $1,000. That gesture will go a long way toward helping keep the apartments affordable, said Gregg Warren, president and CEO of DHIC, which builds and maintains affordable housing throughout the region.
“With land costs as prohibitive as they now are in Raleigh, the Presbytery’s commitment of the property for affordable housing is a gift to the community that will endure for decades to come,” Warren said in a statement.
The two groups must first persuade the city to approve the project. Not only will it require a rezoning to allow for multifamily housing, but the project would entail demolishing the church, which was completed in 1955 and is a contributing building to the Longview Gardens Historic District, which includes mid-20th century neighborhoods and Raleigh Country Club.
But the project comes at a time when city leaders are keen to tackle the growing cost of housing as Raleigh’s population grows and older neighborhoods gentrify. Newly elected Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin has proposed policy changes that would make building housing easier and also wants to ask voters to let the city issue bonds to finance affordable housing projects.
Baldwin lent her support to the Milner project Thursday.
“This is equitable development in the truest sense of the word,” she said in a statement. “The City Council and City of Raleigh are proud to partner with DHIC and PHI to meet their goals to increase the amount of affordable housing in East Raleigh while respecting and adding value to the surrounding neighborhood.”
The Milner property is also along Raleigh’s first planned bus rapid transit or BRT line, which will run along New Bern Avenue between downtown and New Hope Road. City planners are in the midst of a public process to see how Raleigh might prevent new development along BRT lines from pricing out people who depend on the bus.
DHIC and The Presbyterian Homes will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 18, to present their plan to area residents and get their feedback. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the community building at another DHIC project, Washington Terrace, 1951 Booker Drive, off Raleigh Boulevard.
Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church opened as First Vanguard Church at the corner of Martin and Swain streets in 1923, and was later named for Henry H. Milner, who donated the land and money for the new building. He was buried on the property in 1955 and will remain there, said Beth Voltz, who heads the DHIC board of directors.
The Milner congregation dwindled in size as its members aged. Before it disbanded, the congregation endorsed the idea of using the property for low-income housing, said Art Ross, pastor emeritus of White Memorial Presbyterian Church.
“They voted to dissolve on the assurance of the Presbytery that we would do our best to bring affordable senior housing to the site,” Ross said in an interview.
In the meantime, the Southeast Raleigh Table, an outgrowth of Edenton Street United Methodist Church downtown, has been using the building for Sunday services while it seeks a home.
The Milner project is the second for DHIC and The Presbyterian Homes, which operates retirement communities. Four years ago, the two nonprofits bought Capital Towers Apartments, a complex with 297 units for seniors off Six Forks Road near North Hills. DHIC is renovating the two towers, updating the apartments and adding a fitness center, game and media rooms and a catering kitchen.
When the work at Capital Towers is done at the end of 2020, the apartments will be available to seniors earning 60% or less of the area median income. The Milner project will have the same income requirement.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 3:38 PM.
