SPRINGDALE, Ark. — A groundbreaking ceremony was held today to kick off the "Big Emma" housing project in Springdale.
Community leaders were in attendance to celebrate the start of construction on a new, 77-unit mixed income apartment complex in downtown Springdale.
"We're really excited about this project,” Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said at the event. “It's going to bring a lot of housing to downtown Springdale, and also bring with it workforce housing or an affordable housing component."
The complex will be managed and developed by the non-profit housing development company Community Development NWA. The group says they will ensure long term affordability and help maintain tenant income compliance for the workforce.
30 units of the complex, which is located on the corner of Emma Avenue and Park Street, are reserved for households earning below the area median income.
“That's why we stay involved in profit as property managers,” Casey Kleinhenz, Executive Director of Community Development NWA said. “We're the ones that are able to ensure that the housing program is being followed the way it's supposed to be followed.
The project is a collaboration between Groundwork, Community Development of Northwest Arkansas. and Buffalo Builders, who will be constructing the project.
Groundwork, a group focused on addressing housing accessibility in Benton and Washington County believe that due to Northwest Arkansas’ rapid growth, the need for affordable housing was necessary.
“We have not built enough housing to keep up with our rapid population growth,” Duke McLarty, Executive Director of Groundwork said. “As our population continues to grow, we have to ensure that our housing production keeps up with that growth so that people aren't priced out.”
McLarty also hopes this project can be a beacon for more affordable housing projects throughout Northwest Arkansas.
“We absolutely are taking practices in and taking lessons learned from big Emma here in Springdale, and are anxious to apply those to future developments,” McLarty said.
The development is supported by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.