BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Excellerate Foundation and Bentonville Schools held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new teacher housing development on the corner of 41st and I Streets.
When the original housing proposal was behind Bentonville High School on J Street in February, Bentonville's superintendent said she would re-assess the housing plan after the city council voted against it.
"When the zoning request that we had was denied, all of a sudden, we were 17 days from that window," Excellerate CEO Jeff Webster said. "And then the team started to rally and we started to talk to different people on different things we could do, and we realized we could actually move to this location."
The brand new 120 multi-family apartment complex called the McAuley Place will feature 40 single-family cottages along with childcare, an early learning center, tutoring, and parenting classes on-site. Thirty-five of those cottages will be allocated for Bentonville Schools employees. Another 120 units will be available to district employees and the larger community.
"You get the benefits of homeownership, but we remove a lot of the negatives," Webster said. "What does that mean? They pay $1,500 a month, and there is no down payment. There is no principal mortgage insurance. There are no closing costs. There are no taxes. There's no building maintenance, and there's no building insurance. So you take away all these things that prohibit people from being able to participate in the benefits of homeownership."
Through the Homeownership Program Mutual Equity Solutions (HOMES), employees can only stay at the complex for 5 years. After that time is up, officials say people living at McAuley Place should have up to $50,000 saved to buy a permanent home.
Employees who want to live at the complex will have to meet a list of qualifications.
"They have to verify that their Bentonville schools employee, and so that can be everywhere from a bus driver to an instructional aide to a teacher," Superintendent Dr. Debbie Jones said. "Then there are a number of other conditions. They just really have to be in good standing. There are some criminal provisions that are prohibitive to live here."
Besides, teacher retention, Jones says this is just another way to recruit the best staff for the district.
"It attracts young teachers just graduating," she said. "Honestly, they don't want to live at home with their families. They want to be out on their own, and this is a great first step."
Webster said his favorite part about this project is the students are building housing for the teachers through the Ignite Program at the school district.
"They're certified by the time they're a senior ... being able to do plumbing, or electrical, or framing or concrete work," he said. "And then they have paid internships where they can actually work with our contractors in terms of learning hands-on skills in building something for their teachers or building something for the Early Childhood Development Center."
The price tag on this project will be $40 to $50 million. Phase one will open by the end of 2025.
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