BENTONVILLE, Ark. — A plan to offer teachers in the Bentonville School District affordable housing just received a multi-million-dollar commitment from the Walton Family Foundation and the State of Arkansas.
The $18.7 million commitment is additional financial support from the Bentonville Teacher Homes Project, and will be used for constructing McAuley Place, a "workforce housing development targeting employees of Bentonville Schools, as well as other families in the district," according to a release from the Excellerate Foundation, who is heading the project with its subsidiary, Excellerate Housing.
Excellerate said that of the $18.7 million, $13.8 million is federal tax credits and state loans while $4.9 million is a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
The project is located at located at the corner of SW I Street and SW 41st Street in Bentonville.
Excellerate described McAuley Place as a "multifamily rental development" that will serve 160 families all within walking distance of local schools, grocery stores, and a Mercy clinic.
Rent is projected to be $450 to $800 per month and will be protected for the next 35 years by federal and state guidelines, according to Excellerate.
“Our list of partners continues to grow as more and more people recognize the unique nature of what we’re doing at McAuley Place," said J. Nash, the executive director of Excellerate Housing. “No one else in the nation is tackling the teacher housing crisis quite like this, so when people learn more about it, they want to be a part of it.”
Excellerate said on July 31 that work should start "in the following weeks," and that the McAuley Place project is expected to be completed in late 2025 for the first phase of 60 multifamily units, followed by a second phase of 60 more multifamily units and 40 single family cottages by the end of 2026.
“The people who work for Bentonville Schools do so much for this community, so it’s no surprise that so much of this community wants to do something for them in return,” Nash said. “The size of this coalition of partners—and the fact that it keeps growing—is a testament to the value Northwest Arkansas places on high quality education and the people who make it possible.”
Developers have stated that the project will help the district in recruiting enough qualified educators to meet the needs of the area's growing population.
To read more about the project, click here.
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