Vacant Motel Becomes Housing and Healthcare Hub in Jackson, Mississippi

Vacant Motel Becomes Housing and Healthcare Hub in Jackson, Mississippi

The Pearl Apartments addresses health and housing needs for seniors in Jackson, Mississippi, with 75 affordable apartments in a renovated motel. Photo credit: Gulf Coast Housing Partnership

Jackson is the capital of Mississippi and the state's most populous city. Although the city enjoys a rich history, it has struggled with long-term economic disinvestment, leading to a poverty rate of more than 26 percent and one of the sharpest population declines in the country. The city's residents also face pronounced health burdens, including high rates of diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, as well as a shortage of high-quality affordable housing. These health and housing burdens fall especially hard on residents of lower-income communities and the 33 percent of city residents over the age of 50.

One local faith community set out to address these challenges by partnering with local organizations to revitalize a vacant motel. These efforts became the multiorganization partnership that created The Pearl Apartments, which offers 75 units of affordable housing alongside a health clinic tailored to resident needs.

Growing Partnership Creates Success

The Pearl Apartments is an adaptive reuse of a motel along the once-bustling Highway 80 corridor. Originally built in the 1960s, the motel became vacant in 2005 and went unused for years before Pearl Street Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit affiliated with a local church, acquired the site in 2014. The congregation of Pearl Street African Methodist Episcopal Church played a critical role in these early fundraising efforts and hoped to develop the land into "a health and housing campus," according to Mary Elizabeth Evans, vice president of real estate development at nonprofit developer Gulf Coast Housing Partnership (GCHP). This goal complemented some research that GCHP had begun in collaboration with Jackson State University, and the organizations joined forces.

The Pearl's amenities include in-unit laundry equipment, onsite management, a large community room, and an exercise room. Photo credit: Gulf Coast Housing Partnership

The development team began by pursuing a historic designation for the 14-acre site, which they achieved in 2017. Financing for the project was complicated and took several years to assemble; in 2020, the Mississippi Home Corporation awarded the project low-income housing tax credits, which allowed development to proceed. Rising costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed the project, and construction finally began in April 2022. Despite challenging conditions, the team completed construction by the end of 2023, and the development reached full occupancy by early 2024. 

About the Development

The Pearl features 52 one-bedroom and 23 two-bedroom apartments reserved for low-income residents aged 55 and older. Twenty-one units are reserved for residents earning up to 30 percent of the area median income (AMI), 24 units are reserved for residents earning up to 50 percent of AMI, and 29 are reserved for residents earning up to 60 percent of AMI, with one additional manager unit adding 75 total units to Jackson's housing stock. Each apartment features energy-efficient appliances, including an in-unit washer, dryer, and dishwasher, as well as a front porch; the property also offers an exercise room for residents and onsite property management and maintenance.

Residents can access a range of health and support services. Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center operates several clinics onsite that specialize in adult medicine, occupational therapy, and obstetrics and gynecology. An onsite community health worker, a trained nurse, provides culturally competent care and connects residents to health and support services. Residents also have access to financial education services through Midtown Partners and Trustmark Bank, and a partnership with Jackson Medical Mall offers health services specifically tailored to the needs of seniors. The Pearl also provides transportation and referrals to other Jackson-Hinds clinics throughout the city.

Financing

The Pearl Apartments cost approximately $28.2 million to develop. Funding sources included 9 percent low-income housing tax credit equity as well as federal and state historic tax credit equity, HOME Investment Partnerships funds, the Housing Trust Fund, and a $750,000 affordable housing loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas. The health clinic is separately owned under a condominium structure, allowing the development to access state and federal New Markets Tax Credit equity. The project also received private assistance from Trustmark Bank and Regions Bank, a $2.5 million grant from Wells Fargo and Enterprise Community Partners, and $3 million in Medicaid Managed Care Organization low-cost debt from United Healthcare.

The Pearl Apartments is colocated with an onsite health clinic operated by Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center, a leading provider of health services in Jackson. Photo credit: Gulf Coast Housing Partnership

Investing in the Future Through Health and Housing

The Pearl Apartments represents a successful faith-led redevelopment of vacant property and adaptive reuse into an innovative campus for both health and housing. As one of two pilot projects for GCHP's Health + Housing initiative, The Pearl's success continues to inform the developer's efforts to address health and wellness disparities in affordable housing development.

Evans hopes that The Pearl will spark continued investment in the local community. She notes that partnership across many organizations were key to the project's success. "It really has been a community effort from the vision to the planning to the financing, and now to the implementation and the operation," she says. "It [is] a good example of how [a] partnership can come together to provide a really high-quality affordable housing option for people that [is] closely connected with services that help support them in their daily life."