Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs [D] attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Phases 1 and 2 of the Sycamore Vista affordable housing project in Camp Verde on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
“Housing and workforce housing has been a priority of the town council for years,” Camp Verde Mayor Dee Jenkins said. “We have heard from businesses that workforce is a barrier to their business development and housing is cited as the biggest issue. This project will result in over 300 housing units.”
“In 2023 I secured the largest investment into the state’s Affordable Housing Development Trust Fund to help provide affordable housing units across the state,” Hobbs said, touting the state’s housing programs. “We’ve already approved 3,000 shovel-ready units, and we launched our Arizona is Home mortgage assistance program to help first-time homebuyers. By the end of this program, we should reach 600 families helping them secure their first home, and I’ve signed several bills making it easier for communities to build different types of affordable housing, including missing middle housing and accessory dwelling units, as well as making it easier for adaptive reuse projects.”
The Sycamore Vista project is owned by an affiliate of Scottsdale-based Atlantic Development & Investments Inc. Each phase will include 80 units divided among two-, three- and four-bedroom townhomes. Two thirds of the phases will be low-income units.
Atlantic Development is also building 178 units of market-rate housing adjacent to the project, the Sycamore Villas.
“Some of the features here at this project will be a range of income levels and family sizes, 12 units that are set aside for permanent housing with attached services,” Hobbs said. “This is a certified river-friendly-living community, so highlighting sustainability efforts and a Head Start program will be integrated into this complex as well, providing that foundational support for early childhood and helping to meet critical needs for economic success, getting kids into an early start and also having that extra support for families.”
The project is being financed by the state’s low-income housing tax credit, the State Housing Trust Fund and federal low income housing tax credits.
“At [the Arizona Department of Housing], we’re proud of $20 million via the federal low income housing tax credit and $10 million in the state low income housing tax credits, as well as $2.5 million of state housing trust funds to support Sycamore Vista I,” ADOH Director Joan Serviss said. “In Sycamore Vista II, there was a $20 million investment in federal low income housing tax credits and $2 million in State Housing Trust funds.”
Serviss also noted that the project is located in Camp Verde’s Opportunity Zone, a designated area where real estate investors can receive capital gains tax deductions on their investments if they retain those investments for periods of more than five or 10 years.
“Together, we’ve identified ways to make this the most sustainable project possible,” said Friends of the Verde River Executive Director W. David Gressly, Ph.D. “This project will conserve over 150 million gallons of water in the river over the next five years. We have a river-friendly program that has been targeting about 25 million a year. This will really jump-start that, and we really appreciate all that conservation.”
Atlantic Development and Investments will be donating half an acre of land to the town that will be turned into a parking lot at the end of Homestead Parkway when the area by the river is developed into a park.
“The intention is the parcel backs up to state park land and U.S. Forest Service land, and so the town has been working in partnership to assess a phase project that would start with a trail that takes you back to the river,” Camp Verde Town Manager Miranda Fisher subsequently said. “But we want to have people parking off of Homestead to get that good so a couple years in the making, definitely, for that project. But the parking is an essential part, because that’s our access point.”
“We’ll have full-day programming for residents in this future complex and so the idea of creating adjacency to high quality childcare for workforce is one that we don’t have a lot of availability of here in Arizona,” Mindy Zapata, the director of Early Head Start and Head Start at Southwest Human Development, said.
“For Phase I we should start having our first units available for occupancy in July and that project will be completed by September of 2025,” Atlantic Development Executive Vice President Jessica Raymond said. “Phase II of Sycamore Vistas on the affordable phase, it’s following Phase I by a couple of months, so construction on that project should be complete by the end of 2025.”
The Sycamore Villas are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.
