School-to-Housing Project Now Underway
Work to convert the former St. Matthew School into affordable housing is officially underway. Image courtesy of Jeffrey D. Lewis II
Construction begins this week on the conversion of the vacant St. Matthew School buildings into affordable housing. Located in Morningside on Whittier just south of Harper, “The Residences at St. Matthew” will include 46 units of affordable housing. Though the project was announced in June of 2022, the official property transfer to Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan just occurred on November 2nd.
Rising costs due to inflation delayed the start date and increased the project price tag to $20 million, from $17 million. The timeframe for construction completion is an estimated 13 months, with the hope that some new residents can move in before Christmas of 2024. Property management company KMG Prestige will begin taking applications in late summer of 2024.
As noted in the May edition of The Morningsider, The Residences at St. Matthew will include 36 one-bedroom apartments, 4 two-bedroom units and 6 studio units. The apartments are targeted for households earning up to 30%, 50% and 60% of the “area median income.” Health and social services will be provided on-site through a partnership with Ascension Michigan. Some services will be open to neighborhood residents.
Morningside residents from the 5900 block of Audubon expressed concerns with an original site plan that showed a new driveway exit to Audubon. Thanks to the involvement of Councilmember Latisha Johnson and the City’s Housing and Revitalization Department, project developers agreed to drop the proposed driveway.
Many supportive partners are necessary to execute a complex revitalization effort like The Residences at St. Matthew. In addition to Catholic Charities, Morningside is thankful for St. Matthew Catholic Church (which will remain open!), Ascension Michigan, Ethos Development Partners, Cinnaire Solutions, KMG Prestige and O’Brien Construction. Project updates will be posted at https://ccsem.org/residences. Morningside President Eric Dueweke, ericduew@gmail.com, is the community liaison to the development partners.
