DALLAS — This story was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. Read the original version here.
A Dallas real estate development firm received an incentive package to complete the multifamily portion of its 12-acre development in southern Dallas.
The Dallas City Council approved a 10-year tax abatement and an economic development grant of up to $3.5 million for Onu Ventures Inc. to construct the residential piece of its project located at I-20 and Bonnie View Road in an Aug 28 meeting. The Adaline will have a mix of apartments and townhomes totaling 238 units, an outdoor park and a 2.5-acre retail portion.
The incentive package requires the firm to designate 20% of the multifamily units for households earning at or below 80% of the area median income and the rest at market rate. The firm also needs to obtain a building permit from the city by the end of 2025 and invest a minimum of $40 million in property improvements by the end of 2027, according to city documents.
According to 2024 U.S. Department of Housing and and Urban Development rent limits posted on the City of Dallas website, 80% of the area’s median family income is $61,800 for one person, $70,600 for a household of two, $88,250 for a four-resident household, $102,400 for six, and $116,500 for an eight-person household. That means individuals or households with incomes more than those amounts don’t qualify for discounted rent.
Mikial Onu, founder and CEO of Onu Ventures, said there’s still hope the company could deliver some of its residential units by the end of next year, but the delivery timeframe will likely be closer to the second quarter of 2026. He previously told Dallas Business Journal the firm aimed to build a multifamily community targeting those earning between 65% to 85% AMI and said this was still the plan for the market rate units per the 2024 AMI threshold and will be revisited in 2026.
Financing a mainly residential development in an area of southern Dallas that hasn’t seen market rate apartments or workforce housing built in decades has also been difficult, Onu said. Rising interest rates, construction costs and insurance premiums made it “borderline impossible” to build multifamily housing targeting those earning 65% to 85% AMI, he said. There also aren’t many funding programs available to help subsidize the cost of developing workforce housing units.
“This incentive package not only helps offset some of the costs associated with building and operating workforce housing but also helps make this deal a more attractive investment for equity investors,” Onu said. “It is attractive enough as-is. But because of the area, it has to financially look much better than similar products built in other parts of Dallas, especially when the goal is to make this product predominantly market-rate but attainable for working class people in southern Dallas."
Ahead of delivering housing, Onu Ventures plans to first construct the Adaline Plaza, the retail piece of the development. The Adaline Plaza will feature a 4,100-square-foot market cafe and a 5,200-square-foot leasable building. An eight-month permitting process pushed the firm’s construction schedule from its originally planned delivery this month to an anticipated February 2025 completion date.
A former Southern Methodist University football player, Onu established his firm in 2021. The real estate development firm focuses on building walkable, mixed-use projects in underserved neighborhoods. Onu Ventures owns about 65 acres in southern Dallas including an 11-acre site across the street from the University of North Texas at Dallas where it plans to develop a mixed-use student housing development.
