MANSFIELD, Texas – There is a lot of energy and momentum happening on the 1100 block of W. Broad Street in the City of Mansfield.
“We’ll have a garden there,” said Bethlehem Baptist Church Pastor Michael Evans, Sr. as he pointed to a large field across the street from the church campus. “You’ll have a walking track there. You’ll have gazebos there.”
Bethlehem Baptist Church, the oldest predominately African American church in Tarrant County, and its partners are preparing to break ground on a new affordable housing development. It is an apartment complex that church members say will rival any new residential development in town.
"We call it quality, affordable, senior living for senior adults here in southeast Tarrant County," Pastor Evans said.
The affordable housing complex will be called Bethlehem’s Pioneer Place. There will be 135, one and two bedroom units for tenants age 55 and older. It will have top quality amenities indoors, and lots of recreational features around the gated property.
”It’s going to be a huge game-changer,” said Hallie Calloway.
Church members call the $20-million Pioneer Place development significant, since rising rent rates across town are forcing some older residents to move away.
"They are saying they can’t afford to live where they are now. Taxes and other things that are making them have to make other choices," Calloway explained.
Bethlehem Baptist Church and community members are planning an official groundbreaking for the housing development at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 29, 2018. The affordable housing complex is expected to open by Summer 2019.