Brownsville Housing Authority opens nearly $22M senior apartment complex. Behind the deal.

A new $21.7 million senior housing development opened this week in the Rio Grande Valley, known as Avanti Legacy Del Sol, near Ruben M Torres Boulevard and Military Highway on Brownsville’s west side. 

Developers behind the new 84-unit apartment complex in Brownsville for adults 55 years and older leveraged the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, a federal subsidy that covers 70% of the project cost. 

Brownsville Housing Opportunity Corp., the Brownsville housing authority’s nonprofit development arm, and Austin-based MadHouse Development co-developed the project. 

The way it works is that the developer sells credits to institutional investors to raise the equity capital for the project, which reduces the initial loan to build affordable housing. The federal government awarded the developer a $2 million annual tax credit, allocated by the state of Texas, worth about $20 million over a 10-year stretch, initially awarded in 2023.