Spring 2021 Issue - 47

S P I N E / V. I . H O U S I N G A U T H O R I T Y

S P I N E / V. I . H O U S I N G A U T H O R I T Y

Left and opposite page:
The Donoe project is
scheduled for completion
in December 2022. It will
deliver 14 three- and fourstory buildings with 84
apartment units, plus a
community building, set
amid 10.6 landscaped
acres (4 ha).

equipped with its own electrical microgrid, powered
by solar energy and equipped with storage batteries
and propane-fired microturbines as backups, so that
lights and refrigerators can keep running even if the
power goes out elsewhere on the island. A cistern
on the property is intended to ensure that the complex does not run out of water, even if utility service
is disrupted by a storm.
But resilience is not the only upgrade. The Donoe
project has been designed to provide residents with
healthier living conditions, including roomier apartments designed to optimize air flow and provide
more natural light, and plenty of green space outside.
" We're building market-rate housing, but it's
called affordable housing, " Graham says.
To accomplish this ambitious reimagining of
public housing, Virgin Islands officials formed a
public/private partnership with two developers, Philadelphia-based Pennrose and St. Thomas-based
Jackson Development Company, and leveraged a
variety of resources, ranging from federal disaster
funds and low-income tax credits to bank financing,
to create a multifaceted funding mechanism.
The Donoe project is the initial phase in a $1.023
billion campaign to upgrade the territory's entire
public housing portfolio over the next decade, which
will involve building 1,500 entirely new units and
extensively rehabilitating 1,500 others. Graham envisions the Donoe project as " a model for the future
of public housing for the territory. " In addition, the
project's emphasis on resilience and other innovations might help influence the direction of public
housing elsewhere in the United States, particularly
in coastal areas threatened by extreme weather.

Evolution of a New Development Model
Over the years, 10 percent of the Virgin Islands'
public housing units have been destroyed by hurri-

canes. Even before it was hit by two massive storms
in 2017, the territory struggled with unmet public
housing needs, with thousands of low-income
people on waiting lists for apartments, explains
Graham, who became director of the housing
authority in 2008.
" The hurricanes exacerbated that and increased
the need for housing by an additional 1,000 units, "
he says.
At that point, Graham says he brought in ULI to
conduct two Advisory Services panels-one that
studied St. Croix in 2018 and a second group that
focused on St. Thomas the following summer-and
explore ways to solve the problem.
One of the members of the ULI panel for St.
Thomas was Tyrone Rachal, president of Urban Key
Capital Partners, an Atlanta-based firm that assists
in structuring creative financing for redevelopment
projects. He recalls that during the group's visit, the
island was hit by Hurricane Dorian, which gave them
a chance to see the fearsome natural forces that
public housing had to withstand.
" It highlighted how vulnerable the Virgin Islands
is, " Rachal says. " We had a tour before Dorian and
then after. It highlighted how any housing unit that
you build has to be resilient for hurricanes. "
The ULI group had the opportunity to tour some
of the island's public housing. R. David Gibbs, a
renewable-energy consultant who was on both the
St. Thomas panel and the St. Croix panel, described
it as " not the prettiest collection of buildings . . .
they had seen better days. An upgrade was definitely something that was needed. They needed new
housing, and they needed a new approach to public
housing as well. "
The ULI panel's work in St. Thomas focused
mostly on the downtown area of Charlotte Amalie,
the Virgin Islands' capital. But Graham says that
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4/1/21 8:41 AM
Spring 2021 Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spring 2021 Issue
