Strategic Lending for Housing Development

The availability of appropriate housing for residents is a critical component of a functioning local economy. Lenders is often able to provide flexible gap financing to allow housing development of all sorts to proceed. Commercial property loans in downtown Elkins have secured buildings that now provide increased or improved housing units on the upper floors.

Our flexible financing, and community-minded and mission-centered lending, can mean enabling a developer to fund the purchase of a dilapidated building that has very little value as collateral, or pay for pre-development services that help determine the feasibility of a project.

Lenders has proven to be one of the best sources of financing for our more complicated and impactful housing development projects.
— Dustin Smith

Downtown mixed-use properties, historic rehabs, infill development, and projects that provide workforce and/or income-restricted affordable housing require multiple funding sources. Often the involvement of a CDFI that can absorb and mitigate a share of the risk can complete a package and drive a project forward.

CASE STUDY:
The Golden Rule
Belington, Barbour County

  • 10 apartment units
  • first floor commercial spaces
  • historic rehabilitation
  • $45,000 loan funded initial purchase of building and leveraged a $2.5 million project.
News

Mon Forest Towns Initiative Awarded $1.89 ARC POWER Grant

Elkins, West Virginia, October 16, 2024 — Woodlands Community Lender, on behalf of the Mon Forest Towns Partnership, has been awarded $1,897,136 by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to ...

Read More
News

Do Unto Others: Belington’s Historic Building Rises Again

The 120-year-old building survived a 20-year vacancy, fires, weatherization challenges, and the test of time to rise again as a centerpiece, economic driver, and community space in the heart ...

Read More
Stories

Buzz Words: Rural, Veteran, and Woman-Owned Small Business Grows

In Buckhannon, West Virginia, Sheila and Stephen Clark have carved out a niche that blends family, community, and entrepreneurship through their business, Buzz and Cluck. With a humorous nod ...

Read More