Cliffmore Park Apartments: Bringing affordable senior living to Fayetteville

By Stephanie Meador, posted Oct 9, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

The new Cliffmore Park Apartments are being constructed at 5133 Identity Lane in Fayetteville. The 72-unit rental
development is set to provide much-needed affordable housing for seniors aged 55 and over. Photo by GFBJ.

Cliffmore Park, a 72-unit new construction rental development, is set to provide much-needed affordable housing for seniors aged 55 and over in Fayetteville. The property, an approximately 81,000 square-foot, three-story building with two elevators, is currently under construction. It will offer 36 one-bedroom and 36 two-bedroom apartments, aiming to serve residents at or below 80% of area median income with rents designed to remain affordable.

The project is being developed by East Carolina Community Development, Inc. and Resource Housing Group, Inc. at 5133 Identity Lane in Fayetteville. In 2021, Cliffmore Park was awarded federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), a critical step that enabled the project to move forward. The process of securing the credits was highly competitive.

“Out of [around] 150 properties that apply, we generally fund somewhere between 30 and 35 properties a year across the state. And so it’s highly competitive … we say no more than we say yes, and it’s not because they’re not good deals, but simply because there’s just not enough of this very limited resource to go around,” said NC Housing Finance Agency Executive Director Scott Farmer.

Once awarded, the tax credits are sold to investors, often large banks or companies with high tax burdens, as well as those seeking Community Reinvestment Act credits. These credits, which are vital to the project’s financial structure, must be supplemented by additional funding sources, such as bank loans, agency loans and local government support.

The proposed funding sources for this development include:

Bank Loan
NCHFA RPP loan
NCHFA RPP-Disaster Recovery Loan
City of Fayetteville Loan
Federal LIHTC Equity
Owner Investment/Deferred Developer Fees

Farmer emphasized the rigorous standards required to participate in the LIHTC program.

“There’s a scoring and ranking process published each year in what’s called the Qualified Allocation Plan…within that Qualified Allocation Plan are minimum standards for developer experience, for the management company. We have expectations on...site and location requirements as well as we have specific design standards as part of the appendices...Everything is pretty well scripted so that we’re trying to make sure that we’re creating a quality project,” shared Farmer.

According to documentation from NCDPS, the proposed apartment building will feature community amenities including multiple seating and lounge areas, a multi-purpose room with a kitchenette, computer area, exercise room, tenant storage units, large balconies, laundry rooms, office space for on-site management and maintenance staff and a mailbox kiosk. Outdoor amenities will feature a covered porch, patio with picnic tables and grills, a gazebo and seating areas.

Construction on Cliffmore Park is progressing, with the property required to be placed in service before Dec. 31, 2027. Farmer estimated that it will be placed in service well before that statutory required date, likely sometime in 2026.

“Once the project is placed in service and complete, the developer will submit to us what’s called a final cost certification. Our staff will then review that and determine that all of those costs are eligible, and then we will issue an 8609 for that amount of credits that the property is eligible for,” shared Farmer.

The project stands out, in part, because it was selected as part of the disaster recovery response following Hurricane Florence, a period when additional funding was available, allowing the state to support more properties than usual.

Upon completion, tenant selection will follow strict federal and agency guidelines, with fair housing and income verification processes in place.

Part of the agreement with receiving the tax credits is that developers have a 15-year tax credit compliance period, and then they have an additional 15-year extended use period. So the property must remain affordable for that full 30 years.

“We’re partners in this deal for 30 years. So we want to make sure that it’s built to a good standard, and that it’s well maintained and well operated...we’re actually building an excel lent product…you can go back and look at properties that we’ve funded over the last 35 years and you’ll see that most of them still look good, [are] still in good condition, and are well maintained,” remarked Farmer.

Cliffmore Park Apartments will help meet the need for affordable senior housing in Fayetteville.

“These developments are complicated to put together, and they really do take combinations of partners, whether that’s the local government, the developers, the state agencies, it really is a team effort to get afford able houses built in communities, but it’s a huge asset for all the folks that will benefit from this long term, and we’re excited that it’s underway now,” shared Farmer.

As the project nears completion, it promises to deliver lasting benefits to residents and the broader community for decades to come.

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