Taft-Mills Group Recognized as Top 50 Affordable Housing Developer

Affordable Housing Finance ranked Taft-Mills Group 44 in its list of the Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2018.

Taft-Mills Group has been ranked as one of the Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2018 by Affordable Housing Finance. TMG nearly nearly doubled the number of new units it received funding for in 2018 compared with the prior year and hopes to again double production in 2019. This marks the first time the burgeoning company has appeared on the list.

Dustin Mills, President and Co-Founder of Taft-Mills Group, said “We’ve worked hard to grow our company and it’s an absolute honor to be included in a list with so many other firms whom we both admire and aspire to be more like.”

Since its founding in 2015, Taft-Mills Group has secured funding to develop some 700 affordable housing units representing more than $87 million in total development cost.

Taft-Mills expects to nearly double their development production in the coming year through expansion efforts already underway in Maryland and Virginia.

View the list at Affordable Housing Finance

Read additional coverage at The Daily Reflector

Inspired by Affordable Housing

Taft-Mills Group President Dustin Mills (pictured center) discusses how he got his start in affordable housing 22 years ago, and why his team, work and industry continuously inspires him.

One of the most intriguing things about the affordable housing industry is learning how people got their start. Some people stumble upon it by chance, and some learn about the tax credit industry over time and choose to go in that direction. For Dustin Mills, President of the Taft-Mills Group in Greenville, NC, it was a little bit of both. “Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to build,” Dustin explained. “I’ve always liked the idea of constructing something that will exist for decades and knowing I was responsible for it getting there.”

Just five days after completing his undergraduate studies at Wingate University, Dustin started his first job with a small affordable housing developer. “It’s hard to find a development job after graduating from college without having any industry relevant experience. I took the first one I could find, and it happened to be with a small developer that worked with tax credits. I didn’t even know what they were when I first started working there.” Little did Dustin know, his first job out of college would begin his 22-year long career in the affordable housing industry – and counting.

During his journey, Dustin formed a strategic partnership with Tom Taft, Sr., a Greenville, NC, based developer, to form the Taft-Mills Group. For over five years now, they have developed, constructed, and managed affordable rental housing that blends seamlessly into the communities in which they are located. “I’m so proud to be part of a team that delivers affordable housing with such a high level of quality that people can’t distinguish it from market-rate housing. At the end of each day, I can go home knowing that people are being positively impacted by the work we’re doing. It’s inspiring to me.”

Another thing that’s inspiring?  “Our ever-evolving industry. It has its challenges but that is what’s exciting about it. It’s possible that we’ll always have to battle to justify what we do, but affordable housing is good for the community and will continue to be a rewarding process.  It’s also great to see affordable housing become a positive platform in the political world – it wasn’t always like that.”

CAHEC is proud to have wonderful partners like Dustin and the Taft-Mills Group. “CAHEC truly personifies the term ‘partner’ because no matter what challenges we face, I know I can count on them.” Dustin said. “It’s critically important in business to have a great partner, and CAHEC always ensures we find a solution that is mutually beneficial.”

Read the article at CAHEC.com

Taft Family Ventures' New Downtown Project Will Target Homebuyers

Taft Family Ventures announced it is building a 12-unit townhouse development on property bordered by Reade Circle, Dickinson Avenue and Evans Street.

Taft Family Ventures is pursuing a third housing development that is geared towards home buyers in downtown Greenville, a company spokesman announced at Wednesday’s annual Uptown Greenville State of the District event.

Unlike its previous two student housing projects in the district, Avenue Townes will be 12 for-sale townhomes. The development will be located on a lot that is bordered by Reade Circle, Dickinson Avenue and Evans Street.

“Greenville needs diversified housing in our downtown area. A for-sale product is very important to us,” said Mike McCarty, president of Taft Development Group.

McCarty described the site as a premiere location since it puts future homeowners within walking distance of restaurants, retail shops, the State Theatre, Sheppard Memorial Library and other amenities.

“Hopefully we want to inspire other developers to do more for-sale products downtown,” McCarty said.

The firm is finalizing the project’s cost, but McCarty described the structures as “brownstone-inspired, luxury” townhomes.

The units will range from 2,160 to 2,400 square feet and are expected to have three bedrooms. Some units will have rooftop decks, elevator access from the ground floor, cantilevered patios off the main living area and parking. Pre-sales will begin this spring.

McCarty also announced the company also plans to move its headquarters to a building it is renovating near the intersection of Eighth Street and Dickinson Avenue this fall.

Read the article at The Daily Reflector

Further coverage at WITN.com

14 Acres South of Downtown Raleigh Slated for New Apartments

Taft-Mills Group, an affiliate of Greenville firm Taft Family Ventures, is launching another affordable apartment project in southeast Raleigh.

A family-owned real estate company based in Greenville is expanding its Raleigh footprint with plans for a 180-unit affordable apartment complex southeast of downtown Raleigh.

Taft Family Ventures is planning to build the development on a 14-acre parcel at the intersection of I-40 and Rock Quarry Road, behind a Food Lion-anchored shopping center.

The project is being built using tax-exempt bond financing and a $2.3 million contribution from the city of Raleigh, says Dustin Mills, President of Taft-Mills Group. The group is an arm of Taft Family Ventures that focuses on affordable housing. Residents who earn 60 percent of the area’s median income will qualify to live there.

Mills expects construction to begin in a year and says the project's location is what led the firm to make the investment.

“The site is excellent,” Mills says. “It’s immediately adjacent to a grocery store-anchored shopping center. There’s a library in the area and there’s easy access to public transportation.”

Taft Family Ventures has primarily focused on multifamily development across North Carolina, but has more recently diversified into other types of real estate investment.

In the Triangle, the firm has been active with new construction on apartment projects from Clayton to Durham, including affordable and high-end projects. In Raleigh, the company built and sold the 401 Oberlin apartment and retail building across from Cameron Village, closing a deal in 2015 for $65 million.

“We’re proud to have been involved with projects like 401 Oberlin, but developing and delivering affordable housing is just as important to us as any other asset class,” Mills says.

Read the full article via Triangle Business Journal

Taft-Mills Group Will Build Nearly $11M Affordable Housing Complex in Triad

Taft-Mills Group is set to build an affordable housing apartment complex worth just under $11 million in Burlington.

Taft-Mills Group is building a nearly $11 million affordable housing apartment complex off Chapel Hill Road, Burlington.

Company President Dustin Mills said he expects to start construction on Amberly Trace Apartments in late September or early October. Construction will take about a year, and Mills said the company will start taking lease applications in the spring.

Mills said the complex will have 80 units of affordable housing in four residential buildings. It also will have an exercise room, a computer center and a multi-purpose room.

The company will serve as its own general contractor.

Taft-Mills is a subsidiary of Taft Family Ventures, which develops, builds and manages affordable housing in the southeast.

Read more at Triad Business Journal

Taft-Mills to Develop New Affordable Housing Communities

Recently, Taft-Mills won the Housing North Carolina Award for their Parkside Commons Senior Community (pictured above) located on Johns Hopkins Drive in Greenville.

Taft-Mills Group received funding through the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency to develop 268 units of affordable housing in two separate North Carolina cities.  The proposed developments will be located in Raleigh and Winston Salem and represent a combined $38 million-dollar investment in those communities.   

Dustin Mills, President of Taft-Mills, commented “We’re extremely excited to have secured the necessary funding to allow these communities to become a reality.”

Taft-Mills is an award-winning developer and owner of affordable housing communities throughout North Carolina.  In addition to their recently funded Raleigh and Winston Salem communities, they are also presently building other communities in Raleigh, Burlington and Benson. 

Read the full story at The Daily Reflector