Richland Source37%
Mansfield metro shares latest timeline for affordable housing project 14%
By Katie Ellington Serrao12%
7/31/2026, 2:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Sunk Cost Effect, and Self-Serving Bias, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 17% saturation with 125 hits. Analysis detected 547 faulty-reasoning hits from 737 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 27.3% and a BS Rank of 14% (20,444 of 23,683 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 86.30% of the article peer group.
MANSFIELD — Barb Fulton thinks her neighbors at Turtle Creek Apartments will be happy with the change in plans for a neighboring affordable housing complex.
Original plans for the Sterkel Heights Apartments — previously nicknamed the Turtle Creek Extension Project — included several multifamily buildings to the east and south of Turtle Creek, an affordable senior housing complex on James Avenue.
But project delays and rising costs have forced the Mansfield Metropolitan Housing Authority to scale back the project.
Sterkel Heights will now be consist of a single building south of Turtle Creek, with an entrance off of Cook Road rather than James Avenue.
“We were worried about the traffic — all this traffic coming down one road (James Avenue),” said Fulton, a Turtle Creek resident and member of the Mansfield Metropolitan Housing Authority board.
“Now that it has its own entrance and there won’t be people cutting through our apartment complex — it’s great.”
The building will be at 300 Cook Road — across the street from the Mansfield Alliance Church.
Executive Director Steve Andrews said he expects to break ground on the building next spring, with completion expected by October 2028.
The complex will consist of 90 units, rather than the 120 units in the original proposal.
“Originally we had 10 different buildings, we had all this stuff, and the cost just got so exorbitant there was no way it could ever get done,” Andrews said.
“We’ve made significant changes.
Our new development team has gone through new drawings and new proposals.”
Sterkel Heights will be aimed at low income residents
The latest plans for Sterkel Heights Apartments include 10 one-bedroom apartments, 42 two-bedroom apartments and 38 three-bedroom apartments.
The units would range in size from 793 to 1,141 square feet.
Sterkel Heights apartments will be targeted to residents earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income, Andrews said.
Andrews said the total cost of the project will be around $26.5 million — funded through a combination of tax credits, loans and upfront contributions from the MMHA and The Provident Companies.
Some details of the plan — including a portion of the building that will be four stories and having a single vehicular entrance — will need zoning variance approval from the city of Mansfield.
Andrews said he’s had conversations with city officials and expects to get the needed variances approved.
The MMHA has been working on the new affordable housing development for nearly five years.
The construction timeline has been pushed back several times.
The agency faced delays due to environmental regulations around wetland protection.
Then, Andrews said the MMHA's former partner, Tober Development Company, was unable to come up with its share of the project funds due to delays with an unrelated build.
MMHA even had its state funding rescinded after it became clear the project wouldn’t be complete by the funding deadline.
The agency is working to regain that funding after partnering with local developer, The Provident Companies, to restart the project.
Project propelled by state tax credits and funding
Tax credits, grants and bond gap financing are often a crucial component to making affordable housing developments viable.
The MMHA was able to reapply earlier this year for a four percent tax credit (which Andrews said is worth around $11 million) and $5.9 million in bond gap financing from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
OHFA approved the initial application and asked MMHA to submit its final application in October.
Andrews said the agency will begin the underwriting process shortly after.
Andrews said despite the hurdles, he believes the project has helped put Mansfield back on the map for affordable housing development.
Since the MMHA first securing OHFA funding in 2022, several developers have approached the Richland County Land Bank hoping to complete similar projects in the area.
One such project, a senior housing development near the intersection of Benton and Third Streets, was awarded a 9-percent low income tax credit from OHFA earlier this year.
“I’ve been pushing this for five long years,” Andrews said during an MMHA board meeting this week.
“The good news is, we’ve learned a lot.”
“It’s taken longer and been more painful than any of us could have predicted.
But it’s well worth it,” he added.
“For the 90 families who are going to move in, it’s certainly going to be worth it for them.”
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