Under bright blue skies and unseasonably warm February sunshine, leaders from across Alabama gathered on South Jefferson Street to break ground on a project many called historic.

The Grove at South Jefferson is the first development in Alabama to utilize the state’s new Workforce Housing Tax Credit created under the 2024 Working for Alabama legislative package.

John David Chambless, director of development for the Hall Group, called the project a milestone.

“This is the first workforce housing tax credit multifamily project in the state of Alabama,” Chambless said. “There are more coming, but this is the first one to break ground and start construction.”

From legislation to landmark

Chambless traced the roots of the project back to 2019, when state leaders launched the Commission on 21st Century Workforce. In 2024, the Legislature unanimously approved the Working for Alabama package, and Gov. Kay Ivey signed it into law, creating the Workforce Housing Tax Credit.

“Thus creating the Alabama Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act,” Chambless said, noting the program allocated $5 million in tax credits over three years.

In March 2025, the Alabama Housing Finance Authority approved three developments to move forward. The Grove at South Jefferson was one of them and the first to close and begin construction.

“As you can see, there’s taken a lot of leadership at the state level and local participation over a long period of time to make this project come to life,” Chambless said. “So we’re very excited today to celebrate that.”

The 120-unit development will include 72 two-bedroom and 48 three-bedroom apartments, with amenities typically seen in Class A communities.

“It will have all the typical Class A amenities,” Chambless said, “a resort style pool, cabana, outdoor grills, outdoor kitchen areas, multiple dog parks, multiple playgrounds. So this is going to be a place where families can come be and grow well and live, live well.”

 

Removing barriers to work

For Alabama Department of Workforce Secretary Greg Reed, the project is about more than housing. It is about access.

“Workforce housing is one of the biggest elements of focus for looking to remove barriers from people being able to work,” Reed said in an interview following the ceremony. “Folks need a place to live. They need transportation, healthcare, childcare. Those are the big barriers that we see nationwide.”

Reed said Alabama’s unemployment rate remains among the lowest in the nation, yet “there’s a for work sign, a hiring sign in every window.”

“What happened?” he asked. “The bottom line is that falls into two categories from all the statistics nationally and in Alabama, two groups. Number one, those that could retire during the pandemic did retire. They went home. OK. That made for a reduction in the workforce. And also moms with young kids.”

Childcare, he said, is critical.

“They love their kids first, their job second,” Reed said. “They got to find a place for their children to be well cared for. And we just need to recognize that’s something that we need to be focused on in government.”

Chambless said The Grove will include a childcare assistance component for residents.

“We are setting up a reserve fund that residents who live here can apply for assistance, financial assistance for childcare,” he said, “That will allow them to participate in the workforce in a more robust way than maybe they have in the past.”

 

A first, with more to come

David Young, multifamily administrator for the Alabama Housing Finance Authority, called the groundbreaking “a landmark achievement.”

“This particular project here in Athens of The Grove Jefferson is the first one to get underway with physical construction,” Young said. “So it represents a landmark achievement to support working families in our community.”

He noted the development represents an investment of more than $38 million.

“It demonstrates a real opportunity for families to live closer to work, for communities to experience economic growth and for businesses that rely on stable work on a stable workforce,” Young said.

More projects are on the horizon. Reed confirmed that three workforce housing sites have already been identified statewide.

“Thirty other states already do programs like this,” Reed said. “We’ve got some good models from other places to where we can understand what other folks are doing and why they’re doing it in other states.”

 

Banking on community impact

Financing for The Grove reflects a complex public-private partnership. Regions Bank provided construction lending, tax credit equity and a Fannie Mae permanent loan commitment.

“As John David mentioned, Regions was involved in all the aspects of this project from the construction lending,” Chase Simpson of Regions Bank told the crowd, “we are providing a Fannie Mae permanent loan and then the most important piece, the tax credits which involved both federal and state.”

“At Regions our mission is to make life better for communities,” Simpson said. “Affordable housing is one of the ways the banking industry can make a real impact in our communities.”

He praised the collaboration between state and local leaders, adding that The Grove “will be a welcomed addition here as it’s preserving the close knit community feeling that Athens is known for.”

Growth done right

Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks called the project a sign of responsible growth.

“There are so many great things happening in our city, and we are seeing generational investment in our economy,” Marks said. “Projects like this one represent our commitment to smart, planned growth in Athens.”

As golden shovels turned dirt behind the speakers, Reed reflected on what housing like this could mean long-term.

“When we step back, you know, five years from now and look back at this area in Athens,” he said, “has that had an influence in being able to bring industry to the area? Does it become a recruiting tool?”

Under a clear North Alabama sky, with heavy machinery poised behind them and hard hats in hand, leaders seemed confident the answer would be yes.