TLC Work-based Training Program, Inc. is a nonprofit housing developer that is making its mark in neighborhood revitalization. On November 1, 2024, TLC head Tarik Casteel addressed a crowd in Allison Hill gathered to celebrate the ribbon cutting on TLC Cornerstone, an affordable housing development located near N. 15th and Walnut streets in Harrisburg, PA.
“Today is a day for new beginnings, a day where we take a step forward in building something that goes beyond just bricks and mortar,” Mr. Casteel said. “We are building hope, opportunity, and a future for so many people.”
After meeting several challenges, including delays related to the COVID pandemic, TLC closed on the project financing in the fall of 2023. Mr. Casteel’s construction firm, in partnership with Pyramid Construction Services LLC, finished construction on the development in record time. TLC Cornerstone includes 13 duplex-style apartments and a larger apartment building for a total of 50 apartments for income-eligible residents.
Several of the units are fully ADA-accessible and eight of the fifty apartments in the development will be offered to returning citizens in need of permanent housing. CRAM, a local nonprofit and long-time partner to TLC, will provide re-entry services to support these residents. Mr. Casteel is himself a returning citizen, and through his nonprofit, he provides job training and employment opportunities in the construction industry to returning citizens.
This development will bring needed affordable, decent housing to a disinvested minority neighborhood in Harrisburg. The Allison Hill section borders East State Street, once a magnificent entrance to our state’s capitol and now a byway marked by blight, dilapidation, and unacceptably high pedestrian fatalities after decades of disinvestment. This development will be a major boost to the neighborhood.
RHLS worked on the deal from 2018 before the application was submitted to PHFA until the project closed on its financing in September of 2023. We helped the developer assemble all the parcels (including purchase from a former Harrisburg resident who moved to Australia!), negotiate agreements of sale, deal with hiccups in site control over the long period between application and closing, navigate the delays of COVID, comply with the requirements of the various funding streams, prepare the architectural and construction contracts, apply for tax abatement, review and negotiate the pre-development loans, review and negotiate the permanent loans and equity documents, and manage the closing process to bring the deal to a successful financial closing.
This is one of the larger affordable housing developments to be completed in the area in recent years. You can put in an application to live at TLC Cornerstone Renewal by clicking on this link.
