Central at the Horizon Affordable Apartments, Downtown Fargo, North Dakota

The site in downtown Fargo used to make gas from coal. Now it’s slated for 262 affordable apartments. The Annex Group, an Indianapolis developer that works almost entirely in 4% low-income housing tax credit deals, has lined up the full financing stack for Central at the Horizon and is targeting a summer 2028 opening. It’s the company’s first project in North Dakota.

All 262 units are restricted to households earning up to 60% of area median income, and the property has to accept Fargo Housing Authority vouchers. The unit mix leans to two- and three-bedroom family apartments, with no studios.

Project Scope

The building is four residential stories over a one-story podium garage, with amenity space on the ground floor. Plans call for a community center, fitness center, business center, playground and picnic area.

The podium isn’t only about parking. The land was a coal gasification plant, and Xcel Energy hauled out contaminated soil and capped the site in 2018. Environmental covenants require the developer to keep a five-foot clean cap in place, so the design builds over it and adds an active radon system.

The North Dakota Housing Finance Agency put the total cost at $93 million when it awarded the deal $4.3 million in 4% credits and $3 million from the state’s Housing Incentive Fund in January 2026. NDHFA also issued $47.5 million in tax-exempt multifamily bonds. WNC is providing $38 million in tax credit equity, and Citi Community Capital is lending $66 million for construction and more than $36 million in permanent debt. The city layered on Renaissance Zone abatements and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement. BVH Architecture, MBN Engineering and Braun Intertec are on the project team.

Why It Matters

At roughly $360,000 a unit, by the developer’s own estimate to city officials, this isn’t cheap housing to build. Bond counsel, legal fees and the brownfield work all add up, and 4% credits typically cover only about a third of the cost. That’s why the deal needed a state housing fund award, city tax relief and a deferred developer fee to pencil.

Fargo gets 262 rent-restricted family units in its downtown core and a contaminated parcel back in use. The bigger signal is that a national 4% LIHTC shop is now working the northern Plains, a market where most affordable deals are a fraction of this size.

Project Team & Details