Citizens Bank's $78 Million Says This South Jersey Affordable Housing Rehab Is Getting Built

Citizens Bank led a $35.85 million construction loan for the rehabilitation of Paulsboro Gardens Apartments, a 150-unit, 21-building complex at 1A Baird Avenue in Paulsboro, New Jersey, 14 miles southwest of Philadelphia. It's part of a $77.61 million total capital stack: a $23.73 million Freddie Mac tax-exempt loan originated through BWE, $18.03 million in low-income housing tax credit equity from Enterprise Community Partners, and a prior $20.65 million acquisition loan from X-Caliber. People Restoring Communities, a White Plains, New York-based firm, bought the property in July 2025 and expects the rehab finished by late 2027.

Paulsboro Gardens was built in 1968. Nobody tore it down and nobody flipped it for a quick sale. A full capital stack with a tax-exempt bond, LIHTC equity, and a bank construction loan layered on top is the financing path for an owner who wants to hold and rehab an aging garden apartment complex rather than sell it off. That's the structure every owner of a 1960s or 1970s multifamily property in Gloucester, Camden, or Burlington County should be studying right now if a sale isn't the goal.

150 units getting a real capital commitment in a submarket this close to Philadelphia says lenders and syndicators still see the fundamentals here as sound. If you're holding an aging garden apartment complex anywhere in the South Jersey collar counties, this deal is the comp to bring to your next lender conversation.