The agenda for Kupfrian Manor is on the City Council Agenda Conference, where there is no open forum, no presentation and no hearing required. Meaning this project, which uses $700,000 in federal CDBG funds, is being pushed through without public explanation.
Developer Pattern: How The Paces Foundation Builds in Escambia County
PACE Foundation has developed multiple senior housing projects in Escambia County, including Brownsville Manor and the upcoming Kupfrian Manor. They use the same development model in every project: layered LLCs, LIHTC financing, out-of-state ownership, and heavy use of federal subsidies. Projects are presented as ‘community-based,’ but ownership, profit, and control flow back to Georgia.
They use wood-frame construction even for multi-story senior housing in hurricane-prone Florida. Wood-frame homes are also pose fire safety risks, water damage and mold, pest and termite infestations and noise and privacy problems
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Multi-Layered LLC Structure: Shielding Liability and Obscuring Ownership
Each project has its own LLC or LP: Brownsville Manor LP, Kupfrian Manor LLC, Avery Place Apartments LLC, etc. They also create matching ‘Services Corporations’ that act as general partners or managing members. Controlling individuals (e.g., Stephen Bien and Kevin DiQuattro) appear only at the bottom of the structure.
PACE Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit parent but uses for-profit subsidiaries to execute and benefit financially from the developments. The investor member (e.g., Berkadia) typically owns 99.99% of the project during the tax credit compliance period.
Funding Sources and Financial Incentives
Projects rely on Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), SHIP funds, CDBG‑DR disaster recovery funds, and county/city contributions. Disaster recovery funds are used because the project is located in a declared disaster zone (Hurricane Sally), not because the project replaces storm-damaged housing. That is not recovery. That is misallocation.”
PACE receives developer fees, consulting fees, compliance fees, and management fees through multiple LLC layers. Investors receive significant tax write-offs through LIHTC credits.
Rent Discrepancies: Memo vs Underwriting Documents
Public-facing documents (City Memorandum) list broad rent ranges that appear affordable. Underwriting documents submitted to Florida Housing list the exact rents that will actually be charged.
Example: 1BR at 60% AMI is listed as $552–$1,471 in the memo, but underwriting shows a fixed rent of $1,012. Only 15 of the 94 units will be affordable to seniors at 30% AMI, the level most reflective of neighborhood incomes.
Quiet AMI Change Request
Original distribution: 16 units at 30% AMI, 56 units at 60% AMI, 22 units at 80% AMI.
Revised distribution: 15 units at 30% AMI, 61 units at 60% AMI, 18 units at 80% AMI.
This reduces deeply affordable units and increases higher rent units, shifting the project upward in cost. Such changes require Florida Housing approval but are rarely communicated to the public.
The 50-Year Affordability Trap
Kupfrian Manor is required to remain ‘affordable’ for 50 years due to LIHTC and disaster recovery rules. After 50 years, all affordability restrictions automatically end unless the City enacts local protections. In Year 51, the property can convert to market-rate, be sold, redeveloped, or refinanced.
Wood-frame construction often requires major rebuilding around year 40–60, giving developers justification to reposition the property.
Why This Is Especially Dangerous for Senior Housing
Seniors rely on fixed incomes that do not increase with market rents. Displacement is traumatic and often life-threatening for elderly residents. Affordable senior housing is already extremely limited in Pensacola. A wood-frame building is likely to need major, costly repairs around year 50, giving the owner an excuse to convert or rebuild.
Impact on the Surrounding Neighborhood
Area median income (AMI) used for rent calculations is countywide, not based on the actual incomes of the surrounding neighborhood. The neighborhoods around the old Baptist Hospital average $16,000–$25,000, far below the AMI used for rent-setting.
That means:
Public funds, including disaster relief, are being diverted to out-of-state investors and developers, not the families the neighborhood was built on.
60% and 80% AMI rents are not affordable to the surrounding community.
The project provides minimal benefit to local residents.
When decisions affecting Black neighborhoods are being made behind closed doors and revealed only as ‘no hearing required’ items, it reinforces the long-standing history that Black residents are unheard, unprotected and intentionally left out of decisions shaping our neighborhoods.