About Us

Edgewater Affordable Housing‚ L.P. (EAH) was formed in July 2002 as a union of housing specialists dedicated to the acquisition and rehabilitation of housing that may have an expiring government subsidy‚ traditionally referred to as preservation.

The principals of EAH are Doug Gurkin and Wooten Epes.  Mr. Gurkin has worked in the housing industry since 1983 as a real estate broker and owner/principal of three successful investment firms.  In that capacity Mr. Gurkin was part of the team that developed the first national program for refinancing and repositioning of pre-payment eligible HUD 236 inventory.  His portfolio consists of seven properties (1‚248 units) utilizing tax-exempt bonds and 4% credits and two transactions utilizing 9% credits.

As founder of the Kutak Rock‚ LLP Little Rock‚ Arkansas office in 1989‚ Mr. Epes concentrated in the area of municipal revenue bond financings‚ particularly private activity single-family and multifamily housing financings.  Prior to working for Kutak Rock‚ Mr. Epes was President of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and Executive Director of its predecessor‚ the Arkansas Housing Development Agency.

New team members were added to the EAH organization in December 2003.  George Schmidt‚ who has five years’ experience with a low-income housing tax credit syndicator and seven years’ experience as Finance Director for Affordable Housing Fund in Ohio‚ provides financial modeling‚ proforma budgeting‚ and cash flow forecasting expertise.  Deborah Welchel has four years’ experience as manager of the underwriting department with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) and four years’ experience as a housing consultant preparing due diligence reports for investors‚ restructuring Project Based Section 8 properties‚ and as a tax credit specialist for a non-profit developer.

EAH contracts with the firm of John F. Wright‚ Inc. for management of design‚ preparation of construction documents‚ and for observation during the construction process.  Mr. Wright has worked in the multifamily industry as a licensed architect‚ development manager and construction manager for over 30 years‚ and specifically in the affordable housing industry the last eight years for non-profit and for-profit developers.

The first property in the EAH portfolio‚ Cien Palmas Apartments (formerly known as Lilac Garden Apartments) in El Paso‚ Texas‚ is a former 150-unit HUD 236 property with a Section 8 HAP contract that received an allocation of low-income housing tax credits from TDHCA in July 2003.  This $9 million transaction will provide over $24‚000 in hard construction cost renovations to each unit.  The construction loan closed in March of 2004‚ well ahead of the required construction closing date of June 2004 set by TDHCA.

As affordable housing specialists‚ EAH is committed to providing tenants with decent‚ safe and sanitary housing that has been updated and is energy efficient‚ and will continue to focus on preserving the affordability of properties built before 1990.