Orchard Point: Giving a 26-Year-Old Sanford Community Its Second Act

For almost three decades, Apple Tree Apartments quietly did what affordable housing is supposed to do — house working families in Sanford, year after year, since 1998. But by the 2020s, the property needed more than a fresh coat of paint to keep doing that job well.

Preservation Over Disrepair

Rather than let another aging community slide into disrepair and disappear from the affordable housing stock altogether, Mosaic Development Group stepped in to rehabilitate all 40 units. The project was funded through a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit award from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, with construction running from 2024 into mid-2025.

This wasn’t a response to a sudden shortage or an expiring tax credit term. It was a decision to protect a community that was already there, already housing families, and worth the investment to keep it that way.

A New Name for a New Chapter

When the work wrapped, the property had a new name to match its new lease on life: Orchard Point. Property operations and leasing are now carried forward through regional partners, and the community remains close to Central Carolina Community College and Sandhills Community College — convenient for residents building toward something more.

Apple Tree housed Sanford families for 26 years; Orchard Point is built to last for the next 26 — and the 40 households who live there don’t have to wonder whether it will still be standing, or still affordable, when they need it.