Hatch Development Group hopes to break ground on MLK Brickstone II, a 30-unit affordable-housing development at 1051 19th St., before winter weather impedes its progress.

“We’re trying to get the site work done before the snow falls,” said Ryan Galloway, a Hatch employee who owns the proposed site located north of Interstate 235 about three blocks south of University Avenue.

The first phase of MLK Brickstone, an 18-unit affordable-housing project at 1039 19^th St., which Galloway conceived in 2005, is nearing completion.

That project, which kicked off this spring and is slated to open in Nov. 1, was awarded more than $200,000 in low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) by the Iowa Finance Authority.

By then, Galloway hopes to have sold those credits to Omaha-based Midwest Housing Group Inc.

LIHTCs, which are paid annually for a period of 10 years, are typically sold to investors or syndicators, such as Midwest Housing Group, in order to generate equity in projects.

Depending on whether its foundation and footings can be installed before the ground freezes, Galloway said phase two will likely wrap up by August of next year.