The Bloom

The Bloom is a new 101-unit affordable housing community in South Austin, developed in partnership between Foundation Communities and Mary Lee Foundation as part of the larger redevelopment of the Lamar Square campus. The project includes 58 affordable apartments for Foundation Communities and 43 intermediate care apartments for Mary Lee Foundation residents with physical or intellectual disabilities, with a mix of studio and multi-bedroom homes.

Bringing these different housing types and services together on a tight site presents an unusual architectural challenge. In addition to residential space, The Bloom will include an on-site wellness center, adult rehabilitation and day programs, nursing stations and administrative offices. In many ways, it is the equivalent of three buildings that might normally sit side by side, carefully organized within a single development.

Getting that organization right required looking beyond Mary Lee Foundation’s existing spaces. Forge Craft spent several months working with staff and residents to understand how their programs operate day to day and, just as importantly, what they would want if they were not limited by the spaces they currently occupy. Those conversations helped the team reconsider how different uses relate to one another and how the building can better support the people who live and work there.

The Bloom also grows out of several years of long-term campus planning with Foundation Communities and Mary Lee Foundation. That broader understanding has been especially important on a site shaped by competing easements, access requirements and aging infrastructure. Forge Craft has coordinated closely with multiple municipal departments to work through those constraints while fitting the project’s different housing, care and support programs together.

Now under construction, The Bloom is expected to be completed in summer 2028, expanding access to affordable housing and supportive care in South Austin.