By Cynthia Bartlett Hunter
Cambridge, Md. – If you’re putting nearly $12 million into renovating a rundown, crime-ridden apartment complex in a neighborhood that the state declared a “Hot Spot Area,” what can you do to protect your investment?
For the Osprey Property Group, the answer was to make the neighborhood safer. “We realized we had to make dramatic changes in the community in order to do that,” said its president, David Lewis. And they have succeeded: in two years, serious crime has plummeted 75% without any extra police or security.
A trio of limited liability corporations is developing Bay Country Apartments in a joint venture – Bolton Properties, which handled the Sec. 236 decoupling, Osprey (the owner) and Habitat America. The two-year rehabilitation, with residents in place, should be completed in September.
A Sec. 8 contract covers all 144 one and two- and three-bedroom units. Financing sources include $1.1 million in low-income housing tax credits through the Maryland Community Development Authority, $8.4 million in equity from Related Capital Corp. and $2.3 million in debt financing from Mercantile Safe Deposit and Capital Corp.
Making Bay Country safer included replacing dark and dangerous stairwells with attractive exterior stairtowers and removing a smaller building to eliminate a troublesome alley. Habitat America, the property manager, tightened tenant screening, evicted drug users, and put in a property manager who supervises day-to-day activities.
At the heart of what Lewis terms “an experiment in social reconstruction” are the social services provided by New Beginnings Youth and Family Services. In June, New Beginnings will move from apartments to a 6,600-square-foot community center with classrooms, a computer lab, a mini gym and a laundry.
Run by Executive Director Betsy Cooksey, New Beginnings started as a one-year pilot project with $30,000 from the county’s Local Management Board. It garnered $50,000 in state tax credits this year through the Neighborhood Partnership Program; another $20,000 is expected. In May, Associated Black Charities (ABC) gave New Beginnings $50,000 which is being used to hire additional staff.
The mainstays of the program have been Cooksey and Grant Davis, a retired Marine sergeant. Cooksey said that Davis “builds teamwork and empowers the youth,” who adore and respect him enormously.”
Although hanging out is OK too, after-school programs include tutoring, homework assistance, 4-H Club reading help, and the United Way’s Character Counts program. Separate boys and girls clubs meet an evening a week. The local food bank provides snacks, and in the summer, when the program runs all day, it donates breakfast and lunch also.
Liaison with the community yields other services, such as the 30 YMCA memberships shared among the children. The County Extension Service provides housekeeping training to new residents, and to existing residents identified as problems by the property manager. New Beginnings contracts with the community bus service for Y transportation and for special outings for youth and seniors.
Homeownership classes have been offered, and this summer an ABC pastor is expected to provide “effective black parenting classes.” A variety of other services are planned when the community center opens.
Cooksey’s goal is to get “this community on its feet economically and emotionally next year,” and she has plans to expand New Beginnings to other developments.
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Reprinted with permission from Affordable Housing Finance, June 2003.
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