4cleveland

As a former rock climber I use to visit the Cleveland Rock Gym (which still exists) during the winters and once the weather broke I was then either at Hinckley or off to Kentucky, mid-Ohio, or PA for outdoor climbing, just as were most others I knew that were in the sport. For the six years I was active in climbing, I can recall that there were never more than a dozen people at the rock gym at any given time. While I think the church was once a neat building, I think its time to level it and move on. As for turning it into a rock gym, my two concerns would be 1) you are dealing with a very finite market in this area of the country for that sport (unless things have drastically changed over the past 10 years) and 2) in light of that, if still true, this would seem cost prohibitive considering the expense in rehabing the structure and what I would think its expected level of use would be post-rehab. I'm claiming no expert knowledge here - these are just my general observations and thoughts. Would look forward to hearing if others agree or disagree and why.

Excellent insight BelievelanD1...I must admit I had not even considered that line of reasoning for not wanting to confirm this as a 100% market rate deal...very interesting point!

I was not "denying" that this might be a market rate deal, I was pointing out that nobody had a definitive answer to that question. I was also pointing out that the statement made about this developer having "very upscale developments all over the country" was not even close to accurate as the vast majority of their work in all 12 or 13 states they have worked in is low-income housing tax credit projects. My motivation is correcting inacurate statements and educating along the way where I can...which I would hope is a shared motivation by the folks on these forums.

Nice to hear the bit about 100% market rate. And $30 million budget - if there was any discussion on the topic beyond just mentioning it, what are the sources that comprise this $30 million?

While I will not be able to attend the Jan. 30th community meeting, I very much hope someone there will ask the developer if 100% of the units in this development will be market rate. I would like to see that be the case but thus far I've not seen a definitive statement to confirm this. There are many many references to "market rate" but nothing saying 100% of units in the development are market rate. That is the simple question I would like to see answered.

Nothing wrong with the grumpy old man stance. I live in a building near Lake and West. Earlier this year a very similar story - unknown guy sleeping in the laundry room. Noticed police in the building in the morning as I was walking down to the garage to head to work. They were "escorting" him out. And about this time last year a resident was stabbed to death in the building next door by - - - you guessed it, someone who didn't reside there. I am constantly diligent about securing my building. I close doors that have been left propped open, I watch the garage as I enter and exit, and I make it a point to familiarize myself with the other residents - at least visually so that I've got a pretty good idea of when someone is around that doesn't belong. Being the grumpy old man is a good thing where warrented.

Believe me I understand the confusion - the pictures are pretty and yes there are pools. Up here that is a luxury, down there its just about a necessity and even low income developments have pools. From the link you provided there are about 37 developments shown in Texas. Sorry to bore everyone but again here are some facts...I was able to identify 34 of them as low income tax credit projects, 2 of them as 100% market rate (both Brooks-Base projects) and 2 I could not determine - The Allure and Belleza at Cresta Bella. Again - I am not saying this developer isn't getting into upscale development, but this is clearly not their history. If anything it is quite new for them. As KJP points out, it might be the way for them to go. Perhaps people that lost their homes but are no where near low income will find upscale apartments appealing. Although, I would also argue that given the current economy and job market, there's no lack of need for continued low-income development either. Anyway - sorry for leading this thread astray and into the low income tax credit arena. I just wanted their to be an accurate understanding of the developer who was mentioned and that statement that they have all this upscale development all over the place - I just couldn't let that go. Back to regularly scheduled programming...

I understand. But the statement that they have very upscale developments all over the country could not be more incorrect. What they have, in fact, is almost entirely low income tax credit housing in 12 or 13 states. Keep an eye on the OHFA web site I pointed out earlier and see if in February there are any low income tax credit proposals put in for the parcel in question. Maybe they will go luxury with it, and maybe not. I'm just pointing out the facts and trying to provide the resources for people to follow along.

NRP has very upscale market rate buildings all over the country. In a resolution approval request to the city of Georgetown dated February 2012 there is a list of NRP's Developments by Region. There are 87 Developments shown making up 9,447 units in 12 States...only 2 developments are 100% market rate. Below is the breakdown by development and by unit. UNITS: 352 are "Senior" for 4% of the total, 544 are "Market Rate" for 6% of the total, and 8,551 are "Tax Credit" for 90% of the total. DEVELOPMENTS: 5 are "Senior" for 6% of the total, 16 are Mixed market/tax credit for 18% of the total, 64 are exclusively tax credit for 74% of the total, and only 2 are completely market rate for 2% of the total - those being the Enclave at Kennedy Ridge in Ohio andHeritage Oaks in Texas. If you have details from February of last year forward, please feel free to add to my numbers for a more current reflection.

Applications for tax credit projects are listed on OHFA's web site - from the Home page you can navigate Housing Partners, Developer Resources, Housing Tax Credit Program, Program Documents and then down to 2013 HTC Proposals. The 2014 competitive proposals are due February 20th. I don't know how long it will take OHFA to then post to the web site the 2014 applications received, but once they do that could be checked to see if anyone is putting in for low income credits on this parcel. Not sure where to check if non-competitive credits are applied for but if I can find out, will post that info as well. Good resource to keep an eye on tax-credit development. Once proposals are gone through and awards are made by OHFA, they also post who got what awarded.