Housing

Housing Corporation Plans Condominium Conversion At Rosedale Apartments

By Tim Schoemehl

February–March 2005

Historical February–March 2005 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

The Skinker-DeBalivere Community Housing Corporation has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a developer to convert the Rosedale Square Apartments into condominiums or townhouses.

The housing corporation has owned the 68 unit complex (located at Rosedale and Washington) since 1988.

The RFP was issued in October, and responses were due on December 15th.

The Times has learned that at least 4 developers responded with proposals by the deadline.

The housing corporation is reviewing the proposals and has requested additional information from several of the prospective developers.

The housing corporation’s timeline calls for the board to interview finalists through February 11th and make a decision about a sale after that date. Gary Boehnke, Executive Director of the housing corporation said that over the last several years, the organization has borrowed against the property to make major needed improvements on some buildings (new roofs, new fencing, new sidewalks, repairs to back decks, etc.) and to rehabilitate or refurbish many of the units.

The rental market has been weak the last few years, and increases in rents have not covered the cost of the improvements to the property. Many units are in need of rehab and therefore not ready to rent, leading to a high overall vacancy rate at the property.

The housing corporation does not have the cash reserves to make the necessary improvements to these units, and continuing to borrow would not be sustainable for the longrange stability of the property, Boehnke said.

With these issues in mind, the housing corporation appointed a committee during the summer of 2004 to consider the future of the property.

The committee recommended a sale of the buildings for redevelopment as townhouses or condominiums.

The committee felt this would best fulfill the mission of the housing corporation and contribute to the stability of the neighborhood by reducing density and encouraging home ownership.

The committee also felt that condominiums might provide a more affordable opportunity for home ownership in the neighborhood in light of rapidly increasing home prices.

Some neighborhood residents are opposed to the idea of converting the property to condominiums or town homes. Mark Gorman, a lifelong neighborhood resident, attended the housing corporation’s board meeting in December and spoke against the proposal. Gorman called the apartments “the largest grouping of generally available rental housing remaining in the neighborhood” and believes the loss of these rental units will take away from the affordability and diversity of the neighborhood. “There’s been too much focus on property values and not enough about the diversity that makes this neighborhood unique and special,” Gorman said. Gorman, who grew up in the 5900 block of Pershing and now lives in Parkview, owns approximately 125 rental units in the neighborhood.

He has 13 employees who work on his apartments, 10 of whom live in the neighborhood.

With effective on-site management, Gorman believes the buildings could work as apartments, contributing to the stability and diversity of the neighborhood. Gorman said he had previously purchased a building at 6036 Washington from the Housing Corporation and did a historic gut renovation.

He said he would be willing to do the same thing at Rosedale, if proposals for continued use as apartments were being considered.

The sale of Rosedale Square raises a number of important issues for the neighborhood. One issue is the decline in generally available rental property in the neighborhood.

According to statistics available on the City of St. Louis website, there were 1,519 rental units in the Skinker DeBaliviere at the time of the 1990 Census. By the year 2000, the number of rental units had dropped to 1,232.

During this time, Washington University has been purchasing apartment buildings in the neighborhood.

The University’s policy has been to allow non University-affiliated residents to remain in the buildings.

However, when residents leave, the units are then made available only to Washington University students, faculty or staff.

According to statistics the University provided, they now own a total of 47 apartment buildings with 341 rental units in the Skinker-DeBalivere neighborhood. Currently, about 92% of residents are affiliated with the University. Combining the overall loss of rental units during the 1990’s and the units the University now owns, the number of generally available rental units seems to have declined from 1,519 units in 1990 to 891 in 2005.

This suggests that the neighborhood has lost 628 rental units, or 41% of its generally available rental housing stock over the past 15 years. Conversion of the Rosedale Square apartments to townhouses or condominiums would continue this trend.

Another issue is the future mission of the housing corporation and the use of sale proceeds from the sale of the building.

The housing corporation owns a few other properties in the neighborhood, including the Alanson Building on Delmar and the building at 6008- 10 Kingsbury where the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council office is located.

However, with the sale of the Rosedale Apartments the housing corporation would divest itself of about 95% of its assets in the neighborhood.

It is unclear what impact this would have on the future role of the organization in the neighborhood. Richard Wilkes, the President of the housing corporation board, said that the board “remains committed to its mission and will continue to put its efforts and resources into projects that benefit the well being of the entire neighborhood.” A related question is how the housing corporation would use the proceeds from the sale of the buildings.

The request for proposals indicated that the minimum bid should be $2,500,000.

The housing corporation has debt on the property that would need to be repaid, but it is likely that net sale proceeds would still be considerable. Although the housing corporation has received several proposals, Wilkes said that “at this point there is no offer on the table.

It would premature to speculate on what the Housing Corp would do with funds it does not yet have.” The housing corporation’s board meetings are open to the public.

The next meeting is scheduled for February 2nd at 6PM at the SDCC office. Neighborhood residents who have questions or comments about the proposed redevelopment of Rosedale Square may wish to attend. Tim Schoemehl has been a resident of the Skinker-DeBalivere neighborhood since 1977 and of the Rosedale Square Apartments since 2001.