In The News

from The Telegraph
January 21, 2006

More Hampton Place
houses completed
$5 million project finished nearly three months early

By LINDA N. WELLER
The Telegraph

ALTON ~ Welcome mats may be going out soon on 26 more doorsteps in the inner-city Mexico neighborhood, as Hampton Place Extension scattered-site housing is finished nearly three months early.

"They all are completed; some are undergoing the final punch list" to check for minor work that needs 'to be done on the $5 million project, said developer Ken Nuernberger of The Siedlund Co. of St. Louis.

"Most of them were done by the end of the year. There is a very strong demand for affordable, single-family homes that we built in the Mexico neighborhood."

Fifteen people have completed the application process to qualify for the single-family housing and are in the moving-in process, Nuernberger said.

"We also are processing applications from a few more," he said.

He expects all of the houses to be occupied within a month.

Siedlund is the development arm of ND Consulting Group, which also has a property-managing subsidiary, ND Management Co. The latter company handles the application process and manages the properties from its office in the Humboldt Senior Apartments building, which it also began managing Oct. 1.

Nuernberger said many of the tenants are among the 300 people who showed interest in renting the 30-home, first-phase Hampton Place development in the same neighborhood on such streets as Highland, Long, Taylor, Milnor avenues and Cooper, Cyrus, Fletcher, Gold, Pearl, Silver, Putnam and Hampton streets.

The developers last year said it would take The Meyer Co. of St. Louis until March to build the 26 houses. However, thanks to favorable weather, construction moved along quickly and was finished more than two months early.

Also, unlike the first phase, which had some thefts of air conditioner condensers and interior fixtures, he said he knows of no such problems with the second round of construction.

Each of the 26 houses has three bedrooms, one bath, a full basement, landscaped yard and brick front. The houses are equipped with refrigerators, ranges, mini-blinds and central air conditioning.

Liberty Bank is providing financing for construction. Other financing is from low-interest loans from Madison County Community Development, Illinois Housing Development Authority, equity from The Siedlund Co. and Paramount Financial Group, a p:r:ivate investment subsidiary of General Motors.

The investors receive tax credits in exchange for keeping the rents affordable and reserving some units for low-income families. The Illinois Housing Development. Authority provided low-income housing tax. credits that will generate nearly $3 million in equity.

Nuernberger credited the agencies with making the developments possible. He said the houses would not have been built without the Housing tax credits.

Tenants prepare for eventual homeownership with counseling on home buying and credit, as well as home maintenance and other assistance through the Justine Petersen Housing and Reinvestment Corp.

The second phase, as in the first, is set up so most tenants lease the new houses for $420 to $580 per month. Some units have lower rents and are reserved for families with low incomes; others have no income restrictions.

Tenants rent the houses for 15 years, then can buy them at a pre-arranged price.

For every year a tenant lives in a unit, he or she earns an additional $1,000 voucher toward purchase of the home. Tenants eventually will pay $100,000 to $125,000 for the newest houses, including voucher credit; those in the original development will pay $67,000 by using 15 years’ worth of vouchers for their $82,000 homes.

Nuernberger said it is gratifying to see the transformation of the old neighborhood by the influx of 56 new houses, evidenced by the landscaping and other spruce-ups from tenants who moved in three years ago during t:he first phase.

"It certainly is wonderful we are able to build a project that people really want and take pride in," he said. "It is remarkably nicer to see people fixing their own houses up, and the city is filling in big holes at Hellrung Park. I see lots of little progresses."

Phil Roggio, Alton's director of development and housing, said the additional new housing stock is welcome. He said the 26 .houses represent more than half of the 51 single-family housing starts of 2005 in Alton.

Of those who originally moved in to the first 30 houses, more than 20 still are living in there, which.is higher than the average two-year turnaround of most renters, Roggio said.

For that development, Siedlund obtained $3.4 million in loans and tax credits from the Illinois Housing Development Authority and $375,000 from a Madison County Community Development loan. The remaining money came from private lenders.

The success of the rent-to­own houses arid Hellrung Park renovations is prompting Siedlund to plan more houses in the area, except those will be sold outright upon completion at market price.

"There are a lot of families that would love to buy a new house in that neighborhood without a subsidy," Roggio said. "It's their neighborhood and their home."

Siedlund has bought about 10 lots from private owners and the city, which obtains them through tax sales, for the next phase. Construction may begin this spring on the 1,200- to 1,500-square-foot houses that will be in the $100,000 to $125,000 price range, he said.

lnweller@hotmail.com

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