City pulls demolition contract
Last month, the city Redevelopment Authority voted to raze a blighted 21st Avenue house that it had tried and failed to lure a builder to renovate.
The authority gave up after a yearlong effort that included persuading a bank to forgive a mortgage, followed by a request for proposal in which the city would have been the developer, then a revised request for a builder to purchase the property outright, coupled with an open house event.
On Friday, the authority withdrew its August surrender: rescinding a demolition contract and voting instead to create another RFP for renovation — but this time with a subsidy sweetener of $35,000.
The August vote to raze and Friday's vote to try renovation again were both 3-2, with members Ron Beatty and Allen Thompson voting both times to renovate and Richard Fiore and Matt Pacifico voting both times to demolish — but with Jessica Sprouse moving from demolition in August to renovation in September.
The subsidy was the difference, Sprouse explained after the meeting.
"It's a good incentive for a developer to take a closer look," Sprouse said.
The authority has sought to make the house its launching point for a program that would seek to renovate some of the blighted houses that the city typically demolishes — an effort led by Beatty, who is also a member of City Council.
The earlier failures to attract a builder for the 21st Avenue house resulted from its severe deterioration and thus the high cost of renovation.
But even demolition, followed by creation of a new house on the property, would likely have required a subsidy, Beatty pointed out Friday.
It's not clear what form the $35,000 renovation subsidy will take — whether it would be a straight-up grant, or money spent to cover some portion of the project.
In other cases, the authority has proposed to underwrite preliminary work designed to make projects less costly, thus narrowing or eliminating likely shortfalls between those costs and eventual sale prices.
The subsidy for the 21st Avenue project will come from $150,000 that had been in a city account from the 1970s.
It was originally earmarked for right-of-way acquisition for the 10th Avenue expressway project, but it wasn't needed when the work didn't extend as far as originally planned, said Community Development Director Diana White.
There should be minimal restrictions on the use of the 1970s money, officials said.
The authority is hoping to avoid triggering a need for a developer to pay prevailing wages on the potential renovation of the 21st Avenue house.
One of the obvious lessons connected with that house is that the city should try to intervene against blight earlier — before deterioration makes renovation so costly, Sprouse said — echoing a familiar refrain from Beatty.
Pacifico, the city's mayor, sees the example of the 21st Avenue house differently.
It's one of many that are simply too far gone and that need to be demolished, he said.
In many cases, there are one or two such houses on a block, and getting rid of them will instantly raise the value of nearby homes, according to Pacifico, who cited the recently finished comprehensive plan.
"Eliminate the worst of the worst," the mayor said.
The comp plan calls for increasing the pace of demolitions from about 30 to as many as 50 per year.
It also calls for increasing residential rehabilitations, but the numbers are smaller — from the current 15 to 35 a year.
On Friday, the authority also sweetened an existing RFP for a blighted house on 18th Avenue that is not as deteriorated as the 21st Avenue house — providing for a $20,000 subsidy, although only if a developer sells the house for occupancy by its owner, rather than renting it.
That house needs to have its heating and electrical systems replaced, Beatty said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.
