By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer
EVERETT — The ultimate goal of the $20 million renovation and acquisition project at the Country Club Apartments is to transform the housing complex south of the Everett Mall from a site of shoot-outs into a neighborhood asset.
And project developers and proponents believe that goal can be reached.
"An existing affordable housing complex is being renovated inside and out, improving the lives of the existing residents and the neighborhood," said Karen Miller, a former Snohomish County councilwoman who now chairs the state Housing Finance Commission.
The project’s developer, Preservation Partner LP, said renovating the Country Club complex will ultimately mean tenants can be served for the generation to come.
"We’re in the business of keeping affordable housing affordable," said William Szymczak, Preservation president. "By replacing the roof and changing its design, invigorating the property management and improving the individual units, we plan to make this project a true asset to the surrounding community."
Country Club tenants may also believe that their home might one day become a nice place to live as the memory of two shootings last year begins to fade. One woman was killed in August, and a man’s arm had to be amputated after he was shot at the complex in November.
But lately, issues of flooding and management are making that vision harder to see.
"If we weren’t poor it wouldn’t be happening like this," tenant Cynthia Campbell said.
Campbell said her apartment has been flooded four times as the contractors try to repair the roof. She said her clothes have been ruined, with no offer from the owners to replace them.
Campbell, who has lived at the Country Club for four years, said she has also lost time at her job with having to move her belongings around during the renovation.
"With the replacing and fixing things, we’re all hopeful and excited about how it will look like in the end," Campbell said. "But they are walking all over us in the meantime."
Alisa Luber is the financial advisor for Pacific Housing Advisors, a Seattle company that helped structure the purchase of the Country Club complex by new owners Limited Country Club Preservation, LP.
Luber said the renovation project is in a "dynamic situation" and that the contractors are going as fast as they can to beat the weather, and that over the course of the project unexpected problems would arise.
"Once these problems are brought to the attention of the management team, I’m sure they will jump as fast as they can to fix the problems," Luber said.
Before the new owners bought the complex, Luber said the 31-year-old Country Club Apartments were being run by an elderly couple who were not up to fixing the deteriorating condition. Without this renovation, Luber estimated it would have taken only a few years until the project failed to meet housing standards.
"This isn’t creating affordable housing. This is a preservation project that is ensuring that it’s preserved at an extensive quality that was needed and was necessary," Luber said.
The renovation is being paid for with a combination of state and federal money, including $10.6 million raised through the sale of tax-exempt bonds. Another $2.3 million is coming from taxable bond proceeds with equity from the sale of Low-Income Housing Tax credits kicking in another $5 million.
The state Office of Community Development committed $300,000. The project also receives on-going rent and mortgage subsidies from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In addition to renovating the 250-unit multifamily apartment complex at 100th Place SE, a licensed day care to serve more than 50 children — either from the complex or the surrounding neighborhood — will be added. The apartments contain a mix of 76 one-bedroom, 150 two-bedroom and 24 three-bedroom apartments.
The entire project has affordable rents for moderate and low-income families. The rents range from $578 a month for a one-bedroom to $877 for a three-bedroom.
The project developers have also formed partnerships with the nonprofit agency Housing Hope and the Housing Authority of the City of Everett to refer clients to the project.
"We took a low-income project and made it an affordable-housing project," Luber said.
You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097
or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
