| Home for Generations housing initiative in Coon Rapids |
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| Tuesday, 30 December 2008 | |||
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by Peter Bodley Managing editor A Home for Generations program the city of Coon Rapids plans to launch early in 2009 will target older single-family homes in the city. Through the program, which was initiated by the Coon Rapids City Council, the Coon Rapids Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), which comprises the seven members of the council, will acquire older homes that are either distressed or in foreclosure, remodel them and then sell them after showcasing them to the community. Action on the first two homes that are proposed to be purchased will be considered by the HRA at its first meeting of the year Monday (Jan. 5). According to Marc Nevinski, city community development director, once under HRA ownership, the homes will be remodeled to contemporary standards and before being sold, they will showcased, via open houses, to demonstrate how 1950s and 1960s era homes can be updated to meet the needs of modern families. “Homes that are facing or have fallen into foreclosure are ideal candidates for the program as rehabilitation of such homes will stabilize neighborhoods and allow for a larger project budget,” he said. Candidate homes must be structurally sound and able to be remodeled in such a way that value is added to the property, Nevinski said.
For example, very small or slab-on-grade homes may not be good candidates, he said. The remodeled homes, which will typically be of the Cape Cod and rambler varieties, will be sold by the HRA to willing buyers. Cape Cod and rambler homes remodeling plan books, which were funded by Coon Rapids and other metro area cities, will be the basis for each remodeling plan, Nevinski said. The city is partnering with the private sector to operate the program. Working with the North Metro Realtors Association, the city sent out requests for proposals to area real estate brokers and from 30 proposals sent back, city staff selected Michael Hunstad of the Coon Rapids office of Counselor Realty. “He brings with him a community-based perspective and a variety of marketing ideas and tools,” Nevinski said. In addition, from 12 proposals received from contractors interested in performing the rehabilitation work on the homes selected for the program, Lennox Builders from Mounds View was chosen. According to Nevinski, Lennox Builders has been family owned for three generations, has extensive experience remodeling older-style homes, places strong emphasis on budget management, brings to the project many creative ideas and enthusiasm for remodeling older homes and transforming them to meet the needs of modern families. The firm will be involved in the selection of properties, development of project budgets and the actual remodeling of the property, Nevinski said. Hunstad, as the real estate broker, will also have a role in the selection of the homes to be purchased and the project budget as well as setting a final sales price and marketing the remodeled home to potential buyers, he said. HRA funds will be used to purchase the homes. According to Nevinski, the city has made a verbal offer to purchase the property at 11610 Juniper St. N.W. for $92,500 as the first home in the program. The city is also working with the realtor for property at 1121 109th Ave. N.W. to purchase that home as well, Nevinski said. “We are not interested in making a profit on the sale, merely to break even,” he said. And that should enable the HRA offer the rehabilitated home for sale at a lower price than would be found on the regular market, Nevinski said. While the city is looking to purchase property for the Homes for Generation program citywide, it is concentrating on the area designated by the council last summer as the first where the city’s new neighborhood revitalization program would be concentrated - generally east of Foley Boulevard, north of Highway 10 and south of Northdale Boulevard, according to Nevinski. “We are looking for homes that have good potential to be remodeled/rehabilitated,” Nevinski said. “We don’t want to flip houses.” And while existing HRA dollars are being used to finance the program initially, the Coon Rapids Mortgage Assistance Foundation (CRMAF) has indicated a potential interest in becoming involved in the future. The foundation currently funds four programs designed to improve existing housing stock in Coon Rapids. No timeline has been established on how long the program will run, Nevinski said. But it is anticipated that it will be ongoing at least until the housing market revives, he said. Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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