| Home for Generations project |
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| Wednesday, 14 January 2009 | |
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Managing editor Coon Rapids’ Home for Generations program, through which older single-family homes in the city will be purchased, remodeled, showcased and sold, has been launched. The Coon Rapids Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), which comprises the seven members of the Coon Rapids City Council, has approved the purchase of a vacant, foreclosed rambler at 11610 Juniper St. N.W., to kick off the program. But while the HRA approved the acquisition of one home, it declined to purchase another property at 1121 109th Ave. N.W. The purchase price on the Juniper Street home is $92,500 and closing is expected to take place before the end of January. According to Marc Nevinski, city community development director, once under HRA ownership, homes will be remodeled to contemporary standards and before being sold, they will be showcased, via open houses, to demonstrate how 1950s and 1960s era homes can be updated to meet the needs of modern families. Lennox Builders, Mounds View, was selected by staff to do the remodeling work from 12 proposals received back from contractors. The floor plan submitted by Lennox proposes opening up the home by moving some interior walls and building an addition to the back of the house, said Kristin DeGrande, Coon Rapids neighborhood coordinator. The current size of the 1950s rambler, located north of Northdale Boulevard and west of Foley Boulevard, is 810 square feet, she said. The remodeling and new construction will increase the square footage to just over 1,000, DeGrande said. “The goal is to modernize these older homes to make them attractive to homebuyers in today’s market,” she said. Remodeling work will start as soon as closing takes place on the property with completion by the end of April, according to DeGrande. Then the remodeled home will be showcased by the city for a couple of months through a series of open houses, some on weekday evenings and others on weekends, DeGrande said. “The idea is show people what can be done to modernize older homes in the community and for people to use as a tool and resource,” she said. The sale of the home will take place once the showcasing of the remodeled home is over, DeGrande said. “This is a demonstration project,” she said. The HRA is not out to make a profit on the sale, but rather to break even and sell the home at an affordable price once the remodeling costs have been figured in, she said. In deciding to purchase the Juniper Street property for the first Home for Generations project, the HRA liked the fact that the home was very visible in the neighborhood in which it was located. “This is a good neighborhood and good site for the first project,” said Councilmember Scott Schulte. That wasn’t true of the 109th Avenue home, located east of Highway 10 and south of 111th Avenue, which DeGrande described as being “tucked away” in its neighborhood and prompted the HRA to decline purchase coupled with the fact that while the home is in foreclosure, the bank has verbally agreed to a sale price of $92,500 on the open market. “This is in one of the more remote back areas of the city,” said Mayor Tim Howe. Councilmember Paul Johnson said it was important that the Home for Generations program target homes in high visibility areas and not those where there is the possibility of a sale on the open market. “Exposure is very important, but we should not be focusing on one neighborhood,” he said. “I would like to see different neighborhoods involved for balance as there are troubled properties all over the city.” A foreclosed property that staff is currently considering as a possible Homes for Generation purchase is on Yukon Street off Coon Rapids Boulevard. But DeGrande said that home, too, might be sold on the open market before the HRA is ready to move on a purchase agreement. DeGrande and Matt Brown, city community specialist, have been jotting down potential Home for Generations properties as they travel the city as well as tapping into the resources of the Coon Rapids City Assessor’s Office and the MLS listings of properties for sale, according to DeGrande. In addition, real estate agents aware of the program have also been in contact with her about potential properties, DeGrande said. Besides ramblers, the Home for Generations program will also be looking to purchase Cape Cod story-and-a-half homes and possibly in the future, split level homes, which were built in the 1970s and 1980s, according to Marc Nevinski, city community development director. “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,” Nevinski said. Candidate homes must be structurally sound and be remodeled in such a way that value is added to the property, he said. Cape Cod and rambler homes remodeling plan books, which were funded by Coon Rapids and other metro area cities some years ago, will be used as the basis for each remodeling plan, Nevinski said. Besides retaining Lennox Builders for the remodeling work, the city, working with the North Metro Realtors Association, sent out requests for proposals to area real estate brokers and from 30 proposals returned, staff selected Michael Hunstad of the Coon Rapids office of Counselor Realty to market the remodeled homes. Hunstad 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, according to Nevinski. Existing HRA funds are being used to purchase the homes. No timeline has been set 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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