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Neighbors discuss ownership options

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Also by Alexandra Rogers:

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Neighbors discuss ownership options (April 27, 2007)
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by Alexandra Rogers

Friday, April 27, 2007

Downtown rental properties may become owner-occupied homes, if some members of the Capitol Neighborhoods community get their way.

The Capitol City Neighborhoods organization met Thursday night to discuss issues that have arisen regarding the renovation and preservation of historic homes in the downtown area.

Sheridan Glenn, manager and officer of the Capitol Office of First Weber, said many of the old Victorian homes in downtown Madison are facing teardown because the potential for successful renovation is declining each year they serve as student housing.

"Every time I go into these places, I am filled with grief," Glenn said. "I like these buildings, they still have original moldings, they still have their wood floors, you can still see the original built-in closets, but it's a wreck."

Because of the current state of the housing market and the high cost of restoring a home currently slated for student housing, it is difficult to gather residents interested in such a large-scale project. According to Glenn, deterioration is one of many issues that potential owner-occupants face.

"While there are some very notable exceptions, the average landlord will spend as little as he possibly can, and get as much money as he can and warehouse as many students as he can." Glenn said.

Restoration to the original state of these homes can be costly and potentially economically inefficient.

The challenges facing potential owner-occupants in the downtown area are partially the inspiration for the proposed Bassett Small Cap Home Loan Pilot Program, according to Mark Olinger, director of the Madison Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development.

The Bassett Program would assist in the funding of renovation of historic homes in the Bassett neighborhood with money from tax incremental funding, according to Olinger. These loans would make an expensive undertaking more feasible for qualified potential owner-occupants.

Tax incremental funding, or TIF, allows a municipality to select and create certain TIF districts and capture the percentage of increased property value over a period of several years, based on certain guidelines and qualifications of the area.

Opponents of the proposal point to landlords seeking to "throw in the towel." But Glenn points to this attitude as exactly the reason a sense of "urgency" should be added and the Bassett Program should be approved. He said landlords are ready to give up and continue marketing these Victorian homes as development sites rather than selling them to owner-occupants.

City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, said he supports the Bassett Program and is dissatisfied with the slow start it has gotten. Verveer added that the discussion of transitioning student housing was not to be misconstrued as "anti-student" but rather was about the preservation of the beautiful, old homes in Madison.

"What this really is about is saving the downtown home, and the main way most people can save the downtown home is by getting owner-occupants to move in there and fix them up," Verveer said. "There always should be a place for students in downtown Madison, and there always will be."

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