Wednesday, July 14, 1999
Elegant living to help fund affordable housing
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Sister Ann Rene McConn at the Riverfront Terrace development.
(Michael E. Keating photo)
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Think of them as the Newman's Own of new homes or the Boomer barbecue sauce of the building business.
Proceeds from the sale of two new homes on Eastern Avenue in the East End will benefit a good cause, just like the sauces and salsas pitched by Paul Newman and Boomer Esiason.
The non-profit Cincinnati Housing Partners is building two of 15 new homes in the Riverfront Terrace development to help fund affordable housing elsewhere in the city.
“I read once that the best fund-raising occurs when you do what you know how to do. Since we know how to do houses, I figured why not do houses that we can make some money on?” said Sister Ann Rene McConn, president of Cincinnati Housing Partners.
“I think it's a risk. It's a gamble. God help us.”
The other homes in Riverfront Terrace are being built by for-profit companies. Alumni Builders Inc. is building nine; Riverfront Homes, a division of Ladoga Group Inc., is building two, and Sabrosa Inc. is building the other two.
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OPEN HOUSE
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The two-and-a-half story, 2,500-square-foot homes list for $347,000. They offer views of the Ohio River from top-level decks, two-car garages, and other amenities such as dumb waiters and whirlpool bathtubs.
Show homes will be open to the public from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and July 24 and 25.
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Alumni Builders lists its homes for about $350,000, said David Imboden, company president. Another home in the development was listed for $369,000 and sold for close to that, he said.
Sister McConn would not say what profit the group hopes to earn on the houses.
Cincinnati Housing Partners has been building affordable housing in Cincinnati and Hamilton County since 1986, but it's always a struggle to find money, Sister McConn said.
The board of directors thought long and hard before embarking on the for-profit project, said Stephen Schatteman, senior vice president of PNC Bank and one of the board members.
“I think that all non-profits are increasingly finding themselves in the position where they have to be more entrepreneurial to support what their main mission is,” he said. “We're very optimistic.”
The same construction crews that build the group's affordable housing are building the two homes at 2194 and 2198 Eastern Ave., Sister McConn said.
The homes are the first of the dozens of houses built by Cincinnati Housing Partners to include whirlpool bathtubs, Sister McConn said.
Sister McConn said she hopes the two for-profit homes will sell in the next two or three months.
If the project is successful, Cincinnati Housing Partners could pursue similar for-profit work to help fund their operations, she said.
“It always helps if you can do good and do well at the same time,” she said.
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