For the past year and a half, we have been part of an amazing partnership that has been working on the preservation of 147 affordable apartments at Town Park Village in the Overtown section of Miami.
Built in 1971 as a “Limited Equity Co-op” under HUD regulations, Town Park Village was intended to assure affordability and create “limited equity” so that if any of the Co-op owners wanted to sell their interest in their apartment, the most they could get was $9,900. Because unit value remained at $9,900, it meant there was no incentive for the residents to invest in the property.
About six years ago the Co-op went into default and failed four years of annual inspections. HUD threatened that if the community failed one more time they would foreclose on the mortgage and evict all of the residents – some of who had been living there since the building was built.
Town Park Village embarked on a campaign to accomplish the following:
1. Pass the 2007 HUD inspection and then pay off the HUD mortgage.
2. Rehab all of the apartments.
3. Convert the property from a Co-op to a Condominium.
4. Preserve the homes for the current residents.
5. Make Town Park Village a sustainable community.
In August, we passed the HUD inspection and are progressing with the rest of our strategy.
We have gotten this far with enormous private and public support including: Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, AT&T, TECO Energy, State Farm, Home Depot, City of Miami, University of Miami, Florida International University, LISC, New Horizons CMHC, Miami Dade College, Florida Power & Light, Knight Foundation, TURKEL, Turkel Resource Foundation, Holland & Knight, Duany Plater Zyberg Architects, FDOT, Multivision Video & Film, and many others.