‘House from hell’ no more
- January
- 18
2:49 am Live Theater
The boarded-up, crumbling mess that was 1820 E. 13th St., Davenport, has been transformed. What was once the neighborhood house from hell%26rdquo; has been turned into a bright and airy home with a second-story loft overlooking the living room, a kitchen with cherry-finish Ikea cabinets and a first-floor master suite.This place wasn%26rsquo;t simply rehabbed; it was rebuilt.And rebuilt in such a way that the original late 1800s floor plan, with its boxy, smallish rooms, was swept away, replaced by a look in step with today%26rsquo;s new construction. The materials are current, too, chosen with an eye toward sustainability, including bamboo flooring, fiber cement board siding, cellulose insulation and high-efficiency windows and appliances.The project is the latest to be completed with financial help from the City of Davenport%26rsquo;s HAPPEN program that encourages the renewal and reoccupancy of abandoned homes.In addition to the metamorphosis of the former rental unit, another aspect that sets 1820 E. 13th St. apart from other projects that have been finished or are in progress is that it was undertaken by Clinton, Iowa, natives Travis Campbell, 29, an architect now living in New York City, and Dave Saddoris, 33, an engineer now living in Minneapolis.They formed a company called the Upper Mississippi Valley Redevelopment Co. with the goal of tackling similar public-private partnership rehabilitation projects and making a living at it.This out-of-town interest is relatively unusual, said Bruce Berger, the city%26rsquo;s housing rehabilitation manager. They%26rsquo;re not here (living in the Quad-Cities) and yet they%26rsquo;re taking on a single-family abandoned housing project.%26rdquo;Admittedly, Campbell and Saddoris will need to make more money than they did on this project, in which they did little more than break even. But this first house established a track record, and now they can pursue larger or multiple projects with better returns, Saddoris said.Their story illustrates the challenges of central-city rehab. As Saddoris said, It%26rsquo;s way easier to build a new house.%26rdquo;Finding a projectThe City of Davenport currently lists on its Web site about 80 properties that are eligible for HAPPEN funds in which a rehabber can be reimbursed for 40 percent of the project cost, or %26#036;30,000 maximum. The money is intended to fill the gap between what it costs to repair the property and what it might be sold for.A property qualifies if it has been unoccupied for at least six months, has severe code violations that prevent occupancy and exhibits one of several other conditions such as delinquent property taxes.But before any project can begin, the would-be rehabber needs to buy the property (since the city does not own these homes), and getting possession isn%26rsquo;t as easy as it might sound. Many owners are not willing to sell for an amount %26mdash; often below the assessed value %26mdash; that makes a project financially feasible for a developer, Saddoris said. If a would-be rehabber wanted to live in the home, the purchase price might not have to be so low, but the initial price is key for someone wanting to make money.Campbell and Saddoris like old buildings, so they were looking for property in a historic area, particularly the Village of East Davenport neighborhood where Saddoris lived when he worked for 3M in Cordova, Ill.The financialsFinding a lender also was a challenge; Campbell and Saddoris visited four commercial lenders before getting a loan from Quad-City Bank %26amp; Trust, Saddoris said. Although the men expected to receive public monies to help with the project, those funds could not be figured in when considering the amount of the construction loan. Because of that, the two had to put in more of their own money.The house at 1820 E. 13th %26mdash; once the proposed site of an African-American Heritage Center %26mdash; was the most dilapidated of several boarded-up homes in the neighborhood. The two bought it for %26#036;5,000, plus %26#036;2,340 in back taxes. The home also had %26#036;1,530 in liens that were assessed by the city for cutting the grass and boarding the windows, but those were forgiven.About %26#036;173,000 was spent on hard construction costs,%26rdquo; Saddoris said.The house was purchased for a bit less than %26#036;145,000 by Mark Steven Moomey, 51, a Vietnam veteran who is a first-time homebuyer.Helping fill the gap between costs and the selling price was %26#036;30,000 from HAPPEN (which stands for Housing Assistance to Preserve and Protect our Established Neighborhoods) and %26#036;20,000 from the nonprofit East Davenport Development Corp.Because no money is paid by HAPPEN until a home has been inspected and occupied, either by the person doing the rehab or a buyer who agrees to live in the home for at least five years, Campbell and Saddoris were happy to have a deal with Moomey in the works even before the job was finished.That also sidestepped a possible real estate agent%26rsquo;s commission, which would have taken any profit, and then some,%26rdquo; Saddoris said.The projectCampbell and Saddoris decided early on that they would design a fresh, appealing floor plan that includes a dramatic two-story great room, created by eliminating half of the second-story floor.Our target market was the empty nester or the urban hipster, and with those groups, you don%26rsquo;t need the extra bedrooms,%26rdquo; Saddoris said. We wanted to create a real impressive look to get people excited about the house.%26rdquo;Campbell and Saddoris kept the footprint%26rdquo; of the house that included two additions. They also kept half of the original foundation, the first floor decking, the exterior studs on the main floor of the original house and the decking for the second-floor loft. Everything else is brand-new.The work was done by Tony Kurtz of True Construction in Clinton, who said the home was in the worst starting shape%26rdquo; of any of the aggressive remodeling jobs he has been involved with. It was a challenge, he said, just trying to find something to keep.%26rdquo;Campbell and Saddoris anticipated most of the new construction. What they did not expect was having to replace half of the foundation and install new sewer and water connections.But they didn%26rsquo;t try to recoup those expenses by cutting corners in other areas.If we had used vinyl siding (instead of durable and eco-friendly fiber cement board that costs twice as much), we would have doubled our profit, which admittedly wasn%26rsquo;t much,%26rdquo; Saddoris said. But at the end of the day, we wouldn%26rsquo;t have been happy with ourselves.%26rdquo;In addition to completing a project they are proud of and can point to as a demonstration, they have helped boost a neighborhood that has more than its share of HAPPEN-eligible homes.One of the rewarding things of this project is that since we began working, homes on either side of us have gotten new roofs and there is activity a couple of houses down,%26rdquo; Saddoris said. When we take the worst house and make it one of the nicer, there is impetus for other houses.%26rdquo;Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.ABOUT THE DEVELOPERSDavid Saddoris grew up in Clinton, Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State University, Ames, with a degree in chemical engineering. He worked nine years as a project manager for 3M in Cordova, Ill.He lives in Minneapolis, where he is pursuing a master%26rsquo;s degree from the University of Minnesota in environmental engineering with an emphasis on water resources engineering.He also has real estate investments in several states.Like Saddoris, Travis Campbell, 29, grew up in Clinton, and graduated from Iowa State, but with a degree in architecture. He also earned a master%26rsquo;s degree in city planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Atlanta area and is a licensed architect and certified planner.He lives in New York City, where he works for a Newark, N.J., firm, managing the conversion of a former jewelry factory into loft apartments.Both men are committed to urban redevelopment. They want their projects to, as their Web site says, promote environmental technologies, historical preservation, civic engagement and sustainable community design.%26rdquo;We%26rsquo;d like to do (development) full-time. That%26rsquo;s definitely the dream and the goal,%26rdquo; Campbell said. But development is hard. You don%26rsquo;t get any money until the end, if at all. We sometimes joke that %26lsquo;we%26rsquo;ll develop for food.%26rsquo; %26rdquo;To get a better return, we will have to do larger projects or do several like this (the one in Davenport) at a time,%26rdquo; Saddoris said.ABOUT THE HAPPEN PROGRAMThe HAPPEN program was created by the Davenport City Council in 2005 to encourage the renewal and reoccupancy of abandoned homes. Applicants can receive a rebate of 40 percent of approved project costs, up to a total of %26#036;30,000, to rehabilitate a building into an owner-occupied home.Since its inception, the program has paid %26#036;90,000 on three projects, including the home in today%26rsquo;s story, city housing renewal coordinator Candice Graf said.In addition, four projects are finished but must be sold before money is paid out, and 13 are in progress, she said.The fund has %26#036;400,000 earmarked for those projects and an additional %26#036;500,000 just waiting for someone to apply and complete a project, she added.To encourage greater participation, the city has changed some of the program%26rsquo;s original restrictions. Applications are now accepted year-round, properties throughout the city are eligible (not just in a targeted area) and people who already have begun work on a property can apply, too.Potential applicants are encouraged to visit the city%26rsquo;s Web site at cityofdavenportiowa.com for a list of eligible properties and program details.The same information can be found at City Hall, at either city library or by calling Graf at (563) 888-3380.ABOUT THE OWNERAfter a lifetime of renting, buying the house at Davenport%26rsquo;s 1820 E. 13th St. has been a sweet homecoming for Mark Steven Moomey.Moomey, 51, grew up in the neighborhood and has long wanted to buy his mother%26rsquo;s house just down the street, but she isn%26rsquo;t ready to sell. When he saw the work going on at 1820 last summer, he stopped by and the conversations led to his purchase.I kept my eye on it while it was being built,%26rdquo; he said. I got as close to it (his boyhood home) as I could. By the grace of God, He let me find (this place) and my heart was compelled. I did my homework and I got it. I give it all to the Lord.%26rdquo;Moomey works as an inserter at Trico Communications in Davenport. Helping make the deal possible were veterans benefits %26mdash; Moomey served in Vietnam %26mdash; and an urban revitalization tax exemption that gives him a break on his property taxes for a time.The soaring, two-story space that one steps into from the front door is his favorite feature of the home. You could play basketball in here,%26rdquo; he says.He hasn%26rsquo;t hung any pictures yet; he can%26rsquo;t quite bring himself to make holes in the walls. He likes oil paintings and religious art, though. His collection includes a large picture of the Sacred Heart and several versions of the Last Supper.Other accessories include a framed photo of his baseball hero, Nolan Ryan, a glass chess set (Moomey likes to play against a computer), a potted yew bush that has been pruned like a small tree and a globe.This was a house from hell, and now it looks like a miracle,%26rdquo; he says. This is my retirement home.%26rdquo;
Tags: amp, davenport, day, engineer, heart, holes, Live, money, neighbor, roofs, shape, sip, targetRelated posts
