Longtime residents of an old apartment building Downtown on Court Street could be forced to move by the end of the month to make way for new development.
Mount Auburn-based Vision & Beyond Capital Investments purchased the 18-unit Court View Apartments building at 7-9 W. Court St. in April.
The developer plans extensive renovations to convert the building to a new mixed-use development with 24 apartments and six first-floor commercial spaces.
Cincinnati tenants notified by letter that they will be forced to move
Tenants were notified in a letter obtained by The Enquirer dated May 25 that they would have 30 days to move.
That hasn't given them much time to find new digs in a market that's woefully short of affordable housing and where the average rent is nearly double what some are paying.
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"If you can believe it, the rent for a 1,200-square-foot unit (in the Court Street building) was $500,'' said Katy Crossen, a spokeswoman for Vision & Beyond. "That's not market rate. That's the agreement they had with the previous owner.''
'What they did was dirt'
Tim Reed, 61, said he planned to live out his life in the two-bedroom apartment he has lived in for 19 years. He said he pays $630 a month for rent and knows he'll be hard-pressed to find a comparable-sized apartment that he can afford.
"There's (apartments) available, but they're so expensive,'' Reed told The Enquirer. "Downtown has gotten so expensive. There's no affordable housing Downtown.''
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Reed said most of his neighbors, many of whom have lived in the building 20 years or longer, are in the same situation. He said they're worried, can't sleep and continually ask him: "What are we going to do?''
A sign posted on the building reads: "WE PAY OUR RENT! WE WANT OUR HOMES!'' – and adds "SHAME'' on Vision & Beyond.
Reed said that as far as he knows no one who lives in the building has had direct contact with the developer since they were given 30-days’ notice to move, which has further aggravated an already stressful situation.
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"What they did was dirt,'' said Reed, who added he's left numerous voicemails for the developer that have not been returned. "They came in and stuck the letters under the door telling us we had to move and left.
"It was a total shock, but to this day they have not talked to any of us. We don't even know who these people are.''
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Crossen said the developer hadn't received any complaints from tenants by the end of the day Monday.
"As of last night, we had one inquiry about a possible transfer; and a handful of inquiries about when people would be receiving their rent deposits,'' Crossen said early Tuesday afternoon.
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Still, she said, Vision & Beyond plans to give tenants more time to move and help with their moving expenses.
She said the developer will offer a $300 moving allowance and extend the deadline to move until July 10 for residents who agree to transfer to one of Vision & Beyond’s apartment buildings in Avondale, Price Hill or Westwood, Crossen said.
Vision & Beyond specializes in workforce housing, defined as housing for gainfully employed people earning 50% or more of the area median income, in those neighborhoods.
But she acknowledged the rent for those units would still be much higher than what the Court Street tenants are paying now and what rent will cost in the renovated building.
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Residents moving to apartments not owned by Vision & Beyond will be offered $200 in moving expenses but will have to vacate their apartments no later than June 27, Crossen said, noting that tenants "can take a couple extra days'' past the 30-day deadline to move if they need it.
'People have no place to go'
Mona Jenkins, director of development and operations for the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, said even with some extra money in their pockets, finding a new place to live is going to be tall task.
"People have no place to go, and even when they find a place it's never affordable,'' Jenkins said. "There's not enough housing stock, and this is what we've been screaming for years.''
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