DeSales

 

 

Fox Grove Management, LLC:  DeSales’ property management company began pre-leasing of the Dick Gregory Place Apartments in the Ville Neighborhood in June of 2010. This 40-unit Low Income Housing Tax Credit development is a joint venture of The Greater Ville Neighborhood Preservation Commission and Northside Community Housing, Inc. Fox Grove began managing Northside’s portfolio if 81 affordable homes and apartments in 2009. At year-end all units that had been released for occupancy at Dick Gregory Place had been rented. Completion of construction and lease-up is scheduled in mid-2011.

 

With the inclusion of Dick Gregory Place Fox Grove will have 363 units under management; 242 owned by DeSales and 121 by Northside/Greater Ville. Fox Grove also manages approximately 40 units under DeSales’ Management Assistance Program (MAP) which provides management services to individual property owners and is funded by the City of St. Louis’ Community Development Administration. 

 

Acquisition of New Properties: In the fourth quarter of 2010 DeSales acquired two affordable housing properties in the Carondelet neighborhood, Virginia Manor Apartments and Compton Place Apartments. Each property contains 14 units. Both had been developed and owned by other non-profits, respectively the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation and Intercommunity Housing Association. Both groups wished to divest for strategic reasons but wanted to ensure that the properties would continue to be owned and managed in the community interest. They approached DeSales as a buyer for this reason. The properties are being managed by Fox Grove.

 

New Director of Property Management:  DeSales strengthened its management capability with the hiring in November of Stan Presson for the newly created position of Director of Property Management. Stan brings 15 years of management experience with Pyramid Construction and Dominium Management Services. He started on November 1.

 

Garden District Commission: Since November 2005 DeSales has provided staffing to the Garden District Commission, a non-profit engaged in redevelopment of the Botanical Heights (formerly McRee Town) neighborhood. In 2010 DeSales assisted the Garden District Commission in negotiations with a developer who will construct and rehabilitate 31 homes on the 4200 block of McRee Ave.  This block had been targeted by the GDC for the next phase of residential development west of McBride & Sons’ Botanical Heights subdivision, completed in 2008. By year-end the basic terms of an agreement had been agreed upon. The initial sale of GDC-owned property and start of construction was expected in the first quarter of 2011. 

 

DeSales also facilitated a lease of GDC-owned lots on the 4000 block of Folsom Ave. to the International Institute for its Global Gardens community gardening program. The institute received a 3-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fund the program. Global Gardens will engage the institute’s immigrant and refugee clients in growing produce both for their own consumption and for sale. 

 

3434 Humphrey: In November DeSales sold this vacant Tower Grove East two-family to rehabber Patty Maher. The housing corporation had acquired it from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2009. Patty has gained a reputation for doing green-certified historic rehabilitation. She will convert the building to a single-family for resale to an owner-occupant. Completion is scheduled for fall of 2011.