Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Revisiting stories: the need to provide programs to step in and deal with multiunit properties as they age

The Washington Post reports on the decline of the Marbury Plaza Apartments building in Southwest Washington ("Once a Black middle-class haven, a D.C. apartment complex falls into disrepair").  

Built in 1965, there are 672 units.  Elevators, air conditioning and other systems don't work, and the open air pool, still marketed as a featured amenity, hasn't been open for years.

Many years ago, responding to an article by John Muller about the state of housing in Anacostia, where he wrote about "abandominiums," I wrote a response about how housing assistance programs need to consider owner assistance and multiunit properties, because as they age, they decline, and if the tenant mix skews to low income, it's not likely the owner has a large reserve fund for repairs.

-- "Deeper thinking/programming on weak residential housing markets is required: DC example, Anacostia," 2012
-- "Revisiting the need for "Tower renewal" (multiunit) programs," 2017

While this is an especial problem for lower income properties, it's also an issue with higher income properties (and one of the reasons that cooperatives are focused on attracting particularly high net worth individuals).

DC does have a program, for example, which funds energy efficiency upgrades, but obviously, problems with these types of buildings indicate that a more active program is needed.


The article discusses Toronto's Tower Renewal program, which provides special assistance to multiunit buildings in the city, especially to those that are aging.  Toronto has over 1,000 buildings, eight stories or taller, built before 1985, housing over 500,000 people, about 1/6 of the city's population.

-- Tower Renewal Partnership
-- "Reassessing the Recent Past: Tower Neighborhood Renewal in Toronto," APT Bulletin: Journal of Preservation Technology, 2011
-- Tower Renewal and Retrofit Finance, Tower Renewal Partnership
-- "Tower Renewal program," Urban Springtime blog, 2015
-- Tower Renewal Opportunities Book, research compilation
-- Affordability and Resilience: The Challenge of Tower Renewal in Private Rental Apartment Buildings, ULI Advisory Services Panel

Although another distinctive element of the Toronto program is that it focuses not just on individual buildings, but also "tower" neighborhoods.   By contrast, the HUD program focuses on individual buildings.

I wrote follow up pieces

-- "Tower renewal: The Watergate and Southwest DC, and Toronto," 2011
-- "The long term potentially negative aspects of condominium buildings as a dominant housing form in cities," 2016

the latter made the point that condominiums as an ownership structure work when the owners are wealthy and the building is new, and not so well when the property is old and the owners have limited resources to pay for special assessments for building repairs.

This also comes up with a historically designated property in Mount Pleasant, where some of the owner-tenants are asking to be allowed to not maintain a distinctive architectural element, outdoor terraces, because of the expense.

-- "Revisiting stories: condominiums as a tricky land tenure form, as maintenance costs rise over time," 2021

The problem will only get worse.

In the UK, especially with the demand for special assessment payments to replace outdoor panels that have been found to be particularly flammable and dangerous, people are losing the value of their properties, can't sell units, etc. ("Cladding scandal: flat owners fear bills of up to £45,000 for safety failings," Guardian).

While HUD does have a program for aged building repairs and upgrades not every property is eligible and funds are limited, cities need to take a more forceful and proactive role in working with aging multiunit buildings, to ensure the maintenance of a high quality residential built environment.

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31 Comments:

At 8:36 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Condo building partially collapses in Miami-Dade, killing at least 1 and prompting mass search-and-rescue operation
By Tim Elfrink and Timothy Bella

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/24/surfside-building-collapse-miami-dade/

 
At 6:27 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Florida condominium building collapse.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/06/24/building-collapse-miami-structure-had-been-sinking-into-earth/7778631002/

Engineer warned of ‘major structural damage’ years before Florida condo collapsed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/champlain-towers-south-surfside/2021/06/26/a509519a-d5de-11eb-a53a-3b5450fdca7a_story.html

=====
Problems indicated, but the condominium board dragged their feet on dealing with them, which is typical, especially when people are not well resourced.

 
At 7:12 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

CNN : In this Chinese tower block, residents pay to take the lift home.
http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_world/~3/TZM7D24GlsQ/index.html

 
At 5:55 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Maryland-based consultant warned of structural damage in Florida condo collapse.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-champlain-towers-morabito-20210626-zeztzlptpndxnmdebgnbyuupd4-story.html

It turns out that Morabito Consulting Engineers have two offices, including in Baltimore County.

The Sun story says that the condo association was working on addressing the findings by Morabito in 2018, which called for repairs costing $9 million, which would come out to be about $70,000 per unit.

While the County Mayor has called for all similar buildings to be inspected

"In wake of condo collapse, Miami orders inspections of older high-rises"
https://wsvn.com/news/local/miami-dade/in-wake-of-condo-collapse-miami-orders-inspections-of-older-high-rises/

I think that there is a more important priority.

Like what Toronto has done, there needs to be a county (or state-based) loan program to facilitate and speed up funding of such repairs, to address resident unwillingness, recalcitrance, or inability to come up with special assessments in full and the need to finance them.

This was also discussed in this AP story.

https://apnews.com/article/business-building-collapses-technology-ef5b013114b766b7ed1e88a5b27c501f

 
At 6:18 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The New York Times: Infighting and Poor Planning Leave Condo Sites in Disrepair.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/us/condo-associations-surfside-collapse.html

 
At 12:37 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Climate change could cost condo boards billions. They aren’t ready for it.
By Evan McKenzie

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/surfside-condo-climate-change-cost/2021/07/01/b6699a98-da76-11eb-9bbb-37c30dcf9363_story.html

 
At 8:38 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The New York Times: Lax Enforcement Let South Florida Towers Skirt Inspections for Years.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/04/us/south-florida-condo-maintenance-violations.html

 
At 5:54 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Wall Street Journal: Two Miami-Area Condo Buildings Were Almost Twins; One Collapsed.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-miami-area-condo-buildings-were-almost-twins-one-collapsed-11625409039?mod=flipboard

 
At 11:44 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

This Bloomberg article has a bunch of good cites.

Aging Condos Are a ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ and Need More Oversight

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-06/aging-condos-are-a-ticking-time-bomb-and-need-more-oversight

The rap on condos is that owners and the boards they elect are poorly equipped to make important decisions about maintenance. “Association homeowners and boards often are focused on keeping regular assessments low and only investing in visible, immediate outcomes,” says Breaking Point: Examining Aging Infrastructure in Community Associations, a 2020 report by the Foundation for Community Association Research.

https://foundation.caionline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FoundationAgingInfrastructureReport.pdf

The U.S. on the whole actually does a better job of overseeing condos than some other countries do, says an article in The Atlantic by Matthew Gordon Lasner of Hunter College in New York City, author of High Life: Condo Living in the Suburban Century.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/surfside-tower-was-just-another-condo-building/619348/

In theory, at least, a landlord-tenant form of ownership can be more stable because the landlord has a stronger financial interest in maximizing a building’s long-term market value than does a typical condo owner, who may be cash-strapped or hoping to sell and move before the building’s flaws become apparent, says a 2018 working paper by Michael Makovi, a professor at Northwood University in Midland, Mich.

http://journal.apee.org/index.php/2019_Journal_of_Private_Enterprise_Vol_34_No_1_Spring_PARTE3

 
At 11:44 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Undermining Florida’s condo laws: Politics, turf wars and human nature

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/07/florida-condo-task-force/

 
At 8:00 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

CNN : A 2020 report found Surfside condo lacked funds for necessary repairs. One expert called it a 'wake-up call'.
http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/t-CDzh6M6KY/index.html

 
At 9:43 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Miami Herald: How can we avoid another collapse like Surfside? Florida can start with these reforms | Editorial.
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article252661918.html

 
At 2:57 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/13/metro/when-it-comes-buildings-structural-integrity-most-condo-owners-are-hook

"When it comes to a building’s structural integrity, most condo owners are on the hook"

Doesn't say much, but Boston does require buildigns that are 70 feet tall or over to have a facade inspection every five years.

 
At 10:01 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The State: Florida condo collapse leads SC officials to act.
https://www.thestate.com/opinion/article252835103.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/roof-miami-dade-building-partially-collapses-all-apartments-evacuated-n1274181

 
At 11:23 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Wall Street Journal: Another Surfside, Fla., Condo Is Evacuated After Building Deemed Unsafe.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/another-surfside-fla-condo-is-evacuated-after-building-deemed-unsafe-11626895331?mod=flipboard

 
At 9:47 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Deconversion of condos in Chicago. Many of the buildings are older, were converted to condos in the 1970s.

Slate: How Condo Buildings End.
https://slate.com/business/2021/08/condo-deconversions-boards-chicago-miami-repairs-investors.html

 
At 5:11 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Guardian: Grenfell Tower set to be demolished over safety concerns.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/04/grenfell-tower-set-to-be-demolished-over-safety-concerns

 
At 3:23 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"I Know All About Condo Living. After Surfside, Change Is Coming"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/opinion/condominiums-surfside-collapse.html


In response to weaknesses in condos, board operation, regulation, needed changes.

 
At 7:40 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://news.yahoo.com/save-lives-not-just-money-215419623.html

A grand jury on condo safety, convened six months after the 12-story Champlain Towers South building in Florida crumbled, calls for major reforms.

 
At 1:18 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Your condo building’s reserve fund may not be enough. Here’s why.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/29/your-condo-buildings-reserve-fund-may-not-be-enough-heres-why/

 
At 12:13 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

WJLA: Residents of SE DC condo forced to move out due to unsafe conditions.
https://wjla.com/news/local/residents-se-dc-condo-forced-move-out-due-unsafe-conditions-ridgecrest-southest-washington-housing-apartments-inflation

 
At 12:44 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2022/04/18/condo-deconversion-offer-for-96m-shakes-up-chicago-loop-community/

 
At 12:58 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Condo de-conversion in Miami

Developers Rush to Buy Out Owners in Aging Miami Buildings After Area Condo Collapse.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/developers-rush-to-buy-out-owners-in-aging-miami-buildings-after-area-condo-collapse-11650360600

4/19/2022

 
At 9:13 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/real-estate/fl-bz-record-request-leads-to-400k-legal-bill-20220616-bpfl2a7gbffxlg6dpzxjkotqv4-story.html

 
At 9:33 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

More aid but no solutions for owners at crumbling D.C. condo building

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/03/dc-talbert-street-housing/

 
At 9:22 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Fannie Mae has significantly increased its oversight of insurance requirements for condos. Condo complexes that don't comply aren't eligible for Fannie Mae financed loans.

https://www.ocregister.com/2023/03/02/fannie-mae-halts-financing-for-6102-condos-in-laguna-woods

 
At 10:55 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://wjla.com/news/local/dc-superior-court-judge-neal-kravitz-finds-mp-pph-owners-of-marbury-plaza-apt-complex-opthalmologists-anthony-and-john-pilavas-in-contempt-orders-50-percent-cut-in-rents-brian-schwalb-attorney-general-for-dc-new-york-properties

 
At 10:13 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Housing Authority bought condos in their building and let it crumble, owners say

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/09/25/dc-housing-marley-ridge/

 
At 11:40 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Building collapses in the Bronx

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/collapsed-bronx-building-owned-worst-landlord-jay-zanger

One of city's 'worst landlords' owns collapsed Bronx building

12/12/23

 
At 8:28 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

South Florida condo owners are dumping their homes after getting slapped with six-figure special assessments

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-florida-condo-owners-dumping-101000141.html

 
At 8:41 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Why Owning (and Buying) a Florida Condo Has ‘Turned Into a Nightmare’

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/03/realestate/miami-condo-collapse-buying-selling.html

 

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