Cape school will become apartments

Jackson developer Chad Hartle didn't receive all he asked for to support converting the Schultz School in Cape Girardeau into low-income housing for senior citizens, but he said he got enough to proceed with the project.

Hartle sought $700,000 in state and federal tax credits from the Missouri Housing Development Commission for the project to transform the school, built in 1914 on land originally donated for public education by Don Louis Lorimier, founder of Cape Girardeau.

On Dec. 21, the commission awarded Hartle $600,000 in state and federal tax credits annually for 10 years. Hartle said Friday that he expects to complete the purchase of the school by the end of this school year. The building, which was the first public high school in Cape Girardeau, is currently used to house the district's alternative education program.

"I expect that most of my tenants will have gone to school there at one time or another in their lives," Hartle said.

The school building will be transformed into 45 apartments. There will be 21 one-bedroom units, with rents ranging from $285 to $380 per month, depending on the apartment's size, Hartle said. There will be 24 two-bedroom apartments, which will rent for $365 to $485 per month.

The process for placing the building on the National Register of Historic Places has begun, Hartle said. If successful, the historic designation will make the building project eligible for state and federal historic preservation tax credits.

In an evaluation of Hartle's application, the housing commission staff noted that "this is an opportunity to utilize low-income housing and historic credits to assist a significant historic building in continuing to contribute to its community."

The current income standard for single people seeking apartments in commission-sponsored projects is $23,700. For couples, the limit is $27,060. Hartle said work will begin on the project in the summer, with a completion date sometime in 2009. He anticipates taking applications from prospective tenants in the summer of 2009.

Hartle's application was approved over three other applications in the immediate region. MACO Development Co. LLC of Clarkton, Mo., had applied for credits to expand its new West Court Manor apartments on West End Boulevard and to create housing for low-income seniors in Perryville, Mo. The Delta Area Community Development Corp. was turned down for its request for credits to rehabilitate apartments in Scott City.

The housing commission staff report to the commission recommended Hartle's application because it preserves a significant landmark in a DREAM Initiative community, provides low rents and access to housekeeping services to help senior citizens maintain independence, the strength of Hartle's development team and the staff's commitment to Cape Girardeau.

Builders receiving the tax credits typically sell them through syndicates for use by others, said Brandon Laster, spokesman for the commission. That allows the developer to amass the capital needed to undertake the project, he said.

Hartle and the Cape Gir?ardeau School District agreed to a price of $1.7 million for the building in February. Because of restrictions in Lorimier's grant of the land, the money must be placed in a trust fund and used to buy replacement land or construct a building for educational purposes. The district had originally hoped to use the money to remodel a portion of the administration building for use as the alternative school. Other funds will be used for that work.

Along with the Schultz School project, the housing commission awarded several grants for the area at the Dec. 21 meeting:

• Cape Girardeau received two grants under the Home Repair, or HERO program. The city will receive $150,000 to assist with repairs of owner-occupied homes in an area bounded by South Pacific Street, Jefferson Avenue, South Benton Street and Bloomfield Street. The city will also receive $102,000 through the DREAM Initiative for repairs of up to five homes in the areas designated for improvement under the initiative.
• Vision House of Cape Gir?ardeau was awarded $49,330 for rental assistance from the Missouri Housing Trust Fund to women who have completed its yearlong drug treatment program. Vision House was turned down on a request for $50,997 to provide matching funds for a federal grant for supportive housing.
• The Community Caring Council was awarded $50,000 from the trust fund for homeless prevention, half of what it requested.

The commission distributed $812,185 from the trust fund in the region that included Cape Girardeau. There were $3.2 million in requests.

Matching funds for Vision House was a worthy request, Laster said, but matching funds were the lowest priority for the commission this year. And many organizations, like the Community Caring Council, received only a portion of their request.

"We just didn't have the dollars to spread out to a lot of deserving organizations," Laster said. "We want to grant enough so it makes a difference."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126