The white, frame house on South 17th Street — built in 1905 for the son of a banker who lived in the bigger, more imposing home next door — has had a colorful history, including its near destruction seven years ago.
It survived a fraternity’s plans to turn it into a parking lot, thanks in part to a one-man protester and the Near South Neighborhood Association that opposed razing the home.
Now — with a new owner and a pilot rental rehabilitation program announced Thursday by city officials — the house will be among 130 getting a much-needed face-lift.
The pilot program is designed to increase the number of safe and affordable homes in Lincoln, a priority of Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and part of the city’s Affordable Housing Coordinated Action Plan’s goal to create 5,000 new or rehabilitated affordable housing units by 2030.
As part of the program, 130 rental housing units have been selected to get grants up to $15,000 for upgrades such as energy-efficient windows and doors, additional insulation, heating-and-air systems, roofing and foundation repairs, and other structural improvements.
The homes are in the Near South and Everett neighborhoods in an area bounded by Lincoln Mall, A Street, South Ninth and South 17th streets.
“This new initiative to improve the quality and increase the affordability of our older housing stock in Lincoln will make life better for over 100 families in our community during this first phase,†Gaylor Baird said.
There’s about $2 million available for the properties involved in the program, which comes from tax-increment financing for the South of Downtown district, as well as $285,000 from developers who renovated Sky Park Apartments at 13th Street and Lincoln Mall, said Dan Marvin, the city’s urban development director.
The developers contributed the money to the rehab fund rather than include affordable units in the high-rise. That money subsidized revenue from district TIF, in which the increase in property values goes to projects to help revitalize the area included in the district.
There may not be as much as $2 million each year, but the city’s goal is to be able to rehab 1,000 units over the next decade, Marvin said.
City officials interviewed both tenants and landlords in creating the program, Marvin said, and both wanted essentially the same kinds of improvements.
Landlords of more than 1,200 apartments expressed interest, Marvin said, so officials established certain criteria, including the age of the building and maintaining rents at or below Housing and Urban Development fair market rent standards.
For homes in Lincoln, those rates range from $684 for a studio apartment and $773 for a one-bedroom apartment to $1,546 for a four-bedroom apartment.
Marvin said officials are still working out how long landlords will be required to keep the rents at that amount, but it’s likely to be for about a decade.
Many of the apartments now rent for less than those standards and he said the grant contracts will include language so landlords don’t raise them substantially.
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The grantees include landlords who own single-family homes, those with two to four renters, and one that include 40 rental units.
“Helping extend the life of some of Lincoln’s most affordable housing for the next 30 years is a good investment in the future of Lincoln,’’ Marvin said. “Losing an affordable housing unit is a permanent loss to this community.â€
NeighborWorks Lincoln, a nonprofit community housing development organization, will administer and monitor grant use, and will help coordinate grant recipients with existing programs such as lead paint remediation provided by the city, and energy efficiency programs offered by Lincoln Electric System and Black Hills Energy.
The pilot will allow the city to explore how to expand the rental rehab program outside the core of the city, Marvin said.
Greg Baker, a member of the Everett Neighborhood Association, said more than 90% of the homes in his neighborhood are rental units, which means there are many homes that could benefit.
One of the advantages, Marvin said, is that if the homes are more energy-efficient it will not only increase the value of the property for the landlords, but will lower utilities for tenants.
That’s one of the things that piqued the interest of Jake Griess, who bought the house at 1143 S. 17th St. and knows how high utilities can be in older homes.
“It just allows some necessary improvements to be made,†he said. “Windows are the biggest one. It will improve the value on my end and lower utilities for the tenants.â€
He also hopes to use the grant money for a new heating-and-air system, and if he qualifies for the city’s lead removal program it could free up money for other repairs.
A lover of old homes — Griess lives in one himself in the same part of town — he was intrigued by the history of the home on 17th Street.
“I love old houses,†he said. “Just the history and the character. I’m kind of a history nerd,†he said.
There was plenty of character on display at 17th and D streets. Morris Weil built the big house on the corner, then built the smaller one next door for his son. For decades, the two lived next to each other and worked at National Bank of Commerce, which Weil started so his son would have a job after graduating from college.
Many years later, a fraternity bought the big house and refurbished it for its members, and in 2015 bought the smaller house next door. After the neighborhood association objected to tearing the smaller home down, the fraternity came up with plans to refurbish it as a second home for members.
That never happened, and the fraternity sold both homes to Oakmont LLC in 2019, and Griess bought the smaller one the next year. The previous owner had rented the apartments in the home, and Griess continued doing so.
He not only appreciates what the program will do for him and his renters, but the potential long-term benefits.
“If this program does go on for 10 years, it will increase the value of many homes in the neighborhood,†he said. “It’s a compound effect ... it’s good for the city, too. It’s nice to see the tax money being used to revitalize these neighborhoods.â€
Jake Griess, the owner of 1143 S. 17th St., is part of a program to receive money through the city’s residential rental rehabilitation pilot program.