In a nearly unanimous vote, the Henderson City Council voted to affirm its desire to see home ownership at the former Section 8 apartment complex.
The council voted on four resolutions that solidified its resolve to see owner-occupied housing at the former Beacon Light Apartments site. The first resolution stated the city’s “strong desire” that the property be committed to home ownership. The second resolution states that the city will seek to move forward with a partnership with HUD (the Department of Housing and Urban Development) to have HUD enforce a hazard insurance provision in the deed and/or seek a portion of the owners’ $1.2 million bond for demolition costs should the property not be brought up to code.
The hazard insurance provision in the deed stipulates that the owner must carry hazard insurance on the property, and that any hazard insurance proceeds must be used to bring the property into compliance.
It is unknown if the owner has collected any insurance proceeds for the fires that occurred at the complex.
In a third resolution, the council authorized the demolition order for the property.
Lastly, the council expressed a desire to work with the current owners to effect compliance. It provided for the establishment of a reasonable time line in which to achieve code compliance and conversion to home ownership. The last resolution also states that the owner must establish an irrevocable letter of credit with a North Carolina bank of 1.5 times the city’s cost to demolish the Beacon Light structures should the owners not bring the property into compliance.
The owner has 45 days to develop a time line with the city for bringing the property into compliance with the city’s minimum housing standards. During that time, the city will not attempt to carry out the demolition of the property.
An attorney for Abdehalim told council members before the vote that her client wanted at least four months to bring the property into compliance.
The sole dissenting vote came from council member Lonnie Davis, who voted against the resolution requiring that the property be developed for home ownership.
Member Mike Inscoe was not present at yesterday’s meeting. No reason was given for his absence.
Before the vote took place, City Manager Ray Griffin told members that he had been in contact with one of the owners, Sharif Abdehalim, who had stated that he was now interested in developing the property for home ownership. Abdehalim also asked that the resolutions be tabled until the last city council meeting in August, and expressed a desire to meet with the Land Planning & Development Committee in the interim.
Before the vote, Terry Garrison was granted permission to address the council.
Garrison is a real estate agent, a member of the Vance County Board of Commissioners, and the president of the local chapter of the NAACP. He is also the sales agent in Abdehalim’s attempt to resell the property. With the home ownership provision remaining intact, the potential buyer indicated to the Land Planning & Development Committee that it will not follow through with the purchase.
Garrison remarked that the home ownership provision was an appropriate goal at the time, but that home ownership has been “somewhat of a fleeting idea” since then. He went on to say that in the eighteen months he has been marketing the property, the asking price has dropped from $1.2 million to $400,000.
He also stated that calls of interest had “dropped off” when prospective buyers found out about the home ownership provision on the land.
Garrison argued that to convert the Beacon Light properties to home ownership means building condominiums. He said that someone would have to be hired to manage the property.
He said that the council was talking about putting “a responsibility for management on people who don’t have a lot of experience being responsible”. He went on to say that complaints about the management of the property would probably come to the Henderson City Council.
The NAACP president noted that the Beacon Light property is surrounded by housing on all four sides: one side is moderate income housing and the rest, according to Garrison, “are not up to that standard”. He said that putting a $125,000 pocket of housing amidst rentals is “a real risk”.
Garrison also told the council that in view of the mortgage crisis, it is not as easy for people to get loans.
The county commissioner ended his remarks by stating that if the idea of renting the property had not been dismissed, the property could have been “up and running” and have added $5 million in tax value on the books.