Clarendon Hill Towers receives money to renovate and refinance

By Meghan Frederico Clarendon Hill Towers, an apartment complex providing low- and moderate-income housing to over 1,000 Somerville residents, received a loan commitment of up to $23.3 million from MassHousing in order to renovate and refinance the property. Clarendon Hill Towers is a federally-subsidized housing complex located at 1366 Broadway in Somerville, and is the largest housing provider in the city. The building has been tenant-owned since 1990, when a bill in Congress helped them raise the necessary $25 million in order to keep the rent affordable for its residents. In recent years, however, the complex's three high-rise towers have fallen into disrepair. "The development was in danger of foreclosure if its financial and physical condition was not restored" MassHousing said in a press release issued last Tuesday. Michael Etchu, who has been the president of the CHTTA since early 2008, confirmed this statement, and added that the building had failed state inspection for the past five years. Mr. Etchu, attributes the state of the complex to the property's management company, the Cornerstone Corporation, which he says has failed to repair structural problems with the buildings. After going door-to-door to inspect each of the complex's 501 apartments, Mr. Etchu documented serious problems in over half of them, including broken kitchen appliances, cracked walls, and faulty plumbing. He says that the management company is largely unresponsive to tenants' needs, including his own. "It's a disgrace," said Mr. Etchu. "Thirty-four percent of our $8.1 million budget goes to the management company. If we still have to live with rats and cockroaches, our money is not being well spent" he said, questioning how shrewdly the management company was spending the money. Another priority of the tenants' association, which is comprised of 15 residents of the towers, is to make changes that would stem vandalism and drug usage on the premises. Mr. Etchu says that these efforts require cooperation of the management company, which they have not had. According to Mr. Etchu, the management company cut the number of overnight hours that security officers were on duty without the tenants' association approval, and requests for repairs to the video security system also were ignored. Mr. Etchu and his board have initiated changes themselves in recent months, including replacing video cameras and restoring the security officers' overnight hours. He says this has already helped to reduce the incidents of vandalism at Clarendon Hill in recent months. "I realized that no management company could repair Clarendon Hill's condition," he said, "so I went looking for an investor." He negotiated a partnership with Connolly and Partners LLC, which develops mixed-income and affordable housing, and they then went after investors. They were able to secure the $23.3 million loan from MassHousing, and will be applying for a $2 million state grant that is available to large, urban residences. In the upcoming months, the partnership will begin accepting bids from new management companies. Whichever company wins the bid will have to adhere to a set of tenets drafted by the tenant's association. According to Mr. Etchu, these will include requirements that the company work with them to reduce vandalism and drug dealing on the premises. In order to ensure that the new management company is a responsive and cooperative partner in "reviving the vibrant community at Clarendon Hill," Mr. Etchu says that he "will not be handing out any long term contracts." Mr. Etchu, who has a masters degree in business strategy, also spoke about the need to get "business-minded" individuals in to manage the property, saying the next property manager must have a business degree. Mr. Etchu says that the Towers' residents have seen drafts of the planned renovations, and that they are very excited about the changes.

Comments

[Bobby Njie]

Mr Etchu claims to have been a tribal chief while he was in Cameroon. Please do ask him for me, from which Village? He has never ever been even a quarter or district head, talk less of a tribal chief. Yes, he was a prince, but not the chosen or crowned one.