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Cedar Rapids council set to sign over 29 free lots in flood-hit neighborhoods
Sep. 27, 2011 1:10 pm
The first 29 of as many as 200 new homes with attractive buyer incentives are slated for construction on now-city-owned vacant lots where flood-damaged homes once stood.
The City Council on Tuesday approved development agreements with seven firms to build single-family homes on 29 lots as part of a program the city is calling ROOTS - Rebuilding Ownership Opportunities Together.
One of the builders, Kyle Skogman, says he is identifying buyers before building and he says he suspects the same it true with other builders.
Skogman says a typical home in the program will cost about $120,000 to build on the lot, which the city obtained in the flood buyout program and which it is providing free of charge to encourage the building and to contain the size of the mortgage. A buyer who meets certain federal income guidelines will receive an incentive of 25 percent of the sale price. So a typical owner will take on a $90,000 mortgage for the new home.
The lots are outside the 100-year flood plain and outside the area designated as a construction zone for a new flood-protection system.
The ROOTS program represents a third round of new home construction supported by federal disaster dollars that has come into Cedar Rapids to replace housing lost in the 2008 flood.
Most of the building in the first two rounds of the program has been on lots in new developments on the edge of the city. The City Council has decided to steer the third round of funding into the city's core, flood-impacted neighborhoods now that the city's buyout program has provided the city with vacant lots to use in the home-building program.
To date, the council has approved a plan that awards 16 different builders a total of 82 lots in the flood-impacted neighborhoods. With the council action on Tuesday, the city has agreed to development plans for 29 of the 82 properties.
The ROOTS program has access to $11.1 million in federal dollars. The program now is slated to last through the end of 2013.
Caleb Mason, housing rehabilitation specialist with the city's Community Development Department, reports that the first two rounds of the home-building program have been a success.
The builders and the first 29 lots slated for new construction in the ROOTS program are:
- Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity, Inc.: 1122 I Ave. NW.
- Jim Sattler, Inc.: 1016 Eighth St. NW, 1207 Ninth St. NW, 1306 Ninth St. NW, 1702 Second St. SW, 1920 Hamilton St. SW, 1022 Eighth St. NW, 1645 Ninth St. NW.
- Neighborhood Development Corporation: 1712 Hamilton St. SW, 807 Fifth Ave. SW, 710 Seventh St. SW.
- Premiere Developers: 1006 Eighth St. NW, 1007 10th St. NW, 1014 10th St. NW, 1106 Ninth St. NW, 522 Ninth St. SW, 528 Ninth St. SW.
- S&J Homes: 1027 10th St. NW, 1518 Eighth St. NW.
- Skogman Homes: 1008 Eighth St. SE, 1030 10th St. NW, 1906 C St. SW, 2142 C St. SW, 1506 L St. SW, 1030 Eighth St. NW.
- V&B Enterprises: 1235 N St. SW, 1428 Second St. SW, 610 A Ave. NW, 829 C Ave. NW.
This vacant lot, at 1022 Eighth St. NW, is one of 29 lots being made available for development by the city. (image via Cedar Rapids GIS)