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Briarcliff Summit: Renovations are Still on Schedule

Historic building at Ponce de Leon Avenue and North Highland Avenue is getting a multi-million dollar facelift.

The Portland, Maine-based real estate concern that purchased the Briarcliff Summit last year for a multi-million dollar renovation, says the refurbishing, which started in September of 2012, is proceeding as planned.

"The renovations are happening and are going smoothly," Nick Bouquet, a development associate with Evergreen Partners LLC, told Virginia-Highland—Druid Hills Patch.

"The project is on schedule."

Evergreen purchased the iconic building at 1050 Ponce de Leon Ave. last year with a muti-pronged plan to renovate it.

The 200-unit apartment building opened in 1925 as a luxury rental complex on Ponce, then one of Atlanta's most fashionable streets.

It now provides Section 8 housing to the elderly.

The renovations include refurbishing the façade, the installation of new flooring, cabinets and windows in the apartments and other improvements.

Evergreen projects the renovations to the apartments alone will cost about $55,000 per unit.

Bouquet said none of the tenants are being displaced during the renovations, which are being done with residents living on-site.

The building is to remain Section 8 after the renovations are complete.

Scott B February 19, 2013 at 03:01 pm
Seems like the plan has to be to eventually phase out the Section 8 over time. Otherwise the return on their capital doesn't make sense. They aren't receiving higher rents for that huge amount of money invested. At $55,000 a unit they'd want to see a $400-$500/month increase in rent to get a fair return.
Péralte Paul (Editor) February 19, 2013 at 04:39 pm
Hi, Scott B: I wondered about that, too but they say it's to remain Section 8 when the renovations are done.
Voice of Reason February 19, 2013 at 05:16 pm
I agree with Scott B. Something is missing here. Why would Evergreen come in and drop a large bit of $$$ into a project like this with no hope of a return on investment. Simple answer-they wouldn't. While the apartments may remain Section 8 that does not necessarily mean the rents wont go up some. If a specific apartment goes up from say $500 per month to say $600 per month then the 10% that the resident pays goes from $50 to $60 per month. The 90% that the government pays(i.e. we the taxpayers) goes from $450 to $540 per month. Pretty sweet deal for someone....
Scott B February 19, 2013 at 06:15 pm
Section 8 vouchers only cover certain types of units that qualify. They won't pay an unlimited amount of the overage above the residents contribution. To get an increase in rents they'd have to petition HUD for it and I'm sure they'll get a little bit but it'd be capped. And $100 more a month of $1,200 a year would only be a good return if they were investing about $10k per unit not $55k. The plan HAS to be to eventually empty it out and rent the units for market at 3 times the current rents. $55k a unit is an incredible amount of money. Maybe that's not the right amount. A normal garden apt complex you can do a huge rehab inside and out for under $15k per unit.
TERRY February 19, 2013 at 08:18 pm
Agree with everyone else here. The numbers do not add up. Perhaps a little more investigating by the Patch staff?

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Jeff Young January 26, 2013 at 08:38 pm
Ms. Sears, Clearly, you don't want to engage in a reasoned debate on this issue. When you wroteRead More "let's work together" you forgot to add "so long as we do it my way." If your real concern was removing invasive non-native plants, would you be spending all this time and effort raising money to build expensive bridges and a 31 mile trail?
Jeff Young January 26, 2013 at 08:42 pm
Since our announcement unveiling the PMG web site, I have been waiting to see if anyone from SFCRead More would substantively address the thoroughly reasoned positions and impressive factual sources you will find if you visit the PMG web site. But no, and at first you might think that it’s the few pro-SFC commenters who are the small, but loud minority. However, SFC all along has chosen to work behind the scenes, as though they were trained in Washington politics. They don’t want to face up to neighbor concerns, or new academic research on trails, or even have to provide half-detailed specifications to justify the cost and impact of their grandiose scheme. Could it be they know how to obtain funding and approvals the political way, without the bothersome public? Could it be they know what is good for the rest of us and just need us to shut up? What country is this? Here is an example. SFC managed to get DeKalb County to file a grant application with the State without any public hearing, telling the County Commission that the community supports the SFC connected trail plan, and seeking funds for connecting Zonolite park to their other proposed trails. This contradicted what SFC told MLPA, that connecting trails were not part of the Zonolite work. And, SFC did not tell the Commission or the State about the negative feedback acknowledged in the Park Pride Report. (continued)
Jeff Young January 26, 2013 at 08:43 pm
At that MLPA meeting, PMG’s position was that we would not oppose work confined to ZonoliteRead More that was not for connecting to the larger SFC trail plan, if that was the result of an open process involving the impacted neighbors and businesses. Did we feel snookered by the DeKalb grant application? You bet. So what I say to SFC is: let’s debate this out in the open and have the same sort of dialog we all now expect when the use of property is taken up a notch, whether it’s a for condo, or a road widening, or a re-zoning, or a trail. PMG will keep on sharing facts with decision makers and impacted neighbors until that happens.