Articles Archives

Rebuilding Character

7 min read

“This is getting more and more difficult,” said Josh Anderson, Principal at Cedarbend Consulting, as he and other judges decided on the winners for his father’s namesake awards, the J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation.

Talking Heads Debra Koehler, Sage Partners, LLC

9 min read

Despite having only four employees, Deb Koehler has achieved considerable success expanding access to affordable housing for seniors and working families in the Tampa Bay market.

What Happens In San Francisco Won’t Stay in San Francisco

6 min read

Hometown love endures? Yes. And contributes to significant accomplishments.

Out of the Ballpark

13 min read

During his playing days, Mo Vaughn, the 1995 American League MVP, was celebrated for his big bat and patrolling the first base side of the infield, at Fenway Park in Boston, Anaheim Stadium in California, and finally at Shea Stadium in Queens. But since his injury-mandated retirement in 2003, Vaughn has been dominating a substantially larger piece of real estate: the low-cost and affordable housing spheres of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and elsewhere.

How Did They Do That?

6 min read

Sandeep Sood didn’t have to wait to replace the rusted, inefficient boiler at Jeffery Parkway – thanks to teamwork between developers, financers and energy experts.
“We were able to invest early in the process rather than later. That allowed us to make really significant changes upfront,” says Sood, project manager for Nautilus Investments at the Preservation Through Energy Efficiency Roadshow, held September 29 in Chicago.

Choice Thoughts from “Choice” Winners

7 min read

In early October, the Department of Housing & Urban Development awarded its 2015 Choice Neighborhood Initiative Implementation Grants to projects in five cities—Atlanta, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee and Sacramento. NH&RA members were awardees as developers or funders in each of the cities.

Bidding War: A Scenario

15 min read

Whoever coined the phrase “no rest for the weary,” must have known someone trying to develop affordable housing, Gerry General mused as he left port for a Sunday afternoon sail. Lake Erie’s waters were a calm oasis for Gerry away from the frenetic pace of the office and Gerry had a lot on his mind.

Let’s Get Local

3 min read

It’s the silly season again! Both the Republican and Democratic parties have now held their first presidential debates, and, as promised, they have been very entertaining. Now that the 2016 presidential campaign is really picking up steam and the bizarre Game of Thrones continues to play out in the US House of Representatives (outcome very uncertain at the time that I am writing this month’s column), I think we can safely predict that Congress is unlikely to change course and start passing reams of legislation this political season.

A Prescription for Healthy Housing

4 min read

Developers, like renown bank robber Willy Sutton, naturally go where the money is. Yet for far too long, one place they have not been able to go as a potentially huge source of money to create quality affordable housing has been health care. That may be changing, and for the better.

The Triumph of Historic Tax Credits

9 min read

You’re passing through a small town or city neighborhood and a building suddenly catches your eye. You see bracketed cornices and arched windows; everything looks stylish and solid, built back in an era when, as they say “people cared about quality.”

Building More Than Buildings

12 min read

While what they literally built may have varied, each finalist for the 2015 J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Historic Preservation built a bridge. They built a bridge between what communities had and what they needed. In some cases, it was the bridge between yesterday’s industrial heyday and today’s housing shortage.

Talking Heads John Leith-Tetrault, National Trust Community Investment Corporation

12 min read

The federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC) program has seen a few ups and downs the past six years. The Great Recession that began in 2008, followed by the Third Circuit’s decision in Historic Boardwalk Hall LLC v. Commissioner in August 2012, led to a mass exodus of investors and caused major market disruptions.

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