CARA on track for $10M upgrade
Ny-based developer has big plans for 150unit housing project
HARTFORD — A New Yorkbased affordable housing developer plans to purchase 150 federally-subsidized rental units in Hartford, with a commitment to invest $10 million in the Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments.
Omni America LLC has agreed to buy the scattered collection of apartment buildings from Gregory Jones and Anthony Guarraci, a pair of affordable housing developers from Atlanta who renovated and reopened the previously-unlivable, Section 8 properties in Clay Arsenal. The prewar buildings are particularly valuable to Hartford’s rental stock because of their capacity: The 24 buildings are home to 54 three-bedroom apartments and 28 four- and five-bedrooms.
The company plans to close on the properties in October and pick up where Jones and Guarraci left off, with a promise to make repairs and improvements to units within two years and to start construction on a 2,100-square-foot management building within three years, co-founder and co-managing director Eugene Schneur told members of the city council’s Operations, Management, Budget and Government Accountability Committee on Aug. 16.
The company has owned and developed more than 17,000 units of affordable housing and managed properties in 11 states, Schneur said in his presentation. In Brooklyn, Omni America is part of a joint venture to rehabilitate more than 2,600 units in 39 buildings across nine public housing developments, according to the New York City Housing Development Corporation.
One of the company’s areas of expertise is turning around distressed, century-old properties like the CARA buildings,
which were built between the 1880s and 1930s, Schneur added.
Schneur also told council members that said he and his partners have always talked about working in Connecticut, as they have a large New England portfolio already, and partner Maurice “Mo” Vaughn, the former Red Sox baseball player, is from Norwalk.
“For us, between being in New York and being in Rhode Island and being in Massachusetts, geographically and logically, Connecticut makes a lot of sense for us,” Schneur said. “... When you buy and you rehab affordable housing, it’s a win-win for everybody, so we hope to do the same, and we believe we will do the same here in Hartford.”
Apartment renovations will take place without relocating residents, he said. The company also plans to install 120 surveillance cameras and renovate and replace exterior lights, masonry, roofs and parking lots.
Omni America also plans to build a management office with a 665-squarefoot community room on a vacant lot at 10-12 Center St., and provide programming for adults and children.
Mayor Luke Bronin has asked the city council to approve a tax abatement agreement in which Omni would make annual payments to the city that increase from $150,000 to $345,000 over 15 years.
Jones and Guarraci paid $8.5 million in December 2018 for the 25 rental properties and several vacant lots in the Clay Arsenal neighborhood, and said they would invest another $4.5 million to remodel the rentals, which had fallen into severe disrepair under landlord Emmanuel Ku.
Schneur, of Omni America, said the current owners have completed $3 million in renovations over the past two years.
As a result, the properties are in better shape than when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development canceled its contract with Ku in 2018 over his failure to address numerous health and safety hazards, including rodent and insect infestations.
Over the course of 2018 and 2019, HUD took the rare action of relocating all residents from the CARA apartments and several other Section 8 complexes in the low-income neighborhoods of North Hartford. A community-based campaign called “No More Slumlords” drew attention to the prevalence of poor housing conditions and absentee landlords in the city.
Several former residents of those subsidized projects —CARA, Barbour Gardens and Infill I — have since sued HUD, stating the majority of residents “endured substandard conditions for years” and were ultimately unable to relocate outside of North Hartford or other heavily segregated, low-opportunity neighborhoods.
Once Jones and Guarraci purchased the CARA buildings, HUD signed a new contract to once again subsidize the 150 units, which are located on Albany Avenue and Belden, Center, East, Fairmont, Florence, Main and Seyms streets.
Today, the CARA buildings are occupied by “very low, low and moderate-income” individuals and families, according to the mayor’s office.
HUD has not carried out a hands-on inspection of the buildings since Jones and Guarraci took over, according to the agency.
Once Omni buys the properties, they would enter into a 20-year agreement with HUD for the agency to contribute a portion of each residents’ rent. To qualify for a unit in CARA, an individual could make up to $54,950 and a family of four could make up to $78,500.