Officials applaud concept home

County commissioners, Willowick mayor, praise “Better Flip” project

Two years ago, the Lake County commissioners approached the Lake County Ohio Port and Economic Development Authority to address the falling home values on the west end of the county.

The board began devising plans for reinvestment and stabilization, with Executive Director Mark Rantala later presenting the idea of the “Better Flip” to enable 16,000 bungalow homes to be open to multiple demonstrations of “open concept model” options for homeowners.

Completed in June, the home has drawn thousands of people during a series of weekend open houses which continue through Oct. 13.

“I’m really excited about the project and I think it’s going to go far in revitalizing the west end (of the county),” said Port Authority Chairman Art Lindrose during a recent regular commissioners’ meeting.

“We certainly appreciate all the work you all do, have done, in bringing your experience to try to help advance the economic activity in Lake County,” said Commissioner Jerry Cirino.

Adrian Byrne, the Cleveland president of the Urban Land Institute, a notfor-profit organization with 45,000 members worldwide, echoed Cirino and Lindrose, noting good housing is key in sustaining, thriving livable areas.

The ULI’s mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land, and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.

“Why housing? Well, people, retail sales, jobs, sense of neighborhood and, of course, the taxpayers, is essential to strengthening (individual) communities,”

said Byrne, who resides in Willoughby Hills. “The growth of the urban core still falls short for providing an environment for families.

“The recent downtown boom that’s going on in Downtown Cleveland is good for the region, but not necessarily good for families, in general,” he added. “It’s hard to find standards that are used to either within that urban community or what they’ve seen on the renovation (cable) television channels. It’s a challenge, frankly, to bring neighborhoods up to par with those expectations.”

The older, traditional suburbs in Northeast Ohio share a common problem, Byrne pointed out, primarily an aging housing stock with many homes, like the bungalows built in the 1950s, embodying what he refers to as “functional obsolescence.”

“Out-of-date room sizes and floor plan configurations, not enough bathrooms, are all decades’ old features, and what comes with this is a diminished retail base, including empty strip malls and other things,” he said. “Consumers vote with their feet, no

surprise. Some suburbs are focusing on providing urban-type amenities, looking at walkability with the interest of maintaining quality property and property values.

“Based on that, and in support, the prototype project on 305th Street in Willowick is unique in that it offers people an interesting collection of ideas to stimulate (further) interest for homeowner and future homebuyers,” he added. “It’s unlikely a resident would go for a total makeover — that’s big lift. But an upgrading of property in pieces will protect property values, but that’s not enough.

“Going forward, I believe the county and city must look to devise ways in which homeowners can be incentivized to maintain these aging homes so that the community tax base is not eroded.”

Byrne noted that functional obsolescence usually leads to lower appraisal values, lower taxation and eventual abandonment of the property, adding that communities cannot depend on the state to offset the possible tax losses.

“ULI believes this is the

way to go for a lot of communities,” he said. “People really drive a community and their incomes, by large proportion, even with the Amazons of the world, are spent within their communities. If the number of people begins diminishing, then you start diminishing the driving force of that community.”

Cirino and Willowick Mayor Rich Regovich both strongly agreed that economic development, in addition to business expansion/retention, also includes housing stock and population, the latter described as “flat and aging” by Cirino.

“People are moving out, and I think it’s absolutely visionary to take actions on our part to address the housing stock issues, a component of economic development, by giving people examples of what they can do to upgrade their homes,” he said.

During the meeting, Scott Yamamoto, chief deputy of real estate with the Lake County Auditor’s Office, displayed charts detailing comparative total value of single family residences in Willowick from 2008 to 2018.

Described as a snapshot, not adjusted for inflation or time, Yamamoto said the city lost 14 percent, from $700,000,000 to $605,000,000, in total taxable value.

“These are very broadly set by the Auditor’s Office in a mass appraisal, based on statistics,” he said. “Dated houses were selling for low money, bought by investors for $80,000 and rented out for about $900 a month, where no upgrading takes place due to the property being landlord owned. In my experience, you have to give people visually something to work with.

“I think the Better Flip was a great idea, it’s a project that’s very worthwhile,” Yamamoto said. “Did they spend too much money on it? Probably, but if you have a catalyst to inspire people to go invest in those properties, and the mayor and city council have done a great job, now we’re going to have an abatement program. Let’s whet their whistle and get people to start doing things. Increased values will drop the tax rate on a per-thousand value assessed basis. That’s a good thing, too.”

Regovich added that he

feels fortunate and lucky to have the Better Flip take place in Willowick.

“The presentations of the homes/project by Auburn (Career Center) and the kids out there blew us away over the last three years,” he said. “And I want to applaud the vision of the commissioners do get this (project) done because it’s key to everything else I’m trying to do in my city. We are the first city outside of Cuyahoga County and we’ve seen what happened to the inner-ring suburbs over the years, and we were poised to do the same thing.

“I’ve also been fortunate to work the open houses of the Better Flip and see young families that have moved into my city, and I can explain the amenities and hear what they would do with the house,” Regovich added. “And we’ve had a long period of stagnation, the numbers don’t lie. If we do nothing, we die on the vine. This is a big part of the things we’re doing in Willowick. I encourage everyone to come out and look at the home. I think it will pay dividends for years and years to come, financially. This is a win for all of Lake County as far as I’m concerned.”