PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Tuesday, March 19, 2024; Fairview Gardens, 3207 Franklin Boulevard: Ohio City Incorporated (OCI) is taking steps to reduce the property tax bill at Fairview Gardens and is committed to keeping the apartments affordable for senior citizens.

     (Plain Press April 2024)  Some concern has been expressed in the Ohio City neighborhood about the prospects of keeping housing for senior citizens at Fairview Gardens affordable long term. A neighborhood resident contacted the Plain Press concerned that high property tax liability for the property could result in rent increases that would make the apartments in the building at 3207 Franklin Boulevard unaffordable for senior citizens that live there.

     Fairview Gardens apartments were built about 25 years ago with the support of Ohio City Incorporated and the Cuyahoga County government. The apartments were created to fulfill a vision of providing a safe, clean, affordable place where seniors could age in place in their neighborhood when sought to downsize or their own homes became unaffordable due to increasing property taxes and other expenses. The building features forty two and three-bedroom apartments, community space, and ample parking for residents and their guests.

     “We are committed to maintaining affordable housing at Fairview Gardens,” says Ohio City Incorporated (OCI) Executive Director Chris Schmitt.

     Schmitt explained that Ohio City Incorporated became owners of the 40-unit apartment building at 3207 Franklin Boulevard in 2018 after the 15-year tax abatement on the property had expired.  He said that unfortunately funds for affordable housing diverted to address the pandemic shortly after that and were not available to help with expenses for Fairview Gardens.

     With the end of the tax abatement, the tax liability on the property is substantial. Cuyahoga County listed taxes owed for 2023 at $178,392.23. Payments made by Ohio City Incorporated on this debt were listed at $41,796.29, leaving a current tax liability of $136,595.94.

     Schmitt says OCI is looking at any possible ways it can maintain affordable housing long term at Fairview Gardens. Schmitt says one step OCI has taken is working with the Cuyahoga County Land Bank to transfer ownership of the land, OCI was able to substantially reduce the future tax liability on the land by doing this. Unfortunately, they were unable to reduce the amount of property taxes already owed, Schmitt said.

     A long-term hope for additional funds for affordable housing was raised by OCI’s recent acquisition of City Goods. Ohio City Incorporated recently began providing operating support and funds to stabilize City Goods, a collection of small businesses on W. 28^th between Church and Detroit Avenue. The press release announcing the conversion of City Goods into a nonprofit subsidiary of OCI says “any profits not reinvested into City Goods space or vendors will be used to support Ohio City Inc’s mission-critical programs including affordable housing, Near West Recreation, and community engagement.”

     Asked if some of this money could be used in the future to help maintain affordable housing at Fairview Gardens, Schmitt says OCI will have to operate City Goods for a year to see how much revenue would be available to support its mission critical programs such as affordable housing. He said the long-term goal is to be able to put about $50,000 of the revenue from the project back into City Goods each year and have another $50,000 available to support OCI’s mission critical programs such as affordable housing.