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Cardinal Capital News
Apache ASL Trails - 2428 E. Apache Blvd, Tempe, AZ
The Mission: Cardinal Capital Management is a developer of housing for persons with special needs. We have developed housing with features of interest for persons who are blind or low-vision, persons recovering from mental illness, homeless veterans, and persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind. In undertaking these unique housing products, it is important to work closely with an advocacy group representing the needs of the population you wish to serve. Design innovation can only occur when the true representative of the end user is able to speak on their behalf, and accurately describe the special lifestyle needs of the customer. Although CCM has been in business for only eight years, the principals and each member of senior staff have been involved with non-profit housing providers and advocacy groups for persons with disabilities for decades. This depth of experience enables the CCM development team to identify the designers, engineers, and builders best able to produce the living environment that excels all others in creating a secure and safe building that enhances health and well-being for each resident.
CCM completed construction of Water Tower View, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in September 2005. The 43 apartment homes in the building serve approximately 42 deaf residents, and 6 hearing residents. The building has been full since its opening, and has had a growing waiting list of persons with hearing loss. Although the population is mixed with hearing and deaf, events in the popular community center are well attended by both groups. Interpretation interns from the local University are available at most times to help bridge the communication gap. Hearing aid users are served by a “loop” amplification system that allows each individually tuned hearing aid to receive sounds of the event directly to it. Each group of residents enjoys learning from the other. They have consistently reported that it is the “best place” they have ever lived. The visual signalers integrated with phone systems and doorbells, were a unique design through collaboration between the Simplex Grinnell company engineers, and the CCM Construction Manager. The additional per unit cost of approximately $10,000 per apartment home may have been dismissed by other developers as excessive and unnecessary, but because of our desire and willingness to go the extra mile to make it right, the housing is unique in its accommodation, and ability to serve the needs of all levels of one disability group, and persons with a variety of other disabilities as well. Persons with hearing loss often have other kinds of disabilities that occur because of, or in conjunction with the deafness. Recognition of this need adds another dimension to the housing design.
Future housing developments for the deaf are being considered in New Jersey, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, and California.
The Customer: CCM staff members are engaged with and learning from our advocate agencies on an ongoing basis. Each senior staff member works directly with one type of disability, so they can become the resident expert. Judy Leiterman, CPM® has been the CCM representative to advocates for the deaf for approximately the past seven years. She has therefore had the opportunity to learn about the ASL culture in order to identify how it is interpreted in the building design and creation of the apartment community. The unique desire of deaf residents to have socialization opportunities where American Sign Language is the primary mode of communication results in common spaces that enhance visual communication through lighting, wall placement, and color choices. The importance of a building manager, and maintenance staff who are ASL users was another early lesson learned, and Judy’s role in identifying staff members that meet this test is critical to the success of the housing. Deaf job applicants interested in becoming property managers, who use ASL in their daily lives, can easily learn management skill sets. More difficult, is to teach a property manager to use American Sign Language effectively enough to convey meaning of lease terms, and truly eliminate the communication barrier between the resident and management staff. CCM finds working with the deaf community to be a thoroughly rewarding experience. The desire and tireless energy of family members, service providers, and advocates is a testament to the importance of creating a brighter future for all of our tenants.
Community Partners: The challenges of finding appropriate financing vehicles for buildings that serve special needs populations are unique to our times. Since the collapse of the banking industry in 2008, most financial institutions are wary of lending for special needs housing development. Additionally, populations with special needs are considered to have an added element of risk, as need for supportive services in the building adds a cost factor that bankers don’t like to consider. CCM has been fortunate to have built strong partners in the Housing Finance Agencies who award the IRS Section 42 tax credits for affordable housing developments. Combining this financing mechanism with certain other Federal funding sources that have sprung from the banking industry bailout work, and working closely with the remaining lenders still interested in a certain kind of portfolio as originally envisioned in the Community Reinvestment Act, enables CCM to complete the financial package necessary to get funding committed and construction underway. This usually involves six months to a year of candid discussions, negotiating terms, and meeting the tough underwriting standards that have become the new reality. Regulators, such as HUD, local units of government, courts, the Equal Rights Division, legal advocates, and the like, watch with interest as the phenomenon of these unique housing products becomes more common place. Is it legal to create housing intended for people with disabilities? How is such housing impacting local markets?
What we do know, is that more work needs to be done – to continually improve the housing design, expand production, and strive to serve the needs of all populations in need of affordable housing.
Veterans Manor update
Veterans Manor makes it into a national publication!
The nationally distributed Tax Credit Advisor's September 2010 issue features Veterans Manor. Please click on the image to download the article.
Apache ASL Trails update
Thank you to all who attended the Apache ASL Trails groundbreaking.
If you were unable to attend the event and would like to read about it. Here is a link to a wonderfrul write by the New Horizon quarterly. The article is entitled Apache ASL Trails...the Wait is Over!
Veterans Manor Ground Breaking!
Thank you to all who attended the ceremony for the Veterans Manor groundbreaking. We are extremely proud of the reception the building has been given and look forward to the grand opening next summer.
If you were unable to attend here is a link to the Fox 6 News Story about the event as well as a write up by the Milwaukee Courier.
"A project that will allow low-income veterans to live independently while getting access to a wide range of services is officially underway."
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the Thomas H. Wynn Memorial Apartments: Veterans Manor at 35th and Wisconsin Avenue. The 52-unit apartment building will have one-bedroom homes for veterans served by the Center for Veterans Issues (CVI). The facility will also feature a commercial kitchen that will be used to provide meals for the residents and MPS students as well as offer training opportunities for the veterans in the restaurant and hospitality food service industries.
Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman who represents the area of 35th and Wisconsin notes that the property has been vacant for many years and that the housing development by the Center for Veterans Issues will be a welcomed addition to the neighborhood. CVI is currently located nearby on Wells Street. General Robert Cocroft of CVI predicted the new facility will help serve many veterans who have fallen on hard times.
Antonio Riley of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) also praised the project and noted it will be a key part of revitalizing Wisconsin Avenue by offering high quality housing and wrap-around services to veterans. He echoed many other speakers in saying that veterans had stepped up to serve their country and that now it was time for the country to step up and help them with projects like Veterans Manor.
The housing project is named to honor the memory of the late Thomas H. Wynn who worked for many years in service to and on behalf of veterans in the Milwaukee area. It was funded by a wide range of sources including WHEDA, the City and County of Milwaukee, and a federal recovery grant administered by the Social Development Commission. The Veterans Manor development is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2011."
Thomas H. Wynn Senior - Veterans Manor Apartments
We have closed the deal and have broken ground!
Many thanks to Milwaukee County, the City of Milwaukee, Wheda our lenders Chase Bank and IFF.
We are planning a ground breaking ceremony for the very near future.
Veterans’ Manor is a 52 unit apartment building located at 35th and Wisconsin Avenue. In a close partnership, The Center for Veterans Issues has worked with Cardinal Capital Management to develop this important and underutilized site. This four story building has one bedroom homes of approximately 550 square feet each on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stories. Each resident has a fully functional kitchen, living room area, either fully handicapped accessible or partially accessible bathrooms, and a large bedroom.
The 1st story or ground level floor is split with tenant amenities & building operations occupying one half, and the other half being available for commercial lease. The tenant amenity/building operation area includes a fitness room, library, computer/tech center, media & recreation room, counseling rooms and management offices. The building has underground, secured parking of approximately 30 spaces and additional surface parking. Energy efficient windows, motion sensing lighting, zoned heating and cooling measures and energy star appliances are also being utilized.
A commercial kitchen and cafe aslo operates on site, its goal is to serve residents and the neighborhood nutritious and affordable foods while providing training, experience and job opportunities for interested veterans and neighborhood residents. Perhaps more important than the makeup of the apartments or the exterior look of the building are the extensive experience & services that CVI is bringing to the residents. These services include (but are not limited to) job counseling, computer training, VA benefits education and application assistance, on-site case management, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, GED tutorial and attainment, classroom vocational training, education, training & job training and health & wellness training.
March 22, 2010:
Construction has begun on Empowerment Village - National, located at 1527 West National Avenue
The first part of the project involves the substantial rehabilitation of the former Oakton Manor that was built as in 1901 as the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy. The building was designed as the local chapter house for the Sisters of Mercy and as a day school for girls. An addition was added in 1911 and in 1925 the school outgrew the building with an enrollment of 400 students and relocated to South 29th Street, The photos show that the addition has been removed to make way for a new elevator shaft and a newly constructed addition.
The newly remodeled portion of the building will become the home of Our Space Inc, Our Space has served the Milwaukee Community for over 20 years by providing psycho-social rehabilitation services for persons who experience mental illness. The new space will allow the agency to grow, serve more clientele and offer more programming to members. The new office will be open in September.
An addition will be added at the rear of the building that includes a four story apartment building. The building provides 35 one bedroom units of affordable supportive housing. The building amenities includes: library/technology center, fitness center, community room, patio, tenant storage, lounges, and supportive housing coordinator and peer support offices.
The units will be available in late 2010.
McKinley Gardens Community Center Opens: - January 4, 2010
Cardinal Capital Management is pleased to announce the opening of the McKinley Gardens Community Center, at 2215 W. Vliet Street in Milwaukee. The six month construction process was capped by a day of team building, when the Cardinal staff pitched in to complete the landscaping work around the building, which was constructed in the midst of the existing apartment buildings. The 119 apartment homes located along both sides of W. Vliet Street, from 20th to 24th Street, have been providing affordable housing opportunities in the near west side neighborhood for the past 30 years. The new building provides expanded management offices. Additionally, linking two multistory apartment buildings with an elevatored building in the center, provides accessibility for residents with mobility challenges.
Although schools and churches nearby serve some of the neighborhood human service needs, it became apparent that some McKinley Gardens families needed certain kinds of help closer to home, with everything from computer classes to wellness, and opportunities for simply socializing.
The program calendar is beginning to fill up, with services being offered from the following community partners.
1. Milwaukee School of Engineering students and staff are volunteering their time to teach computer skills, internet use, resume preparation, and other topics of information technology, in both morning and evening classes at the computer lab, which seats 14 students at individual computers.
2. Milwaukee Health Department has set up a satellite office of the “Plain Talk Milwaukee Initiative”. Education sessions, and discussion groups will focus on parenting skills, nutrition, wellness, and health care.
3. Exercise and Fitness for Women will be the topic presented by the staff of the Curves on Burleigh, during morning and early evening time slots to be determined.
4. Wednesday evenings will be an opportunity for teens to come out for “Leadership Boot Camp”, presented by the Pan-African Community Association, led by Outreach Specialist Quin’Tara White. The association will also provide tutoring through their “Vision To Action” study buddy program.
5. On Martin Luther King Day, volunteers from area Johnson Bank offices will be hosting a kids play day, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the main activity room, with various games, activities, and treats.
A fitness center in the new Community Center building will open in early February, with elliptical, treadmill and recumbent bike machines.
This community enhancement has been made possible through the efforts of our financial partners, M&I Bank Community Development Corporation, Johnson Bank, Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, and the Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corporation.
For more information on programs, or to make a donation to ongoing programming needs, call Judy Leiterman, at (414) 727-9902.
Update: On May 21st 2009 the Milwaukee County Board unanimously approved a CDBG-Recovery grant of $465,431 for the purchase of the land that Veterans Manor will be constructed on. This is a great victory for this project, Veterans and Milwaukee! Read more about Veterans Manor here.
Cardinal Capital Management is featured in the Jan 9-Jan 22, 2009 edition of the Milwaukee BizTimes, as a nominee for the Mandi Award. The nomination is for the United House project, 2500 W Center St, Milwaukee's first supportive housing for individuals for mental illness.
