Peary Court Purchase Officially On March Election Ballot

By Pru Sowers

Konk Life Staff Writer

The floodgates of information about the proposed $55 million purchase of the Peary Court housing complex by Key West taxpayers opened officially at the Dec. 2 city commission meeting, leading commissioners to vote 6-1 to put the issue before voters in the March 15 election.

The second and final vote by commissioners to put two resolutions on the March ballot – one to purchase the property and one to borrow $46 million to pay for it – was preceded by a lengthy presentation from Manuel Castillo, executive director of the Housing Authority of Key West. Castillo, who is in charge of creating more affordable housing in Key West, said that using a combined rent schedule aimed at moderate, low and median income tenants would produce a surplus each year after paying off the debt service. That annual surplus was estimated at $223,000, Castillo said, “a very comfortable bottom line.”

“This is a no-brainer,” he said. “It pays for itself.”

That conclusion was nonetheless taken to task by some commissioners, worried about taking on $46 million worth of debt to purchase the complex. While the purchase price is estimated at $55 million with another million dollars or so in financing costs, a down payment of $10 million will come from the Monroe County Land Bank at no cost to Key West.

Commissioner Margaret Romero quizzed Castillo over the physical state of the apartments, which currently rent for about $2,500 for a two bedroom, two bath unit. She said she had talked with local contractors who told her there was a mold problem in some of the apartments. In addition, all of the air conditioners will likely have to be replaced, she said, pushing up the cost of the deal.

“We need to make sure that the voters have every single possible piece of information before this actually gets on the ballot,” she said. “Not a sales job but real facts.”

Castillo said he had read reports from inspectors who looked at Peary Court about two years ago. While they didn’t open up interior walls to look for problems, they did remove some of the exterior siding and vapor barriers. The reports said that overall, Peary Court is physically sound, he said.

“These units are not going to be perfect or brand new. They are 20 years old. But they’re in very good shape,” Castillo told Romero.

A development group called White Street Partners purchased Peary Court in 2013 for $35 million, hoping to bulldoze the moderate-income housing complex and replace it with luxury homes. But the design couldn’t make it past concerns from the Historic Architectural Review Commission and White Street Partners dropped their plans. While the group does intend to build 48 new units of affordable housing on a piece of land carved out from the rest of the 24 acres it will sell to the city, the remaining moderately-priced rental units are in for a major change, Castillo said.

“Their [White Street Partners] current plan is they will rebuild the three units [destroyed by fire], then upgrade the existing 157 units and then place them on the market individually or as a group. In the meantime, they will continue to rent them out; certainly, we believe, for an increased rent amount because the units will be upgraded,” he said.

The 6-1 vote, with Romero the lone dissenter, will let Key West residents decide whether to purchase the property. If the ballot measure passes, 50 percent of the 157 units will be rented to moderate income families, with the remaining 50 percent divided almost equally between low and median income tenants. Castillo estimated the moderate income units would be rented at $2,358 a month, with median and low income units rented at $1,965 and $1,571 respectively.

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