Community Frameworks, a Spokane, nonprofit affordable-housing provider, has bought a building that formerly housed a nursing home on the South Hill near downtown, and plans to convert it into a cooperative housing project.


Community Frameworks bought the four-level, 24,000-square-foot building, at 424 W. Seventh, late last month from Edgar and Teresa Cleveland, says Scott Person, a real estate agent at Spokane-based Tomlinson Black Commercial Inc. Person and real estate agent Jeff McGougan handled the transaction. Community Frameworks bought the building, which formerly housed Garden Terrace Manor Nursing Home, for nearly $1.2 million, Person says.


The organization plans to develop a co-op project there, at a total estimated cost of roughly $7 million, including the building price, says Chris Venne, development finance manager at Community Frameworks. In such a development, tenants buy shares in a nonprofit co-op housing corporation, which owns and manages the building, Venne says. Those shares cover rent of the units and maintenance of the building, he says. Cooperative housing is prevalent in larger cities, but only a handful of co-ops currently operate here, he says.


Community Frameworks plans to help set up the co-op corporation, Venne says. It hopes to start remodeling the building next spring, and the project likely will take about 10 months to complete, he says. Cortner Architectural Co., of Spokane, is doing the preliminary design work for the project, he says.


Initial configurations show a total of 28 units, including one-bedroom units with about 600 square feet of space and two-bedroom units with 925 square feet of space, Venne says. The estimated prices for the ownership shares that would cover those units are expected to be about $90,000 and $130,000, respectively, he says.


Part of the remodeling project likely will include adding two or three stories to the building, he says. The expansion would add either 12 or 18 units to the development, and prices for those units probably would be slightly higher than those of the other units, he says.


Community Frameworks wants the units to be moderately priced, particularly for people who work downtown, he says.


Theres so much revitalization going on downtown, but its either high-end condos or low-income housing, Venne asserts. Whats missing is moderately-priced ownership housing.


Community Frameworks currently is working to secure financing for the project, he says. It expects to receive funds from the U.S. Federal Housing Administration, banks, and private investors.


Garden Terrace Manor operated here until April 2003, when the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services revoked the license of Cleveland Care Centers Inc., of Washougal, Wash. to operate the 61-bed facility. DSHS determined the nursing home was an imminent threat to the safety of residents. Seattle businessman John Robertson said last August he was planning to develop the building into medical-office buildings, but that project didnt work out, Person says.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.