Council to vote on condo project

The council is poised to wade knee-deep into a bitter fight between Dunbar/Spring neighborhood and the developer of a 105-unit condominium, retail and office complex proposed for the southwest corner of Speedway and North Stone Avenue, and formerly known as OneWest.

At its core, the fight is whether developing the project with 30 percent of condominiums as low-income housing is enough, or whether the developer must adhere to the 33 percent low-income housing guideline called for in the area's neighborhood plan.

Some residents also oppose the project because they see it as the first step toward gentrifying the area.

The council will vote Tuesday on how much low-income housing the project should have.

The developers, a group of investors called Stone Corridor Partners and led by David Ollanik, recently partnered with an affordable-housing developer from Ajo who is seeking local, state and federal funding to buy 32 units of the building to be rented out as low-income housing.

To get the federal money, the group must show it has control of the property. So the council is readying a conditional sale of the property to the developers — contingent on the developers getting the $11 million they seek in tax credits from the federal government. If the developers get the tax credits, then they would buy the land from the city after an appraisal.

But neighbors say that 30 percent affordable housing for the project is not enough, with many drawing a firm line at 33 percent.

"There are a lot of concerns," said Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Association President Evaristo Ramirez of the 30 percent affordable housing in the project. "I feel we could get more. They want to get more profit."

Ramirez suggested lowering the number of higher-end condos so the 32 affordable units constitute a higher percentage of the project — even though that wouldn't add any affordable units to the project.

The former OneWest project has been controversial since Day One. After much back-and-forth over the amount of affordable housing required there, the council put it at 33 percent, a standard that few developers said they could meet.

At the last neighborhood meeting, the number of residents who voted for the project outnumbered those opposed by one vote, 27-26. But just before the vote, the neighborhood association changed its rules to require a two-thirds majority. So the neighborhood association is officially against the project.

Dunbar/Spring resident Alex Larkin said building condos will drive up rents and property taxes, forcing out poorer residents. "This is the first step towards gentrifying the neighborhoods, and we don't need it. I don't think the percentage matters. Having condos in the neighborhood is a problem."

Councilwoman Regina Romero, who represents the area, broke with the neighborhood and is supporting the project if the developers are successful in securing the federal grant.

Romero said she supports neighborhood interests, but in this case the 30 percent affordable housing in the program was too much to pass up.

"It's either 30 percent or zero percent — 30 percent is much better than zero," Romero said. "It's the right thing to do."

The condos range from studio to three-bedroom units that will be rented out for $200 to $700 a month, said Jim Wilcox, senior project manager for the non-profit International Sonoran Desert Alliance, which is partnering with the developers. The housing for Dunbar/Spring will be geared toward artists and low-income residents, Wilcox said.

"To me this is an incredibly good location," he said. "Usually the neighborhoods are trying to drive it away."

The project could be complicated by the fact that Ollanik's construction company recently filed bankruptcy to liquidate all its assets to pay off creditors. In an interview, Ollanik said two developers had stiffed him for $1.3 million, leaving his company unable to pay bills. He said the bankruptcy won't affect the project because his construction company is not the builder.

"This is a personal investment outside of the construction company," Ollanik said. "The two entities are not related."

Ollanik said 30 percent is plenty of affordable housing.

"It's a potential model for other developments," Ollanik said. "It addresses an obvious shortage of affordable housing in Tucson and nationwide."