On Winchester, To Pioneer Or Not To Pioneer

Rachelle Johnson liked the floor plan at 653 Winchester Ave. and the big backyard. Her cousin Janell Johnson pointed out that 678 Winchester has a second unit she could rent out, and a washer/dryer hook-up on the third floor.

The two women debated the merits of the two properties for sale — and the question of whether to make a family move that could help turn around a blighted main stretch of Newhallville, battered by two rounds of foreclosures.

The Johnson cousins stopped by Winchester Avenue Wednesday afternoon with four kids in tow to look at three properties newly on the market thanks to the work of Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS).

The not-for-profit builder gutted and completely renovated the historic homes as part of an intensive effort to salvage a neighborhood slammed by a housing double-whammy.

First, the real estate bubble burst five years ago and a foreclosure crisis swept neighborhoods like Newhallville. Speculators swooped in to capitalize (in some cases illegally, using the properties to steal mortgage money). Then a second bubble burst as many of those speculators bailed, leaving a trail of boarded-up homes in their wake. The area has also dealt with a problem bar. And threats prompted an earlier would-be pioneer to flee her Habitat For Humanity home. Habitat suspended plans in that area; the house the woman left remains vacant.

In response, NHS head Jim Paley last year began an ambitious push to bring the area back from the edge with what he’s calling a ​“cluster” approach.

The idea is that it doesn’t help to buy, fix up, and re-sell one house at a time. If the homes around it are abandoned and in disrepair, property values will still languish and no one will want to move in to the neighborhood and community. So NHS, which is in the business of rehabbing homes and selling them to families with low incomes, has been buying groups of distressed houses in clusters. See background about the Winchester effort here.

On Wednesday afternoon NHS held an open house to celebrate the completion of the first cluster: three houses on Winchester Avenue between Lilac and Ivy streets. Shortly before 5 p.m. Paley stood at the corner of Lilac and Winchester near an ​“open house” sign with balloons in front of 678 Winchester Ave.

Paley said NHS sank $410,000 into renovating the duplex, freshly painted with a tasteful, three-color paint job. The asking price is $185,000, he said. The organization can afford to set that price thanks to a range of state and federal subsidies and tax credits, Paley said. For instance, 678 Winchester is part of the U.S. Repeating Arms National Historic District, which allows for tax subsidies.

The other two houses in the cluster are at 653 and 664 Winchester. Paley said NHS is gearing up for similar work nearby on three other clusters of several houses each — on West Division, at Starr and Newhall, and just up the block at Winchester and Bassett.

The houses at 678 and 664 Winchester were gutted in 2009 with the help of the Hillhouse High School football team. Everything in them is brand new, he said. ​“The idea is not to saddle people with the threat of expensive repairs.”

Moments later, Rachelle Johnson showed up with her three kids and entered the house for a look around.

“I heard there was cookies here,” her son whispered as he crossed the threshold into the carpeted first-floor apartment. He found them on a platter in the kitchen.

Johnson and her family concluded the front bedroom on the first floor is a bit small.

“But I like the cabinets,” said Janell Johnson, who arrived with her daughter.

The two women and four kids climbed the back staircase, and were more impressed by the upstairs apartment, especially the third-floor, with skylights.

“This is beautiful!” Janell (at left in photo) exclaimed. ​“Up here is nice!”

The family found their way back outside and set out for the other open house, at 653 Winchester. Someone has already put a deposit down on the brick-fronted 664 Winchester.

Rachelle (at right in photo above) said she heard about the NHS program from a co-worker at the Agency on Aging. She said she’s looking to move out of her rental on Elm Street.

As she and her cousin looked around 653 Winchester Ave., local Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards emerged from 678 Winchester.

“I think it’s excellent,” she said of NHS’ efforts. The fixed-up houses will ​“clean up the image of the neighborhood” and help property values go up,” she said. ​“Now we just got to get someone to buy them.”

After touring 653 Winchester, a $150,000 one-family house, Rachelle wasn’t totally sure she will be that person. She said she liked the layout at 653 Winchester, and wasn’t bothered — as her cousin was — by the lack of closet space.

Rachelle said she might apply with NHS to begin the purchase process on one of the homes, but she wasn’t sure. ​“I’m still debating.”