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Glenwood Hill Townhomes ready to rent
03/28/2010 11:45 AM by John M
According to the sign out front, the Glenwood Hill Townhomes are ready to rent.
What a dump! Now there’s a fine example of great quality construction. Just need a heavy rain or a little snow on the back side roof of 509 and the neighbor’s going to have some trouble.
ewwh!
Where are all the people who screamed constantly about Oakwood Heights???
The Oakwood Heights proposal is for highend condos. Where is ARC, how did these people get away with leaving these buildings in their current state.
Why were they not required to remove the vinyl siding, metal framed windows, and metal doors.
This place will be filled with section-8, we need so much more of that in this area.
I can honestly say, I wish I’d never invested all the money I have up here.
I bought investment properties up here, and renovated them with high-end everything. It’s very difficult to get anyone to pay what my properties are worth. If we could get these DUMPS out of here, it would be much easier.
My friends tried to get me to go to the West End, no I saw potential for this area.
The Chimborazo Old and historic district could be the nicest part of church hill if we worked together for a common goal.
However, we have ‘NUTS’ who fight progress and ignore this ‘DUMP’.
This townhouse development is only three blocks from my beautiful house, and our crime rate will go up once they fill these dumps with section-8.
We need to fight someone who wants to build condos starting at $200k for a little over 500 square feet.
When did the Glenwood look start fitting into the historic landscape of the neighborhood?
As an investor who has also done work in this area, you have to take some responsibility for your inventory not moving. You what the area was/is before you started your renovations. While you did (I assume) great work on your properties you have them sitting on the books because you apparently tried to put the taj mahal in a war zone ( not literally) and now feel it’s the other developers and investors fault. You have to know your market and realize that you can’t renovate the way you have or want to because the area currently doesn’t have the infrastructure to support it.
I agree I think Church Hill is the most beautiful area of the city and has opportunity to do great restorations and renovations. I do know however, that my market doesn’t dictate me doing a job that would put me at a price point that I won’t be able to reach. Best of luck to you in moving what you do have, as I know how difficult it can be when you have things sitting, hopefully this area will start to comeback and get to where you and I both think it could be!
What! How is that considered ready to rent? I live down the hill from this and don’t need ANY more foot traffic from folks w/o cars up and down my street! Who do I contact to complain about this even being allowed without resident input? This trash needs to be stopped!
How delightfully ghettoesque!
Johnny,
I have all my investment properties rented, and actually they’re located by the Nolde Condos. I live across from Chimborazo Park, and the house I bought is very unique. It’s the only one of it’s kind in all of Church hill, and it’s a beautiful house.
None of my properties are mortgaged, and it’s a blessing. I own property in the Fan, West End, and Church Hill. The Hill is the only place I’ve had to lower my rents due to the economy. My properties in Fan rent right away and the west end. However, the Hill’rental market dried up when the economy started going south.
I can live with the fact my income has decreased up here, but what makes me so angry is no-one was concerned about this dump ‘Glenwood’.
The developer wanted to build high end condos several years ago ‘Oakwood Heights’, and the neighbors up here fought the woman constantly.
If she’d been allowed several years ago to build they’d probably all be sold by now. She was delayed forever, and she’s trying to improve the area.
The block where’s she trying to build is mostly a ghetto. It’s a horrible block as far as appearance. There are a few houses renovated, and it would be grand to see the entire block restored.
One owner by the name of Turner owns a lot of the houses on that block, and he/she does the minimum of up-keep.
If the condos were built it would force property values up, and maybe force owners such as Turner out.
A lot of these run down properties in Chimborazo’s Old and Historic district are absentee landlords. Their rents are very low, and if the area continues to improve. Landlords such as him will be forced out, the return on his rundown properties wouldn’t be high enough to compensate for the increase in taxes.
I’m very upset to see Glenwood b/c we live (asuuming you live in this district)
what could be the most beautiful part of church hill. There are a lot of grand houses to still be renovated.
I love living across from the park, and I was offered a grand offer for my house last summer. If I wanted to sell my house, there’d be no problem.
However, my other proerties are just as nice, but not as unique. The rental mkt. up here has dried up or we’re forced to lower our rents.
What do you think something like this Glenwood thing is going to do for our area. I can assure you it’s not going to have the same affect Oakwood Heights would have.
These properties and many of the residents who would rent them have been here years before most of you. Unfortunately, I don’t have a car and choose to walk through the neighborhood to catch public transportation (as well as exersise)and am sorry that some of you would have a problem.
I think most o your comments are in fact shameful. As I watch the political discourse, your comments and just observe American attitudes in general, I get the impression that the “haves” in America would rather horde the “have nots” and put them out of site and out of mind.
Yes, the buildings are “Ghettoesque”. They were originally built for people who needed a place to stay but who had minimum wage jobs and couldn’t afford better. The current renovators propably did not want to spend the money to raze the buildings and develop more upscale housing becase of the funding requirements and the hassles some of you would undoubtedly cause.
In any event, all of you (myself included) invested lots of funds in this community, at present it did not pan out like we thought. However, in time the community will improve and we will make the money. When people with means move into a poor community, the city comes in and starts to enforce codes/property taxes. This results in poor resident selling cheap. Buyers come in and fix the property, the neighboor has little or no poor people and is, thus, “improved”.
Lastly, the police moves in. So those “section 8” folks will be harrassed, watched, etc and they will leave to. Those who invested in those ghettoesque buildings will not be able to rent them and will sell to a builder who will build “suburbanesq” properties and then you will make your $$$.
Parting advice: Just wait. Try not to badger the section 8, folks. After all it is because of them that you’re going to make all of that money. Also, keep in mind that many of these “section 8″s have a shit life. I simpathize for people who are at the bottom. The could lift themselves up but they have no hope. Being at the bottom is all they know. How horrowable it is to be considered worthless by society and to beleive it.
Since all of you are really bnifitting from their missery, the least you can do is not call them names and berate them while your doing it.
There’s no point standing around complaining about hog shit when you keep feeding the pig!
The problem is a federal government that subsidizes laziness by providing Section 8 vouchers and public housing to large numbers of ingrates, over-breeders, and law breakers. Public assistance should be a safety net and not a lifestyle. Unfortunately we have far many more examples of the latter.
Based on the vote totals from the 2008 election, I could venture a guess that the majority of people who complain loudest on this site also likely voted for the politicians who love to redistribute their money to fill projects like this. Don’t blame me, I held my nose and voted for McCain.
Bill,
How nice of you to take up for the poor man. It would have absolutely nothing to do with “the “haves” in America would rather horde the “have nots” and put them out of site and out of mind.” if the section 8 folks knew their place and acted like decent neighbors. It’s not my neighbor who is a lawyer selling crack on the street corner…it’s not my other neighbor who owns a business pimping herself out on the next corner…it’s not the neighbor across the street who is a doctor stealing shit from my yard and house. It’s the shit heads from the “GHETTOESQE” properties like the lovely one pictured above that do all that and ruin the neighborhood. They don’t care about the neighborhood because this is where they come to sell (drugs and themselves) and steal what others have worked hard for. They don’t own so they could care less about the neighborhood. I don’t own either so I’m not concerned as much with property values but I love the neighborhood where I live and I’m sick of all the shit I see walking down the middle of the street acting like I owe them something…not even moving out of the way when I drive down the street.
So these folks are in their current predicament because of everyone else? Typical verbiage I must say. You know, there have been times in my life when I had a “shit life” as you put it. Did I blame someone else? No…I took credit for screwing it up myself, dragged myself off the ground, pulled myself up, and did something about it. I didn’t sit around waiting for my section 8 hand outs like most of these folks do. These folks are at the bottom because being at the bottom is all they know? You’ve got to be kidding me! I grew up knowing that I wanted a better life than what I had growing up. I have it now. Because I worked for it. Not because I sat around on my ass and waited for someone to hand it to me on a silver platter. Do I feel sorry for these people? Some of them, yes. Those are the people who are working to pull themselves up and make a better life for themselves. Most of them, NO. They will be doing the same shit year after year after year until “the police move in”.
My apologies for ranting but my God when will people stop being so damn politically correct and do something about all the shitty people in the neighborhood.
Houdon,
There’s actually another republican in church hill, I thought I with one more were the only two.
Bill, you sound like someone who works for a living, but a lot of these people are just as Houdon stated.
I would think Bill you’d not want anymore section-8 in the area, it increases crime. Therefore, your walk to the bus stop’s not going to be as safe.
Hitting rock bottom, don’t give me that poor me mentality. We live in the greatest country in the world, or did.
The poor me entitlement mentality is what keeps these people where they are.
Wake-up and smell the manure, it’s not easy pulling yourself up by your boot-straps. However, there have been millions of very poor people in this country who have done that very thing.
Humans tend to stay in their comfort zone, and then whine when other people are successful.
I want church hill to be Richmond’s Georgetown, and we have the potential.
The train station (if it’s ever up and running fulltime), Shockoe Bottom, and downtown are within walking distance for a lot of us.
If it means pushing the poor people out, I’m sorry. However, neighborhoods are full of cycles, and it’s church hill’s turn.
We live in one of the grandest areas of the city, and I want to see it come back to life. If the poor people that you seem to feel so sorry for would clean up after themselves would help.
I don’t force them to throw trash down in the streets all the time. However, I’m great about picking it up after them.
A person can be very poor and have great pride in his/her surroundings. A person can be poor and have great pride in his/her appearance, and the language that comes out of his/her mouth.
I have no problem with helping people who are genuinely disabled, or the elderly. There are a lot of older adults up here, and observe the difference.
You’ll see their houses clean,trash picked up, etc.
I don’t mind the older adults living up here, but it’s the people who feel entitled.
It’s neve been my dream to work 50 -60 hours a week in my business to give away 50% of my income.
@ #5. Sorry to break it to you, but these are public streets and you cant regulate who walks them and when they walk. God, your life must suck. Posts like that are why i stopped reading the blog. They add no value and only spew hate… Carry on.
This afternoon I was downtown and ran across a resident of Church Hill House whom I’ve known for some while. He said yesterday and into the small hours of this morning, the drug dealers coming in and out of that property were like “an Easter parade.”
You see, the residents receive their government checks on the 1st of the month and the dealers know it. Unfortunately the management there allows dealers, miscreants, vagrants, drunks, and some portion of the residents carry on their illegal activities with impunity. I wish the Union Hill Civic Association would turn their attention to the property management company in charge there, because Church Hill House is one of the largest sources of drug use, vagrancy, and crime in the neighborhood.
Houdon, where is church hill house?
I’ve never heard of it, is it near the Glenwood apts.?
Thanks,