By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
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HOLLAND — Ask most developers and they’ll tell you historic preservation projects are by their nature challenging.

Dwelling Place redeveloped the former E.E. Fell Junior High School into 30 affordable rental units for seniors in Holland. COURTESY PHOTO

Then talk to Denny Sturtevant about Dwelling Place’s Midtown Village project in Holland, and he might just say you don’t know the half of it.

Sturtevant, CEO of the Grand Rapids-based nonprofit housing organization, finally opened the doors a few weeks ago on the 30-unit affordable senior-housing facility — nearly six years after his group kicked off the project.

While nonprofit development projects typically do have a longer timeline than their commercial counterparts, the renovation of the former E.E. Fell Junior High School had more obstacles than usual. The process involved numerous design changes and approvals from federal, state and local historical commissions, and happened in the midst of the economic crisis and the ensuing credit crunch.

When MiBiz asked him about the project, Sturtevant talked about the some of the challenges, but mostly preferred to look forward, saying he is happy to have brought affordable, quality two-bedroom and one-bedroom apartments for low-income seniors to the Holland area.

“It is really covering a desire and need that empty nesters have: that is, to age with dignity,” Sturtevant said. “They want to be able to age in place. If someone gets to a place where they need a caregiver, there is the flexibility to bring a family member in.”

Dwelling Place partnered with Holland-based Jubilee Ministries to redevelop a block bordered by 15th and 16th streets and River and Pine avenues. Jubilee purchased the buildings in 2005 and redeveloped a former high school on the site into the Midtown Center, which houses nonprofits, businesses and facilities for Grand Rapids Community College.

Midtown Village is among more than a dozen historical redevelopment programs Dwelling Place has completed in West Michigan. The project appealed to the organization as it brought a housing type that is otherwise unavailable to lower income residents in the Holland area.

The project’s financing relied heavily on competing for low-income tax credits from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Initially, the credits were awarded by lottery, but later MSHDA changed the process to focus on areas with deeper needs.

Because the selection process gave additional weight to severely blighted areas, the Midtown Village project scored poorly compared to projects in the metro Detroit area, Sturtevant said. As the economic crisis hit in 2008, the state body found investors were shying away from purchasing tax credits. MSHDA approached Dwelling Place with the opportunity to reapply with one caveat: find a partner.

“The state housing authority was sitting with tax credits and no investors, so we were competitive again, but we had to find a partner,” Sturtevant said.

The organization sought out advice from Rich Lievense, president and CEO of Lake Michigan Financial Corporation and The Bank of Holland, in order to find investors to purchase the credits.

“Rich asked, ‘Why not us?’” Sturtevant said.

With backing from the Bank of Holland and area philanthropists, the project moved forward in 2010. The project’s financing also relied on state historic tax credits, which largely fell victim to the state’s cuts to economic development programs.

“Without the historic tax credits, this project would not have moved forward,” Sturtevant said.

Navigating the process of approving plans through the federal, state and local bodies responsible for historical renovations created challenges in scheduling work on the site, said Kara Slater, project manager with GDK Construction. As the construction team waited for approval for the replacement windows, it limited the amount of finish work that could be completed in each apartment.

“The biggest challenge in historical projects is scheduling and making sure that you fully understand what you need and ensuring that you’ll get it in time for your project,” Slater said. “You work around it. It just meant turning the ship a little bit to get some work done.”

The project has restored the exterior of the building, which was built in 1923, by installing historically accurate windows and repairing terra cotta trim that had been damaged by weather since its original construction. The design balanced the need to maintain historical accuracy while remaining on budget, said Brian Butkis, project architect with Hooker DeJong.

“We wanted to focus the design on the people entering into the site and building itself. From a historic point of view, you can go only so far. We had original character that we worked to preserve,” Butkis said. “The windows were a challenge. There were a lot of specifics that the state, national and city historic commissions wanted to see in the design. That is a big item with all historic buildings. We were balancing that with the aspect of it being affordable elderly housing. You are working within that limitation.”