Loan Project Spotlight

The SAHP’s Historic Loan Program empowers owners of historic properties with flexible financing and technical preservation guidance to allow owners to keep and maintain their property, prevent demolition, slow displacement, and safeguard the stories these places tell about who we were, are, and how we hope to be remembered. 

This was the very first project - making the property owner our very first borrower! Thankfully she was patient with us while we worked out  the kinks, and while the project is not quite finished, this is a good example of the creative flexibility possible through historic preservation. 

A simple, one story, wood-frame vernacular, the home had been the owner’s very first investment after completing college at New College. Once she established her career and moved on to explore other places, she kept the home as an affordable rental for students. With New College and Ringling College of Art and Design both less than 15 minutes away, there was never a shortage of prospective tenants. In response to shifting circumstances of life, before we launched our loan program, the borrower replaced the roof and the AC in preparation to sell the little house. She met with several real estate agents, who each noted the large large lot and the deferred maintenance, and declared the house a tear down. Understanding the critical importance that affordable housing plays in our community, and recognizing that the replacing new construction would be anything but affordable, she hesitated. This is when she ran across a magazine article announcing the launch of the loan program.

The initial scope of work for the project was fairly straightforward: restore the original wood siding where it was damaged, rebuild the front porch where the concrete had cracked and the wooden brackets decayed, and adjust the concrete steps of the rear entrance where they had begun to separate and were no longer safe. Our Project Coordinator, Frank Sparkman, worked with the property owner to solicit bids and awarded the job to Terrill Salem Construction.

 As Salem’s crew began work, they discovered that an old leak under the bathroom had never been properly repaired. The framing underneath was rotted right through. As Frank said, the tub was supported by the ants holding hands. There are always surprises when working on an old house, and as the new information is discovered, it is critical to continue to course correct. The rear of the house most likely originally had an open porch which had been poorly enclosed to gain square footage some decades ago by a prior owner. This rear, stucco-over-plywood addition had sustained significant water damage prior to the roof replacement, and also showed decay at the sill. 

Armed with the complete picture, Frank sat down with the property owner and discussed options. The original loan amount would not be sufficient to address the additional repairs. The property owner had been planning to follow the restoration work with some thoughtful additions as financing allowed, so that the house could accommodate a layout more appealing to today’s lifestyle, and engage with more of the lot, so that it would survive changing hands on the market when that day came.

With Frank’s and Terrill’s creative vision, the property owner considered a new idea: by removing the badly decayed addition and reconfiguring the bathroom, the little house would fall within the allowed 650 sf of an accessory dwelling unit. The owner felt that she could live there for a couple years, saving up and designing an additional residence, to be the main house on the lot, while respecting the grand oaks, and preserving the relationship with the small historic home. 

Terrill worked with Frank to create a proposal for the new scope of work, keeping costs as low as possible. As soon as the new permits are issued, work will begin to remove the decayed framing material, and reconfigure the bathroom, open the rear addition back up to a porch. This is the beauty of the revolving loan program: it places the tools in the hands of the owner, empowering her to save the quaint, affordable, old home, and enabling someone who knows and loves the property to be the one to maximize use of the lot. Her choices will be guided by respect for the historic and natural resources that already exist, and no doubt will create something of far greater unique character than if she had sold the property for a developer to bulldoze the lot and erect a builder grade generic box.

Historic Loan Program funding helps the community save affordable housing, reduce waste and the impact on natural resources, and strengthens neighborhoods by preserving history and character. Your contribution to the loan fund makes it all possible.