Rundown CdA rentals get some pseudo-repairs

Daniel England is a bit baffled by the recent paint job on his rental house. A crew showed up to redo the front of the 1910 bungalow this spring, giving it cherry-red shutters and a creamy coat of fresh paint. But the rest of the house remains a dingy white.

Eight other rentals in Coeur d’Alene’s Fort Ground neighborhood got similar makeovers. Front facades were spruced up, while peeling paint not visible from the sidewalk was ignored.

“I wondered if it was part of a tourism promotion effort for the city,” said England, a North Idaho College student who has rented the three-bedroom house for two years.

The effort is actually the work of the Lake City Development Corp., Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency, which owns nine rundown rentals in the 600 block of Lincoln Way.

The agency spent $8,000 to paint the front of the houses, tear down rotting fences and hire a lawn service after Fort Grounds neighbors complained that the agency charged with removing blight was promoting it.

“I called them a slumlord,” said Fort Grounds resident Dan Gookin, who said the agency charged with urban renewal should take better care of its own property.

“I wasn’t alone in being disgusted at the state of the houses,” he said. “Apparently, everyone down there was complaining.”

The loosely organized Fort Grounds Homeowners Association also weighed in on the rentals.

“They were absolutely horrible,” said Terri Porcarelli, a past president of the association. “They had let them get really rundown.”

The resulting cleanup is reminiscent of an Old West Main Street, where false facades gave illusions of grandeur to one-story buildings. Next door to England, another rental sports a blemish-free, dove-gray facade. But a side view of the house reveals shards of paint curling away from the siding and shingles slipping from the roof.

The block of rentals sticks out in the Fort Grounds neighborhood, which boasts some of the city’s most coveted residential property. Walking access to the lake brought a wave of investment to the historic district over the past five years, visible in extensive remodeling of older homes, including fancy additions and landscaped yards. But the improvements overlooked the rentals on Lincoln Way, which were already in a dilapidated state when Lake City Development started buying them.

The houses are located between Northwest Boulevard and North Idaho College. Eventually, the block will be razed for an extension of the college campus or other new development, said Tony Berns, the Lake City Development Corp.’s executive director.

So while the agency’s board members are sensitive to the neighborhoods concerns, they don’t want to spend too much money fixing up houses headed for the wrecking ball, he said.

“Our goal is to knock them down,” Berns said. “In the meantime, they’re providing some affordable housing.”

England, the college student, rents what he calls “the Lucky Charms house” with his girlfriend for $695 a month. The breakfast cereal reference refers to the cutouts of stars, hearts and diamonds on the shutters.

Last week, the house’s front porch sported trappings of young adult living: an empty Coke can, a beer can and a director’s chair. Despite the occasional presence of beer cans in the yards, it’s a relatively mellow block, said England, a 25-year-old business student.

The major disturbances occur during events such as Ironman and Fourth of July, when “we become the city’s parking garage,” he said. “There were people in the alley, arguing over parking spots.”

Farther down the block, Robert Bjordahl and his wife rent a two-bedroom house. The couple needed a temporary place to live until they sold their home in Arizona and bought one here, he said.

Vista Management Services, which manages the homes for Lake City Development, doesn’t have trouble finding renters, said Gary Frederickson, the general manager. The location and rents in the range of $550 to $850 per month attract a mix of families and students, he said.

“It’s fairly low rent because they’re not very nice homes,” Frederickson said.

Neighbors said they’re grateful for the $8,000 beautification effort, even if the efforts were limited to the front yards. Gookin said he personally thanked Lake City Development’s board members at a recent meeting.

Porcarelli said the neighbors understand that a large cash outlay isn’t compatible with long-term plans to tear down the homes.

“I feel they were responsive to our concerns,” she said. “They’re doing what they can.”