Large apartment buildings are aging. How to preserve them 

Old buildings make up an increasing share of the U.S. rental stock. Experts say a healthy supply of these aging apartments help cities and neighborhoods thrive. But fixing them up takes money and political will. Atlanta Developer Marjy Stagmeier, who wrote the book Blighted, renovates rundown apartments and has a model she says others can follow. She urges cities to make it a priority to save housing stock before rentals are beyond repair and we lose housing. 

Most apartment buildings are at least 30 years old 

The U.S. Census Bureau has been keeping track of aging apartments since 1960 and it finds the number of rental units over 30 years old has grown to 66-percent. Similarly, apartmentlist.com reported in 2018 since 1980 the share of rental units, less than 10 years old, has fallen from 24 percent to 9-percent. 

Most apartments are at least 44 years old, up from 34 years two decades ago, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The article says, “The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimated it would cost $51.5 billion to address the repair needs of the occupied rental stock.” 

Harvard’s Joint Center also reports as of 2021, about 4 million renter households live in substandard conditions. And many units need upgrades in anticipation of climate change. About half of renters making less than $30,000 experienced energy insecurity in 2020. Energy insecurity is the inability to adequately meet basic household energy needs. 

Marjy Stagmeier’s story 

“Affordable Housing Solutionist” Marjy Stagmeier recognizes saving the nation’s aging housing is important because it’s more affordable to stabilize and fix housing than it is to build it from the ground up. “You can renovate them (apartment buildings) for less than 50-cents on the dollar if you have a cooperative city and turn it back into healthy affordable housing,” she says. Stagmeier has proof. 

Atlanta’s Summerdale market-rate housing was built in the early 1970s. After repeated ownership changes, internal mismanagement and the world financial collapse, it fell into disrepair. Its transformation is the subject of Stagmeier’s book Blighted. 

Here she is speaking at the Auburn Avenue Research Library: 

 Stagmeier, a developer and landlord, who bought Summerdale in 2018, describes it as “attracting a growing toxic criminal culture” that “eventually overwhelmed the ownership.” The 244-unit Class D complex “comprised several severely blighted and boarded up buildings.” 

And its downfall was quick. “The evolution from a healthy property to blight occurred in less than six years,” she says. And the blight spread throughout the neighborhood. Summerdale had “one of the highest 911 call rates logged to the Atlanta Police Department for 2017.” 

Stagmeier was determined to turn it around. After raising $12M to buy it from an overseas landlord her goals were: 

• Provide equitable housing and improve educational outcomes for families. 

• Keep the good tenants (not the criminal element). 

• Keep the rent affordable (in 2018 averaging $730/month). 

• Remove the drug dealers. 

• Remove the bugs. 

• Invest millions to improve the physical structures (and renovate the original 92 units). 

• Invest in community programs to help tenants improve their lives. 

• Improve the neighborhood.  

She accomplished all of these, not in the six months she hoped, but in 20 months.  

“We could have just gone in and evicted everyone and just renovated and cleaned it up,” Stagmeier told Brick by Brick. “But we didn’t do that. We decided to honor the families that already lived there.” She decided to stay positive and pray. 

How she did it 

• Created political will by emphasizing a good community involves stable housing and education. She did this with more than 100 community meetings. 

• Avoided red tape by not using federal rent subsidies. 

• Created an afterschool program on the grounds of Summerdale. The TriStar “eduhousing” program is becoming a national model. 

Star-C 

Transiency causes schools to become low performing because the more kids move the more they fall behind. Stagmeier recognized this, working to keep families at Summerdale and partnering with Cleveland Avenue Elementary’s Principal.  

In addition, she started an afterschool program, like she had done at other apartment complexes. “It (Star-C) was such a triple bottom line win for me. My parents renewed their leases. They weren’t worried about their kids after school. I did not have children running around the property,” she told Brick by Brick.  

Stagmeier is known as the “Compassionate Capitalist.” She says, “It was morally impossible for me to approach Summerdale as a commodity landlord and summarily evict these long-term tenants from their homes after they had remained loyal to the previous landlords through the good and bad times.” 

Here’s how Atlanta helped 

• Atlanta Police provided the manpower needed at Summerdale. 

• The Atlanta Police Foundation bought security cameras to give Summerdale permanent police surveillance. 

• Atlanta Public Schools supported the improvement of Cleveland Avenue Elementary (near Summerdale). 

• InvestAtlanta provided Summerdale a $1.5M loan at 1-percent for twenty years. In exchange, Stagmeier agreed to keep 20-percent of her rents affordable for families earning 60-percent AMI (or $44,520) at the time the loan closed in 2018. 

• Morehouse Medical provided on-site medical services for Summerdale families. 

• Renasant Bank agreed to be the lender for the property, loaning $4.9M. 

• KABOOM constructed a state-of-the-art playground, designed by the children in the Star-C program.  

Limitations 

Stagmeier initially thought the construction phase would take only six months after getting the building permits. She was wrong. The permitting alone took almost a year. It was almost two years after she started the initial meetings with the City of Atlanta that Stagmeier received the “Certificates of Completion” for the original 92 units that were boarded up and blighted. 

The delays resulted in an additional $1,053,000 in costs and $1,355,379 in lost revenue. Because of this Stagmeier had to raise the rent $166 a month. She recognizes research that says for every $100 increase in rent, homelessness increases 9-percent. 

Results 

Residents of Summerdale are doing well. Stagmeier reports rents are affordable for families earning $45,000 or less. Reading scores for children who live at Summerdale and go to Cleveland Avenue Elementary are higher than their peers. Residents of Summerdale are also getting healthier. A partnership with Grady Hospital tracks healthcare metrics like diabetes, heathy eating and HIV. 

Regulatory barriers to developing in Atlanta have eased. Stagmeier reports Atlanta’s Mayor has shortened the permitting process from 18 months to 6 months. 

Crime has fallen 96-percent in the Cleveland Ave. Community since the Summerdale renovation. 

And regional landlords have been successful recreating Stagmeier’s model. 

A similar Cleveland, OH example 

A Cleveland high-rise, vacant since 2008, is getting a makeover. 

A developer has closed on financing for a $47M renovation of Hough apartment tower. News 5 reports, “The building will become workforce housing for households that make $35,880 to $46,680 a year.” Developer Gina Merritt describes a community center that she will build next door, offering residents help in finding better jobs, education and healthcare. “Hopefully it brings people hope,” says Merritt. 

Due to HUD restrictions, Hough apartments can only be used for affordable housing. Cleveland contributed $8 million, the Cleveland Foundation put in $1.5 million, other community partners donated and the developer also took advantage of state programs and tax credits. 

The 116 one and two-bedroom apartments are scheduled to open in late 2025 or early 2026. “Where there is blight,” says Councilmember Stephanie Howse-Jones, “it’s a sign that you are forgotten. Now there will be a visual realization that, as our community is moving forward, people are not forgotten.” 

Looking ahead 

Stagmeier says her “eduhousing” is relatively easy to replicate. “But you do have to have a cooperative municipality. You have to be able to raise the money. You do have to have banks and capital sources that are willing to work with you. But there’s a lot of landlords that are doing what I do all over the country.” 

Atlanta’s 11 Alive News reports, Stagmeier “started a monthly breakfast to help teach landlords across America how to recreate this model in their communities. An Alabama mayor plans to come to see her work in action.”   

What do you think about what Marjy Stagmeier did? Could other communities copy her model? We want to build community around context and solutions in our cities. Your feedback is very important to the effort, as we continue to dig deeper into the responses to some of our most pressing social issues, including the housing crisis. Click on the green button below to take a short survey to help reinforce and refine our work. Thank you.            

Ann Thompson – Host, Producer

Over the last thirty years in Cincinnati, Ann Thompson has brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting. She has reported and anchored for WVXU, WKRC, WCKY, WHIO-TV and Metro Networks and freelanced for NPR, CBS and ABC Radio. Her work has been recognized by the Associated Press and she has won awards from the Association of Women in Communications and the Alliance for Women in Media. She is a former News Director and Operations Manager. Ann has reported from India, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Belgium as part of fellowships. Ann thinks of the Brick by Brick project as “journalism for good.” She serves as host and producer. Ann lives in Anderson Township with her husband Scott. They have two boys. Jake graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2022 and Kurt attends West Point.