Positively Paseo
Positively Paseo on track to renovate more houses in OKC arts district
by Kelley Chambers
The Journal Record December 5, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY – A struggling artist in Oklahoma City can not only find plenty of galleries to show their work in the Paseo Arts District, they might also find an affordable home to buy.
Emily Pomeroy is president of Positively Paseo, a group that, since 1999, has renovated or rebuilt and sold 15 homes in Oklahoma City’s Paseo district. The homes it renovates typically sell for about $100,000. (Photo by Maike Sabolich)
Through a program that taps into federal and private funds to revitalize houses, the Paseo neighborhood has seen ramshackle and dilapidated homes come back to life in the central Oklahoma City neighborhood.Positively Paseo started in 1991 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community development corporation. The homes it renovates typically sell for about $100,000.
The neighborhood has a collection of Spanish revival stucco and tile clad buildings, many that date back to the 1920s. The district’s borders are Western Avenue, Walker Avenue, Northwest 23rd Street and Northwest 36th Street.
Positively Paseo became a Community Housing Development Organization in 2004 with an all-volunteer board of directors. The group works closely with the Paseo Neighborhood Association.
Many of the homes to the south of the Paseo art galleries were also built in the 1920s, but as people began to move to the suburbs over the years, and with a shaky local economy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of the homes fell into decline.
Emily Pomeroy, president of Positively Paseo, said when the group became a CHDO in 2004 it opened the doors for a different kind of funding. The money to buy and revitalize – or raze and rebuild – homes comes from the federal government and is dispersed by the city. Additional money comes from grants, bank loans, and cash reserves generated by home sales. All of the projects must adhere to Historic Preservation guidelines.
The goal is to make homeownership possible for low- to moderate-income individuals and families.
“These houses aren’t flips by any means,” Pomeroy said. “They are significant projects.”
Since 1999, 15 homes have been renovated or rebuilt and sold by the group.
Public money for the projects comes in cycles.
When a project is targeted, Positively Paseo must request funds from the city to buy the property, then go back to the city for more cash to pay for redevelopment.
Pomeroy said the cash is labeled in three ways: red money, which has the most restrictions; blue money, with fewer restrictions; and green money, which is the group’s to spend as it sees fit.
“The more we use money, the fewer restrictions there are placed on it,” she said.
Some of the green money has been used for landscaping improvements in the district or to give grants to groups like the Paseo Artists Association for its work in the area.
Acquiring a home and doing major renovations can be a daunting task with a pre-set spending limit.
Lori Ward, who is involved with Positively Paseo and the Paseo Neighborhood Association, said the group sometimes spends upwards of $90,000 for a house it will sell for just over $100,000.
But Ward said because each home must meet Historical Preservation guidelines buyers get some peace of mind knowing there won’t be any major projects.
“Our goal isn’t to make money,” Pomeroy said. “We want to build new, historically appropriate, affordable homes for people. If that means we take a cut to our city funding that’s a shame, but getting a homeowner in the house is worth it.”
An individual cannot make more than $31,500 per year, and that only increases slightly for a couple. Buyers also have to obtain their own financing.
“Our market is pretty limited,” Pomeroy said.
A house built with green money, however, can be sold to anyone.
One of the homes renovated with green money, at 627 NW 25th St., is on the market for about $120,000.
John Belt, property owner and champion for The Paseo since the 1970s, said the project is in line with his vision of the district when it was devoid of commerce and falling into decline.
Belt said The Paseo was in its prime in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He described it as the “Haight-Ashbury of Oklahoma City” when it was populated with hippies. But after the mid-1970s the area began to dry up.
Belt first focused on the buildings on Paseo Street, when he bought his first one in 1976, and then began eyeing the surrounding neighborhood. After the commercial end began to take off in the early 1990s he wanted to create a neighborhood that would reflect the arts district.
“The objective was to create an arts district for Oklahoma City,” he said. “Over the years the neighborhood has developed a cohesive attachment to the Paseo Street and the arts community.”
Other challenges in the neighborhood have included absentee landlords and houses used for drug dealing and other criminal activity.
Pomeroy said some owners do not want to sell, or want higher prices because the area is improving and property values are increasing, although they make no effort to fix up the homes.
On the other hand, she said, some property owners have seen the work on the old homes and taken the initiative to fix up their own homes to match their neighbors.
“It’s just a sign of the improvements in the neighborhood,” she said.
Positively Paseo has five projects under way that include new construction and rehabilitating an ailing fourplex on Northwest 26th Street.
Pomeroy said she knows there will be challenges ahead, but remains committed to trying to save every old home in the area, even though sometimes it’s easier to start from scratch.
“There are always surprises with dilapidated structures,” she said. “My preference as a preservationist is to try to save a structure because they often have a great façade.”
And with the help of Positively Paseo’s business structure, that great façade might be available to an artist or art enthusiast whose career is still a mostly blank canvas.
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