Nick SwartsellA large apartment complex in Cincinnati’s West End that provides subsidized housing could change hands soon, according to a sales prospectus obtained by CityBeat.

The owners of the Arts Apartments at Music Hall, formerly known as Richmond Village, are seeking to sell the 248-unit complex on Ezzard Charles Drive near I-75.

The 21-building, eight-acre complex was built in 1962 using funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The complex currently has a site-based Section 8 HUD Housing Assistance Payment contract covering about a third of the units. That contract provides subsidized rents to eligible residents, many of whom are low-income seniors. That contract expires in 2020.

Ezzard Charles Associates LP, which lists addresses in St. Louis and Irving, Texas, owns the property, according to the Hamilton County Auditor.

The 76-page purchasing memorandum from brokers Affordable Housing Advisors and Marcus & Millichap touts the property’s location in the West End and its overall condition. The apartment complex received an 82 percent on a HUD REAC inspection last year.

The document notes the property’s potential eligibility for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for rehabilitation. It also devotes a page to the coming FC Cincinnati soccer stadium on the neighborhood's eastern side.

The prospectus was issued early this month, according to those with knowledge of the deal, and the sale process for the property has progressed quickly. Brokers set up three days for prospective buyers to tour the property and then gave six days for interested buyers to submit preliminary offers. Bids are due this week.



It’s unclear who the interested buyers might be or if they’re aiming to keep the property HUD-subsidized.

Loss of the complex as subsidized housing could be a big blow to a neighborhood with a median household income around $15,000 a year, housing advocates say.



"It's important that this property is preserved as affordable housing," says John Schrider, director of the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio.

It’s unclear exactly how much low-cost housing is in the West End, though a housing study commissioned by the Greater Cincinnati Redevelopment Authority should shed some light on that question next year. That study was a condition of a community benefits agreement between FC Cincinnati and the neighborhood.

A CityBeat analysis of HUD and U.S. Census data, however, found that the West End has roughly 1,000 units of rental housing at below market-rate affordability due to ownership by Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority or because they were built by private developers like The Community Builders using Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

Census data shows that more than 3,000 of the neighborhood's residents live below the poverty line. Another 1,300 live above poverty level but still well below the income needed to comfortably afford the city's average rent, which has hovered around $900 a month in recent months.