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Affordable-housing firm gets into green building business
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ATLANTIC CITY - The two-and-a-half-story home on North Virginia Avenue stood empty for 17 years and was slated for demolition when it caught the eye of Kim White and Otero Jones.
As executive director and president, respectively, of the Northfield-based Dekbon Community Development Organization, White and Jones have been involved in the rehabilitation or construction of 13 properties in Atlantic City and several more in Pleasantville and Egg Harbor Township - all to become low-income, affordable housing.
But the Virginia Avenue house is a first for the nonprofit group - they say it is a totally green, environmentally friendly, affordable home.
"I got to tell you," said Juan Robles, who recently moved in with his parents, Maria and Juan II, and 16-year-old sister, Cindy, "if there's a more beautiful house, I haven't seen it."
White, Jones and Robles gave Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford a tour of the home Friday morning.
Thanks to federal Department of Housing and Urban Development funding, the interior was gutted and structural frames were made from sustainable lumber and eco-friendly cellulose foam insulation. Windows are double-insulated, the furnace and appliances are all energy-efficient, and the wooden floors and carpet are both made from recycled or sustainable materials, White and Jones said.
"Everything in the house is Energy Star," said White of the government-backed energy-efficiency program. "It should save them hundreds of dollars, energywise."
In addition, three windows on the first floor and four on the second help bring in natural light and help heat the home in wintertime.
White made sure to thank Lois Braithwaite and Donna Harris, of the city Division of Community and Economic Development, and in turn Langford praised Dekbon for providing the opportunity for an Atlantic City family - who once lived apart - to live together in the city.
Looking out over the former drug lot-turned-potential playground being developed by Saranne Rothberg just next door - White and Jones hope to convince Rothberg to donate the lot to the city - Langford talked about the neighborhood's "chic" history, when in the 1960s, "some of the more, I won't say affluent, let's say progressive African Americans lived in this neighborhood."
Today, White said, Virginia Avenue is back.
"(It's) up-and-coming," she said. "From the White Horse Pike up, this was the last blighted house in the neighborhood."
As for new homeowners such as the Robles, Jones said, Dekbon offers workshops on financing, budgeting and even basic home repair. White was proud that over the past five years, families who have moved into Dekbon-rehabilitated homes have not been foreclosed on once.
"I call myself your cousin," White jokingly told Robles. "For the next five years, I'm your cousin."
Next up for the organization, she said, was the completion of a rehabilitation job on Ocean Avenue and new construction on Adriatic Avenue. In addition, the city recently acquired three lots on Congress Avenue that they hope to subdivide for construction of twin duplexes.
"For 2010, we're pretty busy," White said.
As for the Robles family, Juan Robles kept it all in perspective.
"We have a chance to get everybody together," he said. "Family is No. 1."
Contact Steven Lemongello:
609-272-7275
Posted in Atlantic_city on Saturday, November 7, 2009 2:10 am
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