The Nest at Robin’s Ground Breaking Ribbon Cutting

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 at 2:00pm EST

2303 East 1st Street, Bradenton FL 34208

The groundbreaking ceremony for the first units of The Nest apartments is scheduled to take place 2pm on May 22nd, 2024, signaling the commencement of construction for this vital project. The Nest will offer 182 affordable housing units, featuring a mix of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments tailored to meet the needs of individuals and families at lower income levels.

The development of The Nest comes after Manatee County officials approved a $3.5 million loan in November 2023 to support the construction of the complex. This crucial funding helped enable One Stop Housing to move forward with its mission of providing safe, comfortable, and affordable housing options for residents in Bradenton, and beyond.

Mark Vengroff, Managing Partner of One Stop Housing, expressed his excitement for the project, stating, "The groundbreaking of The Nest represents a significant step forward in our commitment to addressing the pressing need for affordable workforce housing in Bradenton. Recent data shows that over 60% of households in Bradenton spend more than 30% of their income on housing, highlighting the urgent need for affordable housing options in our community. Every one of our affordable housing properties has long wait lists, underscoring this demand.”

Amanda Ballard, Manatee County Commissioner, also shared her enthusiasm about the development, stating, "I'm delighted about the construction launch for The Nest apartments and the positive impact this project will have on our community. One Stop Housing exemplifies excellence in their commitment to furnishing affordable housing options for our residents, and I applaud their steadfast dedication."

The Nest apartments will offer rental rates set at or below 80% of the Average Median Income (AMI), ensuring that individuals and families have access to quality housing options that are affordable and sustainable. With a projected completion date by the end of 2025, The Nest will provide much-needed relief to those struggling to find affordable housing in Bradenton.

Top Leaders to Watch Our For in 2024

April 12, 2024 - USA TODAY - By William Mullane

The affordable housing industry is witnessing a transformative shift thanks to a visionary dedicated to creating sustainable and accessible living solutions without reliance on government subsidies.

Mark Vengroff 

Mark Vengroff, leading One Stop Housing, has revolutionized workforce housing by merging his extensive finance and accounting expertise with a strong mission-driven approach. With over 35 years in the industry, initiated by his father Harvey Vengroff, Mark has steered the company to successfully develop and manage non-government subsidized, profitable workforce housing. Unlike others in the sector, One Stop Housing thrives without relying on government subsidies, tax credits, or external contractors. This self-sufficiency is achieved through in-house licensed professionals including general contractors, plumbers, electricians, roofers, and certified apartment managers, enabling cost-effective development, building, and management while maintaining healthy profit margins. 

One Stop Housing stands out for its integrated services and commitment to supporting working families, offering more than just affordable housing. Through its non-profit wing, One Stop Cares, the company provides essential wrap-around services such as telehealth, financial support, education, and essentials to ensure the well-being of the communities it serves. Mark's driving force is to provide sustainable and affordable housing solutions to working families, ensuring that essential workers like police officers, nurses, and teachers have access to housing near their workplaces. 

Currently owning and operating 4,000 units, One Stop Housing aims to expand across Florida, reaching a billion in assets and broadening its services to like-minded entities. Mark envisions further enhancing the company’s in-house capabilities and fostering entrepreneurial spirit, having already aided in launching service-oriented businesses like pool cleaning and tree cutting services, providing them a steady client in One Stop Housing. 

Recently recognized as a Top Business in 2023 by both Sarasota and Manatee County Chambers of Commerce, One Stop Housing continues to break ground on new developments. Targeting C-suite leaders, Mark’s goal is to highlight One Stop Housing’s unique blend of in-house capability, mission-driven culture, and long-standing industry presence, positioning it as an exemplary model for integrating affordable housing into corporate recruitment and retention strategies. 

Commissioner’s Corner - April 2024

Mark Vengroff joined the discussion during the latest episode of Commissioner's Corner, where Commissioner Debbie Trice sits down with two local developers to discuss "Housing for the rest of us". It's a robust discussion on rentals in the City of Sarasota.

Watch the video below!

One Stop Housing switches from motel conversions to new builds for workforce housing

March 5, 2024 - By Laura Kinsler, GrowthSpotter

A Florida developer who carved out a niche by converting blighted motels like Orlando’s Ambassador Hotel into workforce housing has expanded into new construction in an effort to keep up with growing demand for affordable housing.

One Stop Housing founder Mark Vengroff told GrowthSpotter it had become more difficult to find hotel and motel properties that were suitable for conversion. “Though we love that work, it’s harder and harder to find those opportunities for renovation,” he said. “So what we’ve done is, we’ve got all of this land that came with a lot of the apartments we had purchased over the years. And so now we’re in the process of building new developments to add more density on the existing lot.”

The Sarasota-based company already has about 800 new construction units in the development pipeline in Bradenton and Sarasota. And now One Stop is eyeing its Backlot Apartments on Osceola’s W192 corridor for a similar expansion.

The project at 8600 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway was one of Osceola County’s first motel conversions. The property includes over 18 acres, but more than half is undeveloped wetlands behind the former motel.

Vengroff said One Stop Housing wants to build 221 new apartments with a mix of studios, one-bedroom and two-bed/ two-bath units behind the existing parking lot.

More Affordable Housing Coming to Sarasota

MySuncoast.com ABC7 - February 26, 2024

An extension to two affordable housing projects are now planned for North Sarasota, thanks to One Stop Housing.

The three-story building will include 36 one and two bedroom units, in addition to the 120 units already there.

The area for the new building will be located behind the existing Oakridge structure at 4900 North Tamiami Trail, right by the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

The new units will not be built for another year, but it is expected to be 80% of the average median income. Right now, the rent price is around $875 with utilities included.

One Stop Housing Development and Construction Named Top Apartment and Condominium Contractor in FL 2023

Awarded by Construction Business Review

Converted hotel brings Orlando residents affordable housing

NSM Today - November 24, 2023 - By Ralph Linardic

One Stop Housing is converting Orlando’s Ambassador Hotel into Palm Gardens Apartments; an affordable housing complex that will feature 150 one-bedroom and studio apartments.

“Everything in these apartments are brand new," said Mark Vengroff, managing partner of One Stop Housing. "All plumbing, electric, all the utilities are new. We're building in full kitchens."

The fully renovated units will start at $750 a month, with electricity and water included, according to One Stop Housing's website. Palm Gardens Apartments is located on 929 West Colonial Drive, less than a mile from Downtown UCF. The median cost for a studio apartment in Orlando is just over $1,700 a month, according to Rent.com.

Out of the 150 units, 149 will be set aside for residents with incomes at or less than 80% of Orlando's Area Median Income, according to a press release from the city of Orlando.

The goal of the initiative is to tackle affordable housing and homelessness, according to the press release.

Support from the city allows One Stop to keep rents down, Vengroff said.

Another affordable housing complex coming to Bradenton after Manatee County OKs loan

Bradenton Herald - November 17, 2023 - By Ryan Callihan, Bradenton Herald

County officials approved a $3.5 million loan to help cover the construction of a Bradenton apartment complex looking to add another 182 affordable housing units in the area. Robin’s Apartments, just south of U.S. 301 on First Street East, will see new development on a vacant part of the property. The additional complex will include a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments for residents at lower income levels.

Mark Vengroff, managing partner of One Stop Housing, said his organization plans to open The Nest by the end of 2025.

“Every one of our properties has a waiting list of over 100 people, which gives you an idea of the demand,” Vengroff said in an interview with the Bradenton Herald.

The Manatee County Commission approved the request for a $3.5 million loan to be paid back over the next 20 years, despite a vote earlier this year to deny gap funding requests from affordable housing developers. One Stop Housing will also pay the county about $82,000 in interest every year, according to the loan agreement.

The county’s gap funding decision came while The Nest was still moving through the approval process. Based on One Stop Housing’s track record of providing affordable places to live in Manatee County, officials said they had no problem with the request.

New Project “The Nest” Approved for
$3.5 Million Gap Funding

A new affordable housing project we're working on called The Nest just received $3.5 Million in Gap Funding from Manatee County! The county commissioners showed very positive feedback about the project during their meeting on November 14th.

Hear statements from our One Stop team and the county commissioners in this YouTube video beginning at 4:24.

An Old Orlando Motel is Turning Into Affordable Housing, Thanks to a Federal Grant

October 31, 2023 - WKMG News 6 - Orlando, FL

A blighted Orlando motel is being transformed and on Tuesday, Mayor Buddy Dyer and other city and housing leaders got a look inside.

The Palm Garden Apartments, now under construction, are located on West Colonial Drive and Westmoreland Drive. The property used to be the Ambassador Motel.

It’s a $15 million project, all in partnership with the developer One Stop Housing. The city of Orlando is also using part of a federal grant to help address housing and homelessness across the city.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and District 3 City Commissioner Robert F. Stuart Join One Stop Housing and Synovus Bank to Tour Affordable Housing Renovations at Palm Gardens Orlando

Former blighted Ambassador Hotel will be converted into affordable apartments for low-income residents and those experiencing homelessness.

Resident Johnny Ayala feels fortunate to have found the Palm Gardens Orlando Apartments. He first saw the sign on Colonial Drive, while looking for a place to live that he could afford on his social security income. Similarly, resident Veera Fernandez has seen the transformation of the Palm Gardens property firsthand. She’s lived there since the property was a blighted hotel and couldn’t be happier with the improvements she’s seen in the last year under the new ownership and with the city’s investment.

On Tuesday, October 31, 2023, Ayala and Fernandez will welcome Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, District 3 City Commissioner Robert F. Stuart, One Stop Housing, LLC and Synovus Bank to their neighborhood to tour the ongoing renovations at Palm Gardens Orlando. Of the 150 units at Palm Gardens, 149 one-bedroom units will be reserved for residents with incomes at or less than 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) and one unit will be reserved for live-in property management. Fifteen of the units will be designated as permanent supportive housing, which will combine affordable housing assistance with support services coordinated by Homeless Services Network to address the needs of those experiencing homelessness.

As affordable housing continues to be one of the most complex challenges facing cities today, the City of Orlando remains committed to ensuring that every person, regardless of economic status, has access to quality housing that is safe and affordable and continues to work to develop short and long-term strategies to expand the city's housing inventory for residents at all income levels.

This project is one of the first to be approved for funding through the city’s Accelerate Orlando initiative, which is leveraging $58 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal funds to further the city’s efforts in tackling homelessness and affordable housing. As part of the funding agreement, Palm Gardens will have a 30-year affordability period starting from the date all completed units have been leased. Annually, any rent increases will be restricted to the annual rates set by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, based on the income limits established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to ensure continued affordability.

WHEN: 

• Tuesday, October 31, 2023 

• 2:00 p.m.

 
WHERE: 

• Palm Gardens Orlando Apartments

• 929 West Colonial Drive
  

WHO:

• Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer

• District 3 City Commissioner Robert F. Stuart

• Mark Vengroff, One Stop Housing, LLC

• Kevin Gillen, Synovus Bank

• Johnny Ayala, Resident

• Veera Fernandez, Resident
   

MEDIA INFORMATION: 

Parking will be reserved in the parking lot of the property at 929 West Colonial Drive. Since this is an active construction site, media must wear closed toed, flat shoes.

How Affordable, Employer-Supported Workforce Housing Can Help Memphis

Memphis, TN - September 2023 - Greater Memphis Chamber

According to Realtor.com, Memphis, TN was recently rated as the #1 real estate market in the United States, a place where first-time buyers regularly compete with investors for homes. There are an exceptionally high number of renters in the city (54% compared to the U.S. average of 36%) which is also known for its business-friendly environment with three Fortune 500 companies (FedEx Corp., AutoZone Inc., and International Paper Co.) headquartered there, and thousands of other companies making the city their home.

In 2019, Bloomberg ranked Memphis as the #1 metro area in the U.S. for job growth rate over the previous decade and this was before Ford announced its plans to build BlueOval City, a $6 billion electric vehicle manufacturing facility just outside Memphis that will ultimately create more than 6,000 new jobs. Memphis’ future is bright, but the community faces the same critical issue that faces the entire nation – an enormous lack of affordable housing that is growing direr every day.

2023 Manatee Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award

Bradenton, FL - June 30, 3023 - Bradenton Herald

One business is making a difference in the Bradenton area’s affordable housing crisis. Another is making a difference in children’s oral health. And yet another is teaching young girls to be entrepreneurs. Those were some of the highlights of the 43rd Annual Manatee Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Awards on Thursday night at the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto. One Step Housing, led by Mark Vengroff, was named Small Business of the Year in Category V, the category for companies earning the most revenue.

“This company steps up to the problem and provides solutions,” said presenter Rick Besio in announcing One Stop Housing as one of this year’s winners. Besio cited One Stop Housing’s ability to thrive in an inflationary environment and come up with creative solutions. “This organization focuses on problem solving. One of our judges asked, ‘how it is that this company has figured out how to do this?’” Besio said. “This company is a leader in providing affordable housing.”

Among the projects Vengroff and One Stop Housing are involved with are an affordable workforce village of about 400 units, where residents would pay no more than 30% of their earnings for rent. Vengroff, about a dozen local companies and the Bradenton Area Economic Development Council have all played a role in trying to make the workforce village a reality. “A lot of people are really suffering and are cost-burdened,” Vengroff said of what drives him and his company to find solutions.

One Stop Housing has housing complexes in Bradenton, Sarasota, Orlando and Tennessee. Among its Bradenton properties are Robin’s Apartments, 2303 First St., Omega Apartments, 5411 8th St. Court W., Forest Cove, 45th Ave. Circle W. and El Patio Bradenton, 128 Ninth Ave. W. All have rents starting under $1,000 a month.

New Affordable Housing Units Come to North Tamiami Trail

Sarasota, FL - June 30, 2023 - Sarasota Magazine

A ribbon-cutting ceremony saw 16 new units added to University Row Apartments.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 29th welcomed 16 new affordable workforce housing units to University Row Apartments on North Tamiami Trail just north of the Sarasota County line. Waiting lists ensured the apartments were filled even before they were move-in ready.

“The need for affordable housing is at a fever pitch,” says Manatee County commissioner Mike Rahn, who was in attendance and represents the district where the multifamily apartments are located.

“Service workers, nurses, waiters, waitresses—they need a place to live too,” says Mark Vengroff, managing partner of One Stop Housing, the Sarasota-based, for-profit company that spearheaded the project when it bought the former Ramada Inn property in 2007.

One Stop Housing Wins Small Business of the Year Award

Winners of the 2023 Small Business Awards were announced during a Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce event held on Friday, June 23, 2023. The Sarasota Chamber of Commerce's awards highlighted area businesses that are positioned for continued success and have provided opportunities for the community.

One Stop Housing was selected as the Small Business of the Year!

Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting for New Units at University Row Apartments

Thursday June 29, 2023 at 11:00 AM
8440 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34243

One Stop Housing has just completed the construction on 16 new affordable workforce apartments at University Row Apartments in Sarasota, FL. To celebrate the completion, we are having a grand opening ribbon cutting event on June 29th at 11:00am. The event will be well attended by team members of One Stop Housing, many of our residents, as well as Commissioner Rahn and other county officials.

University Row Apartments has 101 existing affordable workforce units and these additional 16, 1-bedroom units are expected to be fully occupied by the grand opening event!

How Employer-Supported Workforce Housing Can Help Resolve Memphis’ Affordable Housing Crisis

Memphis, TN - May 27, 2023 - Patch.com

According to Realtor.com, Memphis, TN was recently rated as the #1 real estate market in the United States, a place where first-time buyers regularly compete with investors for homes. There are an exceptionally high number of renters in the city (54% compared to the U.S. average of 36%) which is also known for its business-friendly environment with three Fortune 500 companies (FedEx Corp., AutoZone Inc., and International Paper Co.) headquartered there. and thousands of other companies making the city their home.

In 2019, Bloomberg ranked Memphis as the #1 metro area in the U.S. for job growth rate over the previous decade and this was before Ford announced its plans to build BlueOval City, a 3,600 EV manufacturing facility just outside Memphis that will ultimately create 6,000 new jobs. Given this, it would seem that Memphis’ future is very bright. Unfortunately, when taking a closer look under the hood, one discovers that Memphis is suffering from the exact same critical issue that faces the entire nation – an enormous lack of affordable housing that is growing direr every day.

According to the City of Memphis’ 2020 State of Memphis Housing Report, there is a shortage of more than 30,000 affordable housing units (those with rents at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) or lower) and one in five Memphis renters face eviction at least once in any given year. This staggering undersupply must be dealt with immediately but it requires innovation, a shift in development approach, and increased stakeholder collaboration via public/private partnerships.

One excellent example of this kind of approach can be found in Manatee County, Florida where affordable housing developer, One Stop Housing is working with Bradenton city officials and local employers who are chipping in to provide housing for their employees. This kind of business model would be ideal for Memphis.

Manatee County Employers Are Banding Together to Build Affordable Housing for Employees

Sarasota, FL - May 25, 2023 - By Kim Doleatto, Sarasota magazine

Eagle Rock of Manatee is poised to offer employees of participating employers below-market rental rates.

Free doughnuts and extra paid time off are how we often think of work perks. But what if those perks went beyond that and touched on affordable housing, one of most pressing issues many workers face? 

Elon Musk plans to build a town in Texas to offer below-market rents to his employees, but he’s not the first person to address the issue. When piano maker Steinway & Sons expanded in the 1870s, its leaders built housing that even included a kindergarten, a library and a post office. Meta (previously Facebook) might do the same, with plans to build its Willow Village in Menlo Park, California.

That’s because the math is simple. Company leaders realize that the employee retention their businesses depend on, plus the competitive advantage it yields, often relies on access to affordable housing.

In Manatee County, where the affordable housing crisis persists, Mark Vengroff is joining the ranks of Musk and Meta. He’s the managing partner of One Stop Housing, one of the largest owners and operators of for-profit workforce housing in the state.

One of Vengroff’s latest projects is called Eagle Rock of Manatee, and it’s a collaborative multifamily development effort between the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation and One Stop Housing that depends on buy-in from area employers to build a housing community for employees. After meeting with 18 different local businesses, each of which employ more than 100 people, Eagle Rock of Manatee is gaining steam.

Local Employers Are Partnering to Build New Manatee County Affordable Housing Complex

Manatee County, FL - May 11, 2023 - By James A. Jones, Bradenton Herald

The Bradenton area won’t get a handle on its affordable housing crisis without fresh thinking and innovation, a Manatee Chamber of Commerce panel agreed this week.

Like having the corporate world chip in to provide housing for their workers, local government providing property tax exemptions for workforce housing and a community finding shelter for the homeless. Among the most intriguing ideas discussed was the development of a workforce housing community by a partnership of local businesses.

By the end of July, Mark Vengroff of One Stop Housing said that he hopes there will be an operating agreement between more than a dozen local companies to develop an affordable workforce village of about 400 units. Residents would pay no more than 30% of their earnings for rent. “The employers would have an equity stake and the employees would pay rent,” Vengroff said.

Future Suncoast Workforce Housing with One Stop Housing

Bradenton, FL - April 4, 2023 - By Suncoast View

Planned Hotel Conversion Adds Much-Needed Housing in Central Florida

Orlando, FL - March 31, 2023 - By Justin Sumner, CoStar News

Sale/Acquisition of the Year for Orlando

A long-standing hotel in the middle of Orlando is being converted into affordable housing by One Stop Housing through a public-private collaboration that Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said was a first-of-its-kind approach for the city and one that should be replicated in other areas, earning the property sale a 2023 CoStar Impact Award, selected by a panel of local industry professionals.

While many in the community viewed the aging Ambassador hotel at 929 W. Colonial Drive as a low-quality hospitality site, Cushman & Wakefield Senior Director Glen Jaffee saw an opportunity to add some much-needed affordable workforce housing and help alleviate the city's housing crisis. That's when Jaffee came up with a plan to facilitate the sale of the property to a buyer who could convert the property.

Jaffee developed an interest in affordable housing after being invited to a workshop on homelessness in 2019, where he learned about the housing shortage in Orlando and other cities across the country. Jaffee knew his experience in commercial real estate could help. By this point, he had heard about One Stop Housing, a Sarasota, Florida-based company dedicated to converting hotels into functional and cost-effective apartments in the Southeast. So Jaffee reached out to the company and presented the idea of purchasing the hotel, which was not listed for sale at the time, as an opportunity that aligned with the company's mission and could help his city's housing crisis.

Sarasota-Manatee Employer-Supported Workforce Housing Plan Could Be a Game Changer

Sarasota, FL - March 9, 2023 - By Saundra Amrhein, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Many nights when Rachel Peace leaves her Manatee County office at Windward Design Group, she can see the company’s factory workers still waiting for rides or public transportation to North Port and Palmetto, hours after the end of their shifts.

In the company's corporate offices, several entry-level mid-management positions sit empty, job candidates put off by the cost of housing nearby.

Both scenarios stem from the same problem, said Peace, Windward’s chief information officer: a dire shortage of workforce housing. It has cut into the advantage that the family-owned company should have had as a domestic designer and manufacturer of patio furniture amid worldwide supply issues.

“It is very costly for us not to have affordable housing in this area,” Peace said. “It definitely has slowed down our opportunities for growth."

Windward’s plight has become increasingly common for area employers. Hospitals, schools and private industry all have reported a crisis in retaining and recruiting workers due to the rapid increase in cost and low supply of housing.

Despite steady salary increases for employees, Windward, like many businesses, has not been able to keep up with the rising cost of housing. In the Sarasota area for 32 years, Windward has had to overhaul its technological infrastructure to allow more remote work and hire temp workers to fill office positions.

Now local builder One Stop Housing is offering a promising solution – one that area business leaders believe could become a nationwide model. It involves employers getting involved in supplying housing, and already more than a dozen local businesses are considering getting involved.

Sarasota Affordable Housing Project Granted Three-year Construction Extension

Sarasota, FL - February 22, 2023 - Observer, Andrew Warfield

On Tuesday, the City Commission unanimously approved a three-year extension for plans by One Stop Housing of Sarasota for its proposed Sarasota Station development just north of Fruitville Road in the Park East neighborhood, just east of Gillespie Park. Led by Mark Vengroff, whose late father, Harvey, first conceived the idea in 2016, One Stop Housing wants to build 393 apartments over three phases at the site of a Vengroff Williams Inc. call center and vacant industrial property. At least 20% of the units would be priced at or below 80% of the county’s area median income.

Affordable Housing in Orlando Turns Hotels into Homes

Orlando, FL - February 13, 2023 - Nation World News Desk

Finally, comes affordable housing in Orlando, Florida. A hotel was destroyed and $750 a month apartments were built on the land. It is an initiative of the City of Orlando and “One Stop Housing” that aims to offer affordable homes in the face of the current housing crisis in the Sunshine State.

Sarasota considers a new approach to workforce housing

Sarasota, FL - February 9, 2023 - Observer, Andrew Warfield

Despite new comprehensive plan amendments and staff working to identify locations where zoning changes may create workforce and affordable housing opportunities, real progress in Sarasota’s housing shortage remains years in the making.

How to have a more immediate impact on creating workforce housing in the city was a topic of discussion during the City Commission’s Jan. 30 workshop. Free to engage in a more free-flowing exchange than permitted during regular meetings, commissioners embarked on some out-of-the-box brainstorming on how to bring hundreds of affordable rental residences on line at one time.

Why not have the city build workforce-priced apartments itself? Commissioner Erik Arroyo said. It was an idea that gained traction with fellow commissioners and staff jumping on board as the discussion progressed.

Orlando hotel to be converted into affordable housing

Orlando, FL - February 8, 2023 - Telemundo 31, Valezka Gil

A few months ago, Telemundo 31 presented an investigation on the housing crisis. They mentioned that one of the possible solutions, according to urban planning experts, was to convert hotel rooms into studio apartments. The purpose is to create lower prices in a market where rents are extremely expensive. Valezka Gil has been closely following these proposals and brings us good news.

City of Orlando, developer helps solve housing crisis with restoration project

Orlando, FL - January 20, 2023 - WFTV

New project turns old buildings into affordable housing in Orlando

Orlando, FL - January 4, 2023 - By Randy Rauch, Spectrum News 13

The city of Orlando is trying to solve its homelessness problem and is hoping a new housing project will be part of the solution.

The mayor’s office reports that 2,100 people a day experience homelessness in Central Florida. And roughly 300 people a day shelter along the city streets.

The city of Orlando has partnered with a company called One Stop Housing to purchase a rundown hotel. Officials plan to create more affordable housing in the area.

The city has invested $5 million into the project, and One Stop Housing has invested $10 million.

This is the 14th affordable housing project the company has built. The mayor’s office says this renovation will help get many people without a home a permanent place to live.

“This is the first project we were able to provide funding for to meet our community’s most desperate need for affordable housing. It’s an exciting model for the future. It removed a blighted property from the community, and it will bring 150 units of affordable housing within a year or a year and a half,” says Lisa Portelli, Senior Advisor to the Mayor.

Orlando city council designated $57 million in American rescue plan funding to help those in need, which is money from the federal government. That is where the $5 million is coming from for this housing project.

Christmas comes early for some Central Florida children in need

Kissimmeee, FL - December 24, 2022 - News coverage by WESH 2 News

One Stop Housing teamed up with Embrace of Celebration over the holiday weekend to deliver presents to children living in our communities and throughout the local neighborhood.

Companies offering affordable housing struggle to meet demand as Central Florida rents soar

Orlando, FL - December 21, 2022 - By Amanda Dukes, WESH 2 News

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Orlando ranks second-worst in the country when it comes to the affordable housing shortage. One Stop Housing has renovated three hotels in Central Florida into affordable apartments including our most recent project, the conversion of the old Ambassador Hotel on West Colonial into Palm Gardens Orlando Apartments.

Talent pipeline, employee housing top issues tackled by Bradenton Area EDC

Bradenton, FL - November 14, 2022 - By Sharon Hillstrom, Bradenton Area EDC

Each year, the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. (EDC) reports to its private sector investors and public partners on how the EDC is delivering results for the Manatee County community. The private, nonprofit EDC is recognized by the state of Florida as the lead economic development organization for all the communities that make up Manatee County.

Two issues are top of mind for the EDC: developing a pipeline of talent to fill skilled, in-demand jobs, and providing affordable housing for employees.

On the housing front, in collaboration with Mark Vengroff of One Stop Housing, the EDC is looking to design a public/private partnership to develop a workforce housing community. They are analyzing over 500 survey responses from employers to help better understand the type of housing and wraparound services employees want. While these are still early days, the EDC is excited about the enthusiastic engagement from employers and looks forward to creating a sustainable workforce housing solution for Bradenton.

Cushman & Wakefield Arranges Sale of Orlando Hotel That Will Become Affordable Housing

Orlando, FL - November 7, 2022 - By Lisa Hay, What Now Orlando

The Ambassador Hotel was built in 1958 and will be redeveloped into 150 affordable low-income apartments

Cushman & Wakefield announced that the commercial real estate services firm has arranged the $7.1 million sale of Ambassador Hotel, a 155-room building on 2.5 acres located at 929 W Colonial Dr. The hotel was built in 1958 and will be redeveloped into 150 affordable low-income apartments.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Glen Jaffee represented the seller and procured the buyer for the off-market transaction. The hotel was sold by Sammy Investments Orlando and acquired by Sarasota-based One Stop Housing.

“Affordable housing is a significant problem in Central Florida, and I wanted to figure out a way to help. There were no plans for the Ambassador Hotel to be sold, but after reaching out to the owner, the stars seemed to align,” said Jaffee, Director at Cushman & Wakefield in a statement. “After also contacting the City of Orlando and the County about the opportunity to support new workforce housing which the area critically needs, with their collective support, we were able to make the transaction work.”

Florida Workforce Searches for Housing at Affordable Rates

Manatee County, FL - November 4, 2022 - By Julia Hazel, Spectrum News

As people continue to struggle to find an affordable place to live in the Tampa Bay area, one company in Manatee County is working hard to provide quality workforce housing at low costs.

For Luis Ceballos, it’s been a constant struggle.

“If I didn’t have this place, I’d have to move to a different state," he said. "You can’t afford to live in Florida right now with all the prices, its really high."

Ceballos said he works hard to make a living as a personal shopper at Walmart.

“It’s not that small," he said of the apartment he shares with his mom. "It looks small, but it’s not small."

Ceballos said he left Miami with his mother to escape the high costs of living, but when they arrived in Bradenton two years ago, they found themselves in the same spot again.

After a while, they found a place with One Stop Housing at Robins Apartments in Bradenton, paying only $775 a month.

“For us, it’s everything," he said. "Because right now, this is the only place we have right now to live, and the amazing — the prices and everything is really good. We are really grateful to live here."

Memphis' affordable housing crisis is complex, multifaceted but solvable

November 1, 2022 | Guest column published in Commercial Appeal

Solving the workforce housing dilemma is a difficult, multi-pronged challenge that requires innovation and change – a shift in development approach, stakeholder collaboration, and mindset.

At One Stop Housing, we’ve been developing clean, safe and affordable housing for the general public for years throughout the state of Florida, and more recently, Memphis.  

We utilize a successful model focused on renovating hotels, malls, schools, and other vacant properties and converting them into affordable rentals. In some cases, we build new from the ground-up. We serve as both developers and operators and use these savings to offer lower rents. Unlike other developers, we believe in “buy and hold” and have not flipped a large multifamily property in 38 years. We keep rates within 60-80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) range. The average cost to live in a One Stop Housing community is $640-$800 a month, which is all-inclusive with utilities (water, electric, waste & trash). 

Unfortunately, there is a stigma that is too often associated with the terms “affordable” and “workforce housing”– a belief that this type of attainable multifamily development begets blight, crime and declining property values in the surrounding areas. This is a timeworn cliché that must evolve…

Mark Vengroff Featured on “Sarasota Stories” Podcast Episode 79

Mark Vengroff was recently a guest on the Sarasota Stories podcast, a weekly show featuring interviews with business owners, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, or philanthropists to find out who they are, what they're doing now, and the impact they hope to make on the community.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Mark Vengroff, Managing Partner of One Stop Housing where he’ll share:

• One thing most people don’t know about Mark

• Why he left a very successful career in California running a billion-dollar company to focus on workforce housing in Sarasota

• How One Stop Housing acquires properties and refurbishes them

• Why their rents are as much as 40% below market

• Where Mark hopes to take One Stop Housing

• … and much much more!

Mark Vengroff named to Business Observer’s Change Makers

Mark Vengroff of One Stop Housing has been recognized as a Change Maker in the Business Observer’s 2022 Big Book of Business special edition.

The Business Observer selected 12 individuals from our coverage area, Lakeland and Tampa south to Naples, for our Change Maker section. These are entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives and industry leaders who share a common trait: they are facilitating and leading sustainable change within their organization or larger community. 

In selecting this year’s Change Maker recipients, Business Observer editors sought leaders who are risk-takers, visionary thinkers and have a willingness to challenge the status quo.

“If there ever was a time for us to change what we do, we thought this was it. Which is also why we’re so excited to offer a new tool that can inform and inspire business leaders,” says Kat Hughes, executive editor of the Business Observer. “The people and companies featured in our second annual Big Book of Business are truly at the top of their industry and are leading change to help transform their communities and make them better places to live and do business."

About the Big Book of Business

The Big Book of Business is a one-of-a-kind resource for networking, marketing and research on the Gulf Coast of Florida. If you are looking for business-to-business contacts or want to stay current on the major players in area business, the Big Book of Business is a must-have.

Sarasota Mayor Designates October 10, 2022, as “Mark Vengroff Day”

Ambassador Hotel affordable housing conversion to start construction soon

Ambassador Hotel in Orlando could be converted to affordable apartments

Orlando, FL - July 19, 2022 - By Stephanie Bechara, Spectrum News

Central Florida is one step closer to getting more affordable housing after the city of Orlando moved forward ordinances that would permit new owners to convert the Ambassador Hotel into affordable apartments.

The Ambassador Hotel in Orlando is being purchased by a company that wants to transform it into affordable apartments. A similar hotel conversion took place in Kissimmee at the Backlot Apartments by the same developer with a heart for philanthropy.

Click here to read full article.

WKMG News - Ambassador Hotel to become affordable housing apartment complex

WESH News - Orlando City Council approves conversion of Ambassador Hotel into affordable apartments

Orlando, FL - July 18, 2022 - By Anika Hope, WESH 2

Let's talk rent. Prices are outrageous, especially in Central Florida.

But today, the city leaders in Orlando approved plans for long-awaited affordable apartments.

Those apartments are meant to help those of you working hard who still can't make ends meet.

Monday, the Orlando City Council approved an ordinance that allows a developer to convert the Ambassador Hotel into about 150 affordable apartments.

"This is going to give us an opportunity to improve the facility. I have case management there to provide actual housing, rather than the weekly rental to people," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

The result, commissioners said, will be many studio apartments with a few one and two-bedroom units designed for someone who is working but can't pay skyrocketing rent.

"It's designed to be after that young professional, who is kind of coming out of school and needs a place to live and needs to be there temporarily. When you look at our city, we are missing that gap," Robert F. Stuart, Orlando City Commissioner for District 3 said.

Click here to read full article.

Developer eyes Orlando hotel for workforce housing

Orlando, FL - May 31, 2022 - By Ryan Gillespie, Orlando Sentinel

A developer is planning to convert a run-down West Colonial Drive hotel frequently visited by code enforcement and police into a community of 150 affordable apartments.

One Stop Housing is under contract to purchase the Ambassador Hotel just west of Downtown Orlando and anticipates closing in August and beginning work soon after, said its CEO Mark Vengroff.

The Ambassador Hotel was built in the 1950s, has fallen into rough shape on the interior, and is also a hotbed for prostitution and drugs, Vengroff said. His company’s plans include adding lighting, 24-hour patrols, cameras and fencing to increase security.

“There’s a lot of drugs and illegal activity,” Vengroff said, in laying out the security plan they’ve used in their eight prior hotel conversions within Florida. “Everywhere we’ve been… within about 90 days, all the crime goes away. Criminal activity on that property will be nonexistent.”

reviewed by the city’s planning board in June. News of the conversion plan was first reported by GrowthSpotter.

Renovations will gut the rooms down to the cinderblocks with new plumbing, electrical, air conditioning, a full kitchen with new appliances, a new roof and

work to the front of the building. The hotel’s restaurant space will be converted into a community center area, likely with a cafe of some kind, he said.

The final product will include 150 units, mostly studios with a few one-bedroom and two-bedroom models with rents averaging about $750, including utilities, Vengroff said. He said most tenants at other properties make between 60% and 80% of the area median income, which in Orange County is $80,100 for a family of four.

The development is expected to suit working-class people who often make a little too much money for traditional affordable units and too little to afford rents as prices explode in Metro Orlando.

“This is workforce housing. This is that missing middle: the waiters and waitresses, nurses, maybe first-year cops,” he said.

One Stop Housing operates a similar property about a mile west of the Ambassador Hotel, called Colonial Gardens, and Backlot Apartments in Kissimmee. He said his company receives more than 100 calls per day looking for affordable apartments at its Central Florida properties and has a waitlist of about 100 people.

Throughout the region, rents are rising faster than anywhere else in the Sun Belt and the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Orlando is $2,026, according to Rent.com.

City Commissioner Regina Hill said she visited the other local properties and was impressed at the quality and wraparound services offered to residents. She has high hopes for the Ambassador Hotel, which had become a problem.

“It’s going to be clean, safe now, and well lit,” she said. “Our hope is that will be the anchor of the revitalization of that West Colonial corridor between OBT and Hughey.”

The renovations may also get a boost from City Hall in the coming months, as plans to use American Rescue Plan money to support affordable housing and homeless initiatives are about to come forward, said Cassandra Bell, a spokesperson for Mayor Buddy Dyer.

A workshop is planned in June to brief commissioners on the spending plan.

“This particular project has been identified by City staff as one of the potentially funded projects,” she said in an email. “Following that workshop, individual projects will require funding agreements that must go to City Council for approval.”

Lori Carroll, who has lived right behind the hotel for about six years, said overgrown vacant lots owned by the hotel around her house have been strewn with mattresses and litter. Many homeless people flock there.

“It was a haven for mattresses, crack and anybody who was doing anything illegal on these lots,” she said. “It’s always been a problem.”

She attended a neighborhood meeting last month with the developer, weary that a drawn-out redevelopment would just exacerbate the problem and attract squatters. But at the meeting, she heard Vengroff’s plan for the building and his hope to create an attractive, safe community for working-class families.

He said he wanted to build a sturdy fence with good lighting throughout the property; security cameras; have a property manager living on-site, and perhaps create a satellite office for law enforcement to stop in and do paperwork or get a cup of coffee.

“I was a little leary of this whole project, to be honest with you,” Carroll said. “Bottom line, I think anything is better than what we have now and I really did like this gentleman’s approach.”

Plans for affordable apartments at Orlando hotel aim to reduce crime in area

Orlando, FL – May 16, 2022 – By Senait Gebregiorgis, WESH 2

Orlando city leaders revealed plans to turn a decades-old hotel into an apartment complex at a community meeting on Monday, and people who live nearby hope it will not only bring more affordable homes but also reduce crime in the neighborhood.

"The shots are going off, and the homeless have nowhere to go because the Salvation Army is closed," a resident, Lori Carroll shared during the public meeting.

Carroll lives near Ambassador Hotel on Colonial Drive.

When she moved there six years ago, she said the landlord wasn't taking care of things.

"There were mattresses and prostitution right next to me," Carroll said. "As far as the Ambassador Hotel was concerned, it was going on back there too."

The managing partner at One Stop Housing, Mark Vengroff, recently purchased the hotel to turn it into Palm Gardens Apartments.

The property manager will live on site.

The renovation will cost about $7 million.

"That would include completely gutting it," Vengroff said. "All new plumbing, all new electric, all new appliances and full kitchens."

Once the groundwork starts in August, it'll be the eighth hotel Vengroff's company has transformed into affordable housing.

Click here to read full article.

Florida developer hopes to transform ambassador hotel, create affordable housing

Orlando, FL – May 16, 2022 – ClickOrlando.com

Mark Vangroff, managing partner of One Stop Housing, plans to address the housing crisis in Orlando.

Meet Palm Gardens: Florida developer wants to turn Ambassador Hotel into affordable housing

ORLANDO, FL – May 12, 2022 – By Matt Trezza, Fox35orlando.com

Developer Mark Vengroff has a plan for what is now Orlando's Ambassador Hotel on Colonial Drive; he hopes to transform the hotel into rent-controlled apartments – mostly studios with rent starting around $750 a month, utilities included.

"It's a beautiful neighborhood, and this particular property, if you haven't been there, it's a mess. There's a lot of activity, a lot of criminal activity that was taking place, so we very much specialize in cleaning that up," Vengroff said.

Manatee County taking steps to tackle problem of homelessness

BRADENTON, FL – April 20, 2022 - By Rick Adams, mysuncoast.com

Living on the street with no place to call home is the everyday reality for so many in Manatee County.

“We’ve got to approach this like we approached other emergencies and crisis in the county, at all angles possible,” said Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes. “So we’re putting county resources into it; we have funding sources.”

Suncoast residents struggling with skyrocketing housing and rental prices

SARASOTA, FL – April 19, 2022 – By Rick Adams, mysuncoast.com

“Most of these people are working, they’re hard working individuals,” said Mark Vengroff, Managing Partner of One Stop Housing. “From waiters and waitresses to folks in the hospitality industry and the factories, and they just can’t find anything.”

Vengroff who oversees thousands of affordable housing units says he gets hundreds of calls every week from people in need of affordable housing.

Click here to read full article.

Memphis Whitehaven Development: Hotel could become affordable multi-family housing units

MEMPHIS, TN – November 8, 2021 - Memphis Commercial Appeal

A Whitehaven hotel could soon become affordable apartments. 

One Stop Housing LLC plans to create 137 apartments at the Red Roof Inn at 3265 U.S. 51 South, south of Brooks Road, according to a special use permit application submitted to the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board. The site is about 2.7 acres.

One Stop Housing is a real estate investment company that converts distressed hotels and motels into affordable studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

This development will be One Stop Housing's second in Whitehaven and third in Memphis. Springbrook and Airways — the other two properties converted to apartments — are expected to be completed within the next few months, according to Mark Vengroff, managing partner of One Stop Housing.

Average rent for the property will cost $650 including utilities: electricity, water, plumbing and trash.

To ensure accessibility to prospective tenants, applicants will not be subject to a credit check.

"We don't check credit," Vengroff said. "We don't care about people's prior credit history at all. We just run a  background check." 

Once approved, the project will take 18 months to complete. One Stop Housing also plans to hire local contractors, maintenance workers and property managers.

"We're very excited to offer or bring more affordable options for good folks that are looking for a clean, safe and affordable place to live close to where they work," Vengroff said.

Telemedicine Center at Backlot Apartments Offering COVID-19 Vaccine & Other Healthcare Resources to Tenants and Community

KISSIMMEE, FL – April 20, 2021 - Channel 13 News

An apartment complex in Osceola County is not only offering COVID-19 vaccines but also health care across the board. 

​Backlot Apartments, an affordable housing complex in Kissimmee, recently offered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. It is also providing tele-health services on site as well as a health clinic on wheels. 

Mark Vengroff, the managing partner for One Stop Housing which manages the complex, said there is a gap in access for the working poor. 

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, white people have a higher vaccination rate compared to Hispanic people in all reporting states. 

The complex is also partnering with the nonprofit Embrace Celebration, providing office space so the organizations can offer social services to these low-income tenants. 

“Not only are we the first but I think we are the only that I am aware of that are putting all of these services together to help our tenants and the community,” Vengroff said. 

One Stop Housing Cares Collects Over 500 Gifts During Holiday Toy Drive

In December 2020, One Stop Housing Cares rolled out a Toy Drive for Kids to bring gifts to the many children living at the various properties managed by One Stop Housing. We are so grateful and glad to say we collected over 500 toys! Thank you to everyone!

Old Hotel Now an Affordable Housing Complex in Kissimmee

KISSIMMEE, FL — Oct 22. 2020 — Channel 13 News

One agency is hoping to build more affordable living in Osceola County. 

One Stop Housing acquires, builds and manages affordable housing. They bought a hotel property on West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee, gutted it and completely renovated it for $6 million. It’s now called the Backlot Apartments. 

The CEO of One Stop Housing, Mark Vengroff said you don’t see more of these affordable housing units due to impact fees. One Stop Housing paid over $3 million in impact fees to make Backlot Apartments happen.  

“And that just grew into a real passion to find additional opportunities to build more communities like this, like Backlot Apartments, so we can help people find a house or an apartment to live in that they can afford to,” Vengroff said. 

Backlot Apartments now has a mobile health clinic on site and offers telehealth services at a free or reduced rate, not just for tenants but for anyone in the community. 

That's important to new residents, like veteran Richard Simms, who doesn't have a car.

“Let me tell ya, it’s quite an accomplishment for a person that’s coming from homeless to an environment like this,” Simms said.   

CLICK HERE to view the video.

There's No Place Like Home for Kissimmee Woman and Children

KISSIMMEE, FL — Oct 13. 2020 — Channel 13 News

One homeless family in Kissimmee is homeless no more. For a long time, Rosa Hernandez and her children — Dylan, who is 5 years old, and Aren, 8 years old — lived at the Star Motel, a motel in deteriorating conditions. Once the COVID-19 pandemic dragged down the economy as well as made people sick, the situation got even worse for them.

Hernandez said she feels grateful that with the help of Embrace of Celebration she was able to get her own little place at Backlot Apartments. 

CLICK HERE to view the segment video.

Distressed, crime-prone motels get new life as affordable housing

By Tom BaileyUpdated: February 20, 2020 11:11 AM CT | Published: February 19, 2020 4:00 AM CT

Bantam Airways Apartments resident Ricky Boyce (right) talks with building manager Derecia Colbert, who also lives on the property, outside his apartment on Feb. 18, 2020. The former Knights Inn motel near Memphis International Airport was renovated into apartments. “It’s peace and quiet,” Boyce said. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Nearby drug-dealing and other crime drove Ricky Boyce last summer from his former apartment on American Way to the new Bantam Airways Apartments near Memphis International Airport.

Living on disability income, Boyce can make ends meet for the $650 monthly rent that includes utilities and satellite TV but also 24/7 security, a resident manager and a sense of community.

“It’s peace and quiet,” Boyce said standing outside his studio apartment converted from a hotel room at the former Knights Inn at 2949 Airways.

Living next door is Lawanda Thomas. She also arrived at Bantam Airways Apartments last summer needing an affordable place near work after a family conflict left her searching for a home.

“I love it,” she said of her new residence. “There’s a sense of security. The parking isn’t so bad and it’s convenient to my job so I save gas.”

Mark Vengroff

Thomas works for a logistics company just six miles away.

Boyce and Thomas represent two of the three types of residents that a Florida-based company called One Stop Housing expects to serve in Memphis.

“I’d say about one-third of our residents would be transitional, a third are retirees, veterans, on fixed-income or elderly, and a third are truly working-class folks starting out in their careers or folks who just like to travel and want a stationary location and don’t need a lot of space,” Mark Vengroff said.

The managing partner and chief executive of One Stop Housing describes the business as a for-profit company with a strong bent for serving the working poor.

He classifies the units as “workforce housing.” The company does not participate in federal housing programs such as Section 8.

The real estate investment and property management company collaborates with other organizations and businesses such as banks, financial experts and charities to provide services and mentoring to help lift residents from poverty, according to company documents and Vengroff.

Vengroff’s late father, Harvey Vengroff, started One Stop Housing about 35 years ago after realizing employees of his credit and collections company struggled to find affordable housing near work.

Now, One Stop Housing has about 2,000 apartment units under management, including converted hotels in the Sarasota area, Vengroff said.

The incomes of One Stop Housing’s Florida tenants average $18,000 to $25,000, according to company documents.

Coming to Memphis

Last year, One Stop Housing caught the attention of Ike Griffin, the city’s director of the Office of Youth Services. He told Mayor Jim Strickland, who met with Vengroff.

“They told me what their vision was and I was excited,” Strickland told The Daily Memphian Tuesday, Feb. 18. “Providing quality, affordable housing is very important to us …

“This group is turning blight and oftentimes crime-infested, blighted hotels into quality, affordable housing,” he said.

In addition to the former Knights Inn, One Stop Housing has bought and is converting another motel into apartments. The former Loyalty Inn at 1360 Springbrook, near Brooks and Elvis Presley, was so crime-ridden that in 2018 Environmental Court ordered the hotel to increase security and give police more access.

The Loyalty Inn had drawn more than 500 police calls over the three previous years. District Attorney General Amy Weirich called the hotel an “uncontrolled danger and nuisance.”

But since One Stop Housing has bought and started converting the hotel into studio apartments, crime there has plummeted, Vengroff and Strickland said.

Strickland has heard Memphis Police Col. Michael Williams, commander of the Raines Station, describe the transformation.

“I don’t remember his exact words, but so often in the past they had to send police cars and police officers to that hotel,” Strickland said. “There was always drugs, prostitution, associated crimes, and they’d get a lot of calls complaining about it.

“Cars at this hotel means there are cars not patrolling the street. And (Williams) saw a remarkable decrease in the number of calls” after One Stop Housing took over, Strickland said.

That property is now Bantam Springbrook Apartments.

One Stop Housing brands the Memphis apartments as “Bantam Airways” and “Bantam Springbrook” because Vengroff, a boxing fan, wants the company to “stick up for the little guy.” The name also acknowledges that the studio apartments are small.

The renovation

At each site, One Stop Housing has completed quick, “soft” renovation/conversions of the first 40 rooms. The rental revenue from those first rooms as construction continues on the rest improves the company’s cash flow and lessens debt.

Meanwhile, Memphis construction firm W.B. Day Construction continues to renovate the properties.

“We’re getting all the (interior) demolition done now,” owner William B. “Bill” Day Jr. said. “As soon as we get the asbestos abatement done we’ll start with the trades coming in.”

“It’s really a good thing,” Day said of the properties. “The poverty level in Memphis is 27%” while many others are one paycheck away from poverty, he said.

The two Bantam apartment communities “give them a place to call their own, a bed to sleep in and a kitchen to cook in and a place to take a shower in,” Day said.

The apartment layout

A model room in Bantam-Airways shows a furniture arrangement including a small bed, two-person sofa, and a coffee table. The typical hotel bathroom suite still has the small bathroom with a commode and tub with shower, but the vanity area has been converted into a small kitchen. A kitchen sink, counter, cabinets, full-size refrigerator, full-size oven and built-in microwave fill the vanity area now. The model room’s partial wall is an experiment that will not be carried out in the rest of the units. The rooms can accommodate two people, maybe three if there’s a child. 

More in Memphis

Meanwhile, One Stop Housing plans to expand its presence in Memphis.

“Once we decided to buy the two in Memphis, we want to make Memphis a new hub for us,” Vengroff said. If the next acquisitions are not in Memphis they will be close.

“We have our eyes on a few hotels,” Vengroff said. “We want to complete the first two buildings.”

The Memphis area has a large inventory of “exposed walkway motels like the former Knights Inn and Loyalty Inn, a company document states, adding that many of the motels are reaching about 40 years old. 

Vengroff praised city officials and police for embracing and accommodating One Stop Housing.

“We’ve never experienced anything like it,” he said of the help his company has received in getting the appropriate permits.

While an affordable housing development in Sarasota gets scrapped, Bradenton getting a major lift

A proposal for a significant addition to Sarasota’s affordable housing stock, already critically inadequate like elsewhere in the country, has been shelved as impractical because of financial and regulatory hurdles. Instead, One Stop Housing is pursuing an entirely different concept for a portion of its property just east of downtown on Fruitville Road.

Meanwhile, construction on a similarly large development in the city of Bradenton progresses toward an August completion, and on May 2 the Miami-based developer, the Housing Trust Group, received the Manatee County Commission’s unanimous and laudatory approval for another big rental complex.

While One Stop Housing and HTG both concentrate on creating affordable housing, the two companies secure financing in contrasting ways. Various federal, state and municipal funds and tax credits support the Miami company’s construction of The Addison. Those come with restrictions on income limits that keep units affordable for decades. One Stop uses private capital (from its own resources, aided by angel investors and bank loans), is not bound by government income rules and does not ask to review income documents of its tenants. The company only works with cities for relief on impact fees.

One Stop Housing pursuing other projects

More than a decade in the planning, the late Harvey Vengroff’s Sarasota Station, a planned 368-unit apartment complex, finally fell victim to impact fees, which put the cost per unit outside the affordability range that One Stop Housing charges at its converted motels and other apartments.

But that’s not keeping One Stop Housing from expanding its collection of below-market-rate rentals. Mark Vengroff, Harvey’s eldest son and an owner/partner in One Stop Housing along with his brother, Travis, intends to complete his father’s plan for new construction at Robin’s Apartments in Manatee County just outside of Bradenton.

The converted motel currently holds 240 units with rents of $700 and $725. “That’s all inclusive,” Vengroff said in an interview. Tenants do not pay for water, electricity, cable or internet.

“We are definitely planning to build 200 two-bedroom units on the vacant land there,” he said. “We’re working on the design phase now.”

One Stop Housing’s headquarters is in a converted motel on North Tamiami Trail within walking distance of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee and New College. University Row currently holds 101 furnished efficiency and one-bedroom units.

“Here we want to build another 16 units,” Vengroff said. The mixed-use building will contain offices intended as an “incubator for businesses,” he said, adding that an insurance company is already in the complex.

More units in Bradenton 

Bradenton will soon have The Addison, on the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue East and Ninth Street East, a prime location for employees of Manatee Memorial Hospital and Tropicana. The mixed-use, mixed-income, five-story building is 72% complete, Matt Rieger, the president and CEO of the Housing Trust Group, said in a phone interview from Miami.

HTG’s next Manatee County development will be the recently approved Oaks at Creekside, an apartment complex of four three-story buildings on 16.3 acres at 3505 53rd Ave. E.

The 96 apartments will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 673 to 1,150 square feet. Rents will be priced for households with incomes ranging from $15,000 to $42,000. Amenities will feature a clubhouse, picnic and barbecue pavilion, swimming pool, playground and gazebos.

Because financing for the Oaks at Creekside included federal tax credits from the Florida Housing Finance Corp., the project must meet affordability criteria for 50 years.

HTG, the top affordable housing developer in Florida and one of the largest in the nation, broke ground on The Addison June 4, 2018. The complex will feature 77 affordable apartments and 13 market-rate units, with monthly rents ranging from $328 to $1,400, depending on resident income. Nine units will be set aside for residents earning at or below 35 percent of area median income; 68 will be for residents earning at or below 60 percent of AMI; and the remaining 13 will be market-rate units. The Sarasota-Manatee AMI is around $70,000.

The one-, two- and three-bedroom units range in size from 660 square feet to 1,065 square feet. Amenities will include a fitness center, club room, locker storage, resort-style pool, dog park, playground, media center, and 600 square feet of retail space.

The company holds high standards in its construction. “We always want to build to that next level,” Rieger said. “That’s very, very important to us.”

The Addison is being financed with a $15.5 million construction loan from Fifth Third Bank; approximately $14.57 million of 9 percent housing credit equity from Raymond James Tax Credit Funds; a $2 million State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL); a Community Development Block Grant loan from the city of Bradenton; and a $5.125 million permanent loan from SunTrust Bank.

“It’s extraordinarily difficult to secure the financing,” Rieger said. “We oftentimes compete for this precious resource at the state level. For example, there are 50 applications for two developments that are going to get funded.”

Oaks at Creekside apparently won’t be HTG’s last development here. “We’re looking at several other opportunities,” he said. “We were really close a year ago ... but unfortunately that did not come to fruition.”

Different outcomes, visions

Manatee County moved quickly to change regulations, approve zoning changes and promote One Stop’s Robin’s Apartments project. “Manatee County’s been phenomenal to work with,” Vengroff said.

The Sarasota Station project began a decade ago. It took that long to secure a zoning change, Harvey Vengroff said in an interview months before his passing. In Manatee County, zoning approvals took six months.

“I don’t have as much energy as he did to fight the city,” Mark Vengroff said of his father’s efforts to get Sarasota Station off the ground.

One Stop Housing now has a clear vision for the Station site, which will remain the headquarters for Vengroff Williams Inc. and some 300 employees. Along with his partners, Harvey Vengroff built a billion-dollar business in billing and credit collection, servicing many of the Fortune 1000.

“The city really doesn’t want affordable housing,” Mark Vengroff said. “Or at least in that space.

“We explored a number of different opportunities. We actually looked at selling the land.”

But the Vengroff family is focused on creating a Museum of Consciousness, inspired by Carol Lynn Vengroff’s 2012 book, “My Ever After Chronicles.” The book explores her near-death experience, offering readers “information about the afterlife and answering many of their profound questions about life and ... heaven,” according to the Amazon.com book section. Mark’s stepmother chronicles the time when she was 12 living in France and came close to freezing to death.

The family formed AWOW, a nonprofit, for the museum. His father wasn’t planning on creating the museum at the Sarasota Station site.

“When the city kept pushing back on his vision to do affordable housing there, we decided let’s do this other portion there,” Mark Vengroff said. “He definitely had a vision for this concept.

“So we said how do we give back to folks in the area in a way that is conducive to kind of his vision, but still compliant with the city. So what we ended up doing was Carol had her book and we said let’s make it a Museum of Consciousness that brings something positive back into the neighborhood and brings the land into something very useful.

“That’s where the first exhibit of many will be.”

The museum’s mission will be mostly focused on millennials with high-tech that provides “a very experiential learning opportunity” with interactive and popup exhibits that are constantly changing, he said.

MOTEL REHABBED

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Lisa D

Affordable Housing

One of the long-closed Motels in Kissimmee on U.S. Highway 192 is being brought back to life as a permanently affordable housing development called the Backlot Apartments. 

The Travelodge once welcomed weary travelers making their way to the area around the Walt Disney World.

Just a half-mile west of the proposed Margaritaville Resort on U.S. 192, the Backlot Apartments rentals will be mostly efficiencies with hot-plate cooking and rents of $750, utilities included, which is considered affordable on an income of about $25,000. Food-service workers in the metro area earn a midpoint wage of $26,050, according to the federal government.

Osceola counties ranked third nationally for its lack of housing for extremely low-income residents, according to a study released earlier this year by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. With just 18 rentals available for every 100 very low-income families, only Las Vegas and Los Angeles had a bigger shortfall.

The only requirements to live at Backlot Apartments are to have a job or be disabled. But it is an effort to start the ball rolling in Osceola County to offer some of the families perpetually stuck in those motels off U.S. Route 192 a fighting chance to some sense of normalcy and a home

ONE STOP HOUSING – BACKLOT APARTMENTS

8600 West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway  

 Kissimmee, FL 34747

407-274-0390 Main   Kissimmee Property Manager Frank

osceolahomelessvoice.com

New affordable housing complex back on the table in Sarasota

• Taylor Torregano -Jul 5, 2018

SARASOTA, FL (WWSB) - Affordable housing developer Harvey Vengroff is known in Sarasota for building affordable housing.

Back in January, he called it quits on his most recent project, saying that the city made it so difficult, the housing complex would no longer be affordable.

But Thursday, Vengroff announced that Sarasota City Commissioner Hagen Brody has brought him back to reconsider. 

"You haven't solved the problem," Vengroff said. "What are you gonna do to solve the problem?"

Vengroff has the solution that's worked all over the country.

"We're doing things in the state of Washington, we're doing things in Jacksonville, we're doing things in Georgia. Why not here?"

Vengroff's been successful in bringing 1,800 apartments to the Sarasota and Bradenton area, too. 

But after years of planning to bring another complex to Fruitville Road in January, Vengroff became frustrated with city staff. 

"People in other cities have said, 'geeze you guys do affordable housing, that's great, come on over here and we'll give you free land, we'll help you in anyway we can, we'll ease the restrictions and we'll make it happen.'"

But that wasn't the case in Sarasota, so Vengroff quit after getting up to $300,000 in bills just to get permitting.

Until, Thursday. 

"Today is a good day for affordable housing," City Commissioner Hagen Brody said. "Harvey Vengroff has agreed to come back to the table with his affordable housing project in the City of Sarasota and we couldn't be more thrilled, because this community desperately needs more workforce and affordable housing."

The original plan was for five six-story buildings, but they've scaled that down quite a bit.

Vengroff plans to bring 150 two bedroom apartments with an average rent of $700 to the eight acres of land.

"But then we have to start looking at all the fees and there are several million dollars worth of fees," said Joe Barnette, project manager for the housing complex. "And any fee at the beginning ends up being charged to the renters."

That's where the city comes in.

"I don't think it's any secret that it is tough to get things done in the City of Sarasota and we're trying to change that," said Commissioner Brody.

Vengroff said they can only move forward if the group comes to some sort of agreement with the City over the millions of dollars in building fees.

He added that while a luxury condo developer might be able to afford $38,000 to document the weeds, he cannot.

Copyright 2018 WWSB. All Rights Reserved.

Vengroff revisits affordable housing project in Sarasota

Jul 5, 2018

Looking for a job? This Bradenton apartment complex will host hiring fair, open house

By Ryan Callihan

rcallihan@bradenton.com

May 22, 2018 12:42 PM

Updated May 22, 2018 03:22 PM

Bradenton

A local apartment complex that provides affordable housing for low-income residents has partnered with multiple organizations to host an open house and job fair on Tuesday, May 29.

Robin's Apartment recently completed renovations of its 240 units that offer rent from $700 with utilities included. The event will run from 3-7 p.m at 2303 First St. E.

HomeStead Group will be one of the major employers searching for new hires at the job fair. For those who struggle with transportation, the company will establish a branch location on-site at Robin's Apartments.

Read more here at Bradenton.com.

"HomeStead has found several larger corporate firms that are looking to help local communities by providing clerical and back office positions at Robin’s apartments, as opposed to having the work handled by an off-shore outsourcing firm," said Mark Vengroff with One Stop Housing, owners of the apartment complex.

The Women's Resource Center and Turning Points also plans to attend the fair and introduce visitors to the social programs that they offer. The Taco Spot is set to open a new restaurant at the apartment complex in August and serve samples of their menu items at the event.

Those interested in attending the open house and job fair are asked to dress for success and bring copies of their resume for review.

Robin's Apartments was formerly known as Knights Inn. Monthly rent is about $700 for a 300 square-foot studio, and there are one-bedroom units available as well.

For more information, call (941) 400-8569 or visit our openhouse webpage.

The Robin's Apartment complex is located at 2303 First St. E. in Bradenton. Bradenton Herald file photo

Read more here at Bradenton.com.