This Time, HANH Wins Row Homes Auction

After losing out to another bidder at a previous foreclosure auction, the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) became the third part-owner of a former co-op’s homes in Dixwell.

HANH prevailed at a foreclosure auction Saturday to purchase the building at 133 – 137 Henry St., one of the properties that used to constitute the historically Black housing co-op University Row Homes, for $825,000. The neighboring units at 139 Henry and 127 Henry had been bought by developer-landlords Alex Opuszynski and Jianchao Xu, respectively, at an auction on June 22.

This was HANH’s second bid to pick up the Henry Street properties, which went up for foreclosure after years of neglected maintenance, unpaid real estate taxes, and confusion about who exactly owned the buildings. At June’s auction, HANH failed to acquire the 139 Henry St. property, losing to Opuszynski’s million-dollar-bid.

HANH was represented at the auction by parent organization Elm City Communities President Karen DuBois-Walton and Executive Vice President Shenae Draughn. They told the Independent that once they realized that other portions of the row homes complex had gone to two separate buyers, they decided to throw their hat back in the ring for the third auction.

Now they’re aiming to work with their new neighbors while providing services to old tenants.

“Headline: Some Affordability Preserved On Henry Street,” DuBois-Walton said.

Prior to the bidding, Opuszynski told the Independent his plan for 133 – 137 Henry if he were to prevail: ​“If I can get this done, I would make it all affordable.” He said he was looking for ways to make affordability ​“make sense on paper,” including seeking a tax break from the city in exchange for deed-restricting the property at 60 percent of the area median income.

Compared to the 139 Henry and 127 Henry auctions, which featured nine and six bidders respectively (and a sizable sidewalk crowd), Saturday’s bidding was a quiet affair. There were three hopefuls: Opuszynski returning to double up on his Henry Street holdings; David Kone, Jianchao ​“JC” Xu’s former property manager; and HANH.

After collecting each bidder’s $100,000 deposit, attorney Giancarlo Rossi opened the auction with the city’s $68,250 bid. Opuszynski immediately raised to $450,000. He and HANH traded raises a dozen times before Kone made his sole bid: $651,000.

Opuszynski’s $765,000 bid, the auction’s 26th, marked the end of his willingness to raise by more than $1,000. The HANH pushed him all the way to $811,000 before finally claiming victory with $825,000 at the 43rd bid.

After the auction, Opuszynski shook hands with DuBois-Walton. ​“I don’t know how it’s going to work,” Opuszynski said, ​“but we’ll figure it out.”

“It’s a good day. It’s a win. We’re ready to go,” DuBois-Walton said.

Former City Building Official Jim Turcio, who now works as vice president of construction for Elm City Communities’s Glendower Group, said the first step will be to ​“assess the interior.” In fact, ​“assess the whole building.” Tenants have previously reported holes in the roof leading to floods, leaks, and mold when it rains.

HANH expects to ​“rehab the properties and rent them at affordable rates either by writing down the cost and renting them as ​‘naturally affordable’ or through HCV [housing choice voucher] subsidy,” DuBois-Walton wrote in an email message to the Independent. More details will be forthcoming as the HANH inspects and ​“develop[s] the scope of work for the units,” she added.

There’s still the question of the University Row Homes tenants. In June, most of the building’s 32 residents had received relocation vouchers from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development via HANH. Those residents had also been told that their heat and hot water would be cut off after July 1.

According to a resident who came out to witness the auction and asked to remain anonymous, that hasn’t happened yet. DuBois-Walton said she is optimistic that HANH’s purchase will allow them to help with resident relocation, which had been contracted out to the Virginia-based Leumas Group. ​“If we’re the owner, we can speed up finding a place to go,” she said.