The Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority plans to convert the long-vacant Park Hotel in Toledo’s Middlegrounds neighborhood into 40 apartments for young adults aging out of the foster care system.

It’s a type of housing new to the housing authority, which primarily offers public and low-income apartments, but it’s an offering that agency officials believe is necessary to help fill a gap in Toledo.

Many who can no longer receive housing from the foster care system end up couch surfing or living in cars or shelters, said Matt Sutter, LMHA’s chief of real estate development. 

“They don’t know where they’re going to be living day to day,” Mr. Sutter said. “This creates an opportunity for us to break the cycle, and really that’s what we should be about. We should be trying to break the cycle of poverty.”

The plan is to renovate the building at 201 Knapp St. just south of downtown Toledo into 37 one-bedroom apartments and three, two-bedroom apartments. The target age range is for those 18 to 24, and all tenants will be referred through Lucas County Children Services or the Lucas County Juvenile Justice Center, which handles foster care cases.

Rent will be income-based, and tenants who don’t already have a social worker will have access to one. Mr. Sutter believes the average tenant stay will be 12 to 24 months, though it could be longer.

“This is not transitional housing. They don’t get booted out,” he said. “We want to create a situation where they are ready to leave because they become successful and it’s in their best interest to move on.”

The plan comes on the heels of a similar, though much smaller project, announced by LMHA officials in early March in partnership with LMHA’s nonprofit affiliate Lucas Housing Services Corporation. That project is one rental home on Nebraska Avenue that is housing three young men who either aged out of foster care or exited the county Juvenile Justice Center.

It too is income-based permanent supportive housing, but officials realized they needed to offer that type of apartment on a larger scale if they were going to bridge the housing gap in Toledo.

Mr. Sutter said a market study showed the proposed Park Hotel renovation would be at capacity within three months of opening to tenants, which shows the demand for that type of housing.

“What that tells us is that one project isn’t enough. It tells us that we probably need two or three,” he said.

Joaquin Cintron Vega, LMHA’s new president and CEO, said there has been talk for months now about Toledo’s affordable housing crisis. LMHA is the area’s largest landlord — housing more than 17,000 people in a given month — and so it has the responsibility to find stable housing solutions for all populations in need, he said.

“This is an important goal of LMHA, and we are proud to be part of something like this, to make sure that we can provide those individual services to that particular community,” he said.

The Park Hotel was built in 1909 and featured more than 100 rooms, a bar, and a restaurant. It catered to passengers from the adjacent train station at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Plaza, as well as visitors to South Toledo.

The hotel closed in 2001, with the bar and restaurant closing soon after. Toledo City Plan Commission documents say the property has changed ownership several times since then, but has remained vacant. The site has been on the market for five years.

LMHA needs both a zoning change and a density waiver to begin the project. The plan commission staff recommended approving the zoning change from industrial to multifamily and stated in its report that high-density use of the site would be in character with the neighborhood.

The plan commission will review the staff report at its May 14 meeting, and the Toledo City Council Zoning and Planning Committee will make its recommendation June 17.

The whole project, including purchasing the property, has a budget of about $11 million, Mr. Sutter said. LMHA will apply for low-income housing tax credits and other state funding in July, and they’ll find out whether they receive the financial assistance in October or November.

Construction could start soon after, which will take between nine and 12 months. Officials are planning to open the end of 2021 or early 2022.

First Published May 1, 2020, 4:14 p.m.