Woodside Terrace Renovations Should be Done by Fall

The purchase price was $8 million. The rest of the money will be spent on interior upgrades, making the apartments compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, replacing doors, new flooring, drywall repairs and fresh paint. Each unit is getting new cabinets, quartz countertops and plumbing fixtures in the kitchen and new vanities, plumbing, tile and bathtubs.

CPP also will build a new playground, gazebo, dog park, BBQ grills and bike racks.

John Fraser, vice president of CPP’s eastern division, said Woodside Terrace, which was built in 1972, just needed some long-needed upgrades.

“It has been a well-managed property,” Fraser said. “Our value-add is in the modernization of these properties. We don’t want them just to be good for now, we want them to be good for the next 20 years.”

It’s the first property acquisition in Wisconsin for CPP, which was launched in 2004 and is now rapidly expanding across the United States. Just this year, CPP has acquired and launched renovation projects in Hawaii, Connecticut and Pennsylvania along with Beloit with a total price tag of nearly $100 million.

For Beloit, the Woodside Terrace project is the largest investment in affordable housing this decade. Although Beloit is embarking on a number of projects to bring new affordable housing to the area, keeping the existing units up to date is just as important.

“All of our residents deserve a safe place to call their own,” said Sarah Lock, director of strategic communications for the City of Beloit. “The City of Beloit appreciates any business that is investing in our city for the betterment of our community members.”

In CPP’s original news release, the company said it expected to have the project completed by December 2025. Workers are months ahead of schedule and Fraser said the major part of the work will be done by fall.

It hasn’t gone entirely smoothly, however. In March, several residents complained to local media that they were forced to spend additional money on housing after being displaced from their apartments for weeks at a time. Families living in the ADA units have been out for as many as three months. Others complained of unsafe living conditions when they returned.

Fraser admitted that there were issues with the early construction stages.

“I went out to the property and found some conditions that CPP wasn’t happy with and had to make some changes,” Fraser said.

He said CPP has committed to make sure residents are fully reimbursed for the costs of being out of their apartments.

Michael Snowden, CPP senior vice president of asset management, said the company also spelled out to the contractors and onsite management team exactly what is an acceptable condition for the residents to come home to.

The demand for Woodside Terrace apartments illustrates how dire the need is for affordable housing in Beloit. Lidavia Joyce, the property manager, said only six units currently are available out of 120, and that’s partly because some families moved out during construction. There are 87 families on the waiting list for the one-bedroom apartments and 23 on the list waiting for two-bedroom apartments.

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