Affordable Housing Network Taking Over Geneva Tower

By Steve Gravelle, Reporter

Months after Geneva Tower in downtown Cedar Rapids reopened, more than 170 units out of 183 are full. Photographed Thursday, May 28, 2009. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

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By Belinda Yeung

Story Created: Sep 7, 2012 at 4:44 AM CDT

Story Updated: Sep 7, 2012 at 5:18 AM CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Affordable Housing Network is taking over management of Geneva Tower, the downtown Cedar Rapids apartment complex for low-income tenants.

The change was effective on Thursday, said AHN executive director Joe Lock . Non-profit Geneva Corporation will maintain ownership of the property.

“It was important for us to connect with an organization that shares our mission and values, which is to provide affordable housing that promotes stability and creates community,” said Tom Suchomel, Geneva Tower board chair, in a statement issued by AHNI and the tower.

“We intend to maintain the services that these residents have come to expect,” said Lock.

Built in 1971 by Linn County Presbyterian churches to provide affordable housing for the elderly and mentally or physically challenged, Geneva Tower has 183 units on 12 floors.

The tower was closed five months for repairs after the June 2008 flood, and underwent a federally-funded $2.5 million renovation about a decade ago.

A subsidiary of the non-profit Four Oaks, Affordable Housing Network owns or manages more than 500 rental units in Cedar Rapids. In May, Four Oaks announced the TotalChild Wellington Heights Initiative to upgrade affordable housing in that southeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood.

Affordable Housing has purchased and is renovating 32 Wellington Heights properties and planned to take over management of another 23.

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