My husband and I were fortunate enough to purchase a unit at Central Park Condos, the community affordable housing project located in Prospector Square that taxpayers invested over a million dollars in. We love where we live and take pride in being homeowners in such a wonderful location.

However, there are inherent structural issues with our building we as a community identified since moving in. Both the city and the developer have seemed to wash their hands of responsibility. The message is clear: Shut up and be grateful you live in 84060, it doesn’t matter what the state of the building or your unit is in because there will always be a long line of people waiting for one when they come up for resale.

Our purchase price in 2018 was $288,300. A 3% annual appreciation cap plus capital improvements ($1,500 blinds) yields a theoretical resale price of $335,719 today — a net profit of just under $47,500. However, since the purchase, my husband and I have spent just under $25,000 in HOA dues. These are dollars we can never recoup. That brings our “profit” to just under $22,419. But $288,300 in 2018 has the equivalent purchase power of $345,710 in March 2023 due to inflation. That means based on inflation alone, we are at a loss of just under $10,000 on resale. Adding what we’ve paid in dues brings that loss to about $35,000.

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Furthermore, we live within a master association, PSPOA, which accounts for 20% of our HOA’s total operating budget. We are just 1.39% of theirs. As deed restricted homeowners, we are assessed by PSPOA at the same rate as businesses and market rate housing. We pay for 3,000 square feet of public parking. We will also be held responsible to contribute to the newly approved Phase 3 master plan special assessment. This demonstrates a lack of foresight by the city on how this would impact CPC residents.

I do not point any of this out to relinquish responsibility. We understand there are inherent costs of homeownership. I am demonstrating that the city did not do adequate due diligence on long term viability of affordability in this location due to these circumstances. The mistakes are being born on the backs of the homeowners, and this has to change.

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For more information, please visit: https://centralparkpc.com/

Lara Carlton

Prospector Square