The First Ten Years at the Illinois Facilities Fund - IFF

More documents

Recommendations

Info

5HammersandhardhatsIf there is one thing that Trinita Logue isabsolutely sure about, it is that most nonprofit organizationsshould think three times before taking on big realestate projects. Sitting at the round table in her office, sheasks a simple question; “Even if they have the funds, whyshould nonprofits try to become experts in constructionif it is going to divert them from their core mission?”Most nonprofits won’t do more than one major rehabor new construction project in 20 years, Logue points out,“So they spend a whole lot of time on it and then can’t usewhat they’ve learned. They’ll get a much better paybackputting energy into improving management or learninghow to raise funds, because they’ll always have to do that.”Joe Neri has worked both sides of the issue.He was associate director at The Resurrection Project,a Pilsen community development organizationthat managed large construction projects including achild care center; it is one of the IFF’s largest borrowerswith four loans. Now Neri is director of the IFF RealEstate Services division. “We know the architects, wehave relationships with builders and we know howconstruction works,” says Neri. “We also understand thenonprofit world’s governance and funding environment.So even if some nonprofits are capable of doingconstruction management, you have to ask if that is thebest use of their time.”119
Paint-bucket chairsAcross the hall from Neri’s office is George Marquisos’desk, piled high with rolled-up blueprints and constructionpaperwork. As Real Estate Services Manager,Marquisos is the most hands-on of the division’s fourmembers, and today he is checking up on the MarwenFoundation project. He jumps in a cab with a rolled blueprintin his hand and five minutes later leads the way intoa brick loft in River North. It is 10 days before the lease runsout at Marwen’s current facility, where more than 2,200inner-city students are enrolled in drawing, painting,sculpture and printmaking classes. The new space is clearly not ready, but there are workers everywhere,knifing drywall compound onto the walls, welding thestaircase and installing sinks in the mixed-media room.The table for today’s meeting is a sheet of plywood,with five-gallon paint buckets for chairs. Marquisos sitsdown with contractor Jeff Berry and architect DanWheeler of Seymour Goldberg and Associates. Thoughthere are no drawing tables or art benches yet, theawesome timber beams and exposed brick walls suggestthat this room will change the lives of many young people.Eight-foot south-facing windows give spectacularviews of Loop skyscrapers, and the CTA trains that passthrough the Chicago Avenue station seem close enoughto draw the faces of the commuters.Formerly a small scale developer himself, Marquisosis known at this meeting as the “owner’s rep,” and inthat role he reels off a series of questions about lastminute details for architect and builder. What’s the planfor the coat hooks? Wood pegs or metal? Did the heatingcontractor finish the vent work? When will the temperedglass be cut for the stairwell? Should the Levelorblinds be silver or grey? Contractor Berry is under thegun because Marwen must move in 10 days and resumeclasses soon after, but he files each item mentally andseems ready for the push. He has lined up a weekendcrew to clean floors, he says, and is preparing storageareas in the basement. Not everything will be done, butthe move will happen. As everyone stands up to adjourn,they talk about paint colors and share a laugh about thecircles of drywall dust on the backsides of their pants.A sense for buildingsExperience in the tricky and expensive world of realestate development is one of the most valuable assets theIFF has built over the years. Its worth became obvious assoon as Larry Cleland got involved in 1990. One ofseveral retired executives who volunteered with the IFFthrough the Executive Service Corps, Cleland perusedloan files and went into the field to look over thefacilities of prospective borrowers. In a few minutes120121
Page 1 and 2: ADifferentKind ofLenderThe First Te
Page 3 and 4: There’ssomethingabouta building..
Page 5 and 6: invested toward a big problem, with
Page 7 and 8: What morecan we do forthe nonprofit
Page 9 and 10: make a venture capitalist smile. Th
Page 11 and 12: analysis of the program or services
Page 13 and 14: Illinois Facilities Fund Loans Clos
Page 23 and 24: The bricks were laid andthe mortar
Page 25 and 26: create public-private partnerships,
Page 27 and 28: Learning processBuilding the child
Page 29 and 30: We are bringing new sourcesof finan
Page 31 and 32: After numerous discussions at the b
Page 33 and 34: It was a remarkable process because
Page 35: The IFF will become thepreeminent f
Page 39 and 40: Agencies served by Real Estate Serv
Page 41 and 42: When I came to the oldfacility I al
Page 43 and 44: organization, the IFF staff also tu
Page 45 and 46: fine idea, but Chicago’s building
Page 47 and 48: 7APermanentinstitutionThe mood is a
Page 49 and 50: notes Mark Pinsky of the National C
Page 51 and 52: 1991 1992AssetsCash $ 2,475,000Gran
Page 53 and 54: 1995 1996AssetsCash $ 3,271,271Gran
Page 55 and 56: 1999 2000 ProjectedAssetsCash $ 10,
Page 57 and 58: Board member Jeanette Bitter andJim
Page 59 and 60: IFF staff member Kristine Westerber
Page 61 and 62: Former BoardFormer StaffJudy BlockJ

The First Ten Years at the Illinois Facilities Fund - IFF

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?