Cincinnati City Manager Sheryl Long has told Bengals player-turned-developer Chinedum Ndukwe to clean up his properties or lose any future incentives from the city.
The disagreement between the city and Ndukwethreatened at least one of his housing projects in Cincinnati.
In an April 17 letter to Ndukwe, City Manager Sheryl Long said further “outstanding requests or awards” for developments from Ndukwe’s company not already under contract are “negated” until code enforcement issues are addressed and an audit to ensure compliance is completed.
“Your actions to date do not represent the conduct of a good partner or developer,” Long wrote in the letter The Enquirer obtained through an open records request. “I am responsible for looking out for the safety of my employees and the public.”
Since that letter was sent, city officials said Ndukwe’s company made necessary fixes to his property and approved him for a $2.5 million incentive for an affordable housing project in Walnut Hills.
Ndukwe told The Enquirer the letter shocked him and his colleagues at his Walnut Hills-based development firm, Kingsley + Co. He said the violations have been addressed and that his properties are safe. The properties are vacant and being worked on, he said. They had code issues before Kingsley + Co. got involved, he said.
“If there was a citation, it was addressed immediately,” Ndukwe said. “Vacant buildings, they receive citations. That happens.”
Who is Chinedum Ndukwe?
You might recognize Ndukwe’s name. He played as a safety for the Bengals from 2007 to 2010. After football, he turned to commercial development. It was a property Ndukwe tried to develop in Downtown Cincinnati at 435 Elm St. that became central to former Cincinnati City Councilman PG Sittenfeld’s federal bribery and extortion case.
Ndukwe, who worked as an informant with the FBI, was a key witness in the case that led to Sittenfeld’s resignation, conviction, prison term and eventual pardon by Trump.
What are the issues?
The city manager, in her letter, said Ndukwe failed to maintain multiple properties with no active construction. She singled out two of Kingsley + Co. properties in Evanston, a 110-year-old former church known as St. Mark’s and the former Hoffman School, which Kingsley has plans to develop into a 240-unit mixed-income apartment complex.
Ndukwe’s company has not brought the old church up to code to prevent its deterioration, Long wrote in the letter to Ndukwe. The old school has become “a dumping site for debris from other projects,” Long wrote. The city manager said the property has attracted trespassers, which the developer has failed to address.
“This is unacceptable,” Long said. “Your behaviors are creating hazardous situations for not just the general public but also for our public employees that may need to respond to emergencies at these properties.”
The Enquirer has requested citations on Ndukwe’s properties but hasn’t received them.
In a letter Ndukwe sent to the city manager, he said all debris on the Hoffman School site was removed on April 27.
In the letter, dated May 5, Ndukwe detailed meetings with city staff to address any issues on both properties going back to January.
Evanston leader applauds city action
James Stallworth, the president of the Evanston Community Council, said he’s glad the city cited Kingsley + Co. He said the properties have just sat vacant and have deteriorated.
“They’re boarded up,” Stallworth said. “Residents feel he needs to clean up his properties…You need to clean them up and bring them up to code. I’m glad the city is trying to make some progress.”
Ndukwe has taken his case to City Hall
Ndukwe said he took the city’s accusations seriously. The staff at Kingsley reviewed all their projects. They didn’t see any evidence the firm wasn’t out of compliance.
“This letter came as a surprise to Kingsley, our firm,” Ndukwe said.
He went down to City Hall and addressed council May 20, saying all his projects have proper permits. Several other residents in Kingsley properties also defended Ndukwe as a landlord.
Ndukwe also said he met with the city manager May 27 to make his case.
Why this matters
If the city didn’t approve Ndukwe’s incentives, that could have sunk an affordable housing development Kingsley is building in Walnut Hills known as Kinsey Lofts, Ndukwe said.
Kinsey Lofts is a $20 million development with 53 units for seniors. It can’t proceed without the city’s help, he said.
The city manager on June 2 approved Kinsey Lofts for a $2.5 million grant from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, said Assistant City Manager Billy Weber. Ndukwe said the project can now move forward.
The project has received a low-income housing tax credit from the state that can cover 30% to 40% of the project cost. In order to get that tax credit, he said the project needs money the city committed to the project through the affordable housing trust fund.
Weber said the city manager made the decision based on Ndukwe making progress on code compliance issues and securing all other financing to complete the project.
“The administration will continue to work with Kingsley and Company on this and other projects to ensure that their properties are code compliant and that they have appropriate property management practices for all City-supported projects,” Weber said in a statement to The Enquirer.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: City warns ex-Bengal over property upkeep
Reporting by Scott Wartman, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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