Wisconsin firm buys Parkway Estates

A Brookfield, Wis., firm is the new owner of Parkway Estates, a 64-unit apartment complex at 1711 W. Carl Sandburg Drive. Premier Galesburg LLC, part of Premier Real Estate Management LLC, bought the complex from Parkway Estates of Galesburg, based in Brentwood, Mo., for $1.36 million. The sale closed Jan. 7, according to the Knox County Assessor’s office.

Premier Real Estate Management was formed in 1977 by Calvin M. Akin, according to the company’s website. It provides property management services for nearly 7,000 apartment units. Parkway Estates is one of the company’s first properties in Illinois. Before this, Premier owned units in more than 100 locations in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa and Kentucky. The company employs more than 270 full- and part-time professionals.

Premier offers Section 42 housing, which is part of the Affordable Income Housing Tax Credit Program. The program, approved in 1986, is designed “to help provide affordable, high-quality housing to those who could not normally afford an apartment with such features.”

To qualify for Section 42  housing, the household’s income must fall below a designated percentage of the county’s median income. According to Premier’s website, “Each unit or building has a different cut off, so interested individuals should contact the representatives of each property separately. Just because a household does not qualify for one Section 42 apartment … does not mean the household will not qualify for another.”

Assets also are taken into account when determining if someone qualifies for Section 42 help.

Section 42 housing differs from Section 8 in that with Section 8, money is given to the tenant in order to pay his or her rent. In Section 42, the owner of the property receives the money in the form of a tax credit and lowers rent on units for which they have received credits. All of Premier’s Section 42 properties also accept Section 8 vouchers.

Calls Tuesday and Wednesday attempting to learn how many Section 42 units there are in Parkway Estates, as well as plans Premier has for the apartment complex, were not returned. An email was sent Wednesday, to which there also was no reply.

jpulliam@register-mail.com