Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
COVENTRY PARK APAFTMENTS
COVENTRY PARK APARTMENTS. In 1971 three luxury apartment buildings had just been completed on 14 acres of the former grounds of MOUNT ST. BERNARD SEMINARY on Chaney Road between Asbury and Kaufmann. Forty of the units had 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, its own utility room, kitchen-breakfast room, dining room and living room. There were seven different floor plans ranging in size from 1000 to 1820 square feet. In 1971 Coventry Park was considered at the top end of Dubuque's apartment housing.
In April, 1981 investors who owned the property announced their intention of converting the apartments to condos owned by the occupant. The investors were three Dubuque dentists--Heyo H. Tjarks, John T. Mullen, and James S. Hemphill and two attorneys, J. Wilson McCallister and Joseph Zwack who formed Professional Development Associates. They had originally purchased the complex in February from J. Allen Wallis, Jr. for $1.75 million. They hoped to have all the units sold within three year.
Condominium conversions were common in larger American cities at the time. Conventry Park, the the first such conversion in Dubuque, offered apartments that rented for $415 to $650 a month for sale from $59,000 to $107,000. Present tenants might be able to remain in their apartment if the owner allowed them to stay. If not, the present occupant had sixty days to leave.
Purchasing a condo meant paying a monthly maintenance fee to keep up the common ground. Estimates were made that this fee would be between $75 to $100. There was also an expected tax cost in 1981 of $1,000.
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Source:
1. Hendricks, Mike, "Coventry Conversion Worries Some Tenants," Telegraph Herald, April 20, 1981, p. 12
