SDSU golf director co-owns mini-dorm houses
Union-Tribune 4/29/07
Dale Walker, SDSU's director of golf operations, and his former assistant coach, Tim Mickelson, who is now head golf coach at the University of San Diego, are principals in a limited liability company called Room to Room. Their families and friends are also owners in the company, which rents a dozen houses, including one that has as many as nine tenants.
Walker said he and Mickelson saw a chance to buy houses near campus and rent them out to students.
“It was just a business opportunity, and I took advantage of it,” he said.
To those who complain about the condition of the houses, Walker says, “Give me a break. This is an asset, a significant asset that we have. Of course we take care of the places.”
Neighbors, mostly on 54th Street where Room to Room's mini-dorms are clustered, have filed 10 complaints with the city alleging code violations – including loud music and improper storage of items outside – at seven houses. Those cases have been resolved and some resulted in citations. Three additional cases are under investigation.
“Nothing has ever been swept. No bush has been clipped. If anything got shoveled, it would be a miracle,” said Norma Huhn, a retired elementary school teacher who has lived on 54th Street for 44 years. “In my opinion, they are the biggest slumlords in the neighborhood that we know.”
Some student tenants say the landlords ignore their complaints about such things as broken garbage disposals and air conditioners.
“We call (the management) and they never do anything,” said Jenna Kinsel, a junior at SDSU, who says she is one of six students renting a six-bedroom house on Rockford Drive.
“Like we've been asking for an air conditioner,” Kinsel said last week. “The one we have doesn't work. We've been asking for months. (The property manager) just keeps saying he's going to do it, but nothing happens.”
When reached yesterday, Kinsel said the management had delivered a new air conditioner Friday.
Walker said Room to Room spends more than $30,000 a year on maintenance. House cleaners come every six weeks at no charge to the students, he said.
Mary Mickelson, a partner in Room to Room who inspects the properties, said she patrols the neighborhood at night at least once a week to break up parties, and promptly responds to complaints. Mary Mickelson contends she treats her student tenants as if they were her children.
Room to Room even calls parents when warranted, she said.
For students, she said, “I think we provide more than just a house. I think we provide an opportunity for them to learn responsibility.”
Yards paved for parking
Partners of Room to Room include Walker; his wife, Deborah; his parents, Donald and Ann Walker; Tim Mickelson, whose brother is pro golfer Phil Mickelson; and his parents, Philip and Mary Mickelson. Other partners are Debra Dold, who has been an accountant for the Walkers, and Dold's business partner, Sheryl Rowling, and her husband, William Rowling, according to county and state records.
The company owns 12 houses. In many cases, bedrooms have been added by dividing the master bedroom, reducing the living room or expanding up to or into the backyard, according to tenants and city records.
At some of the properties, side yards and backyards have been completely paved for parking. Renters at a home on Mary Lane say it has eight bedrooms for nine people.
Many of the homes stick out in the neighborhood with their patchy lawns, weeds or rocks in the front yard. Front entrances often are strewn with empty beer cans, soda cups and cigarette butts, neighbors say. A worn-out couch sits on the porch of one rental, and another house has a broken front fence.
The Mickelson and Walker families and their business partners bought the houses on 54th Street and on nearby streets in the College Area between December 2001 and July 2004. They paid from $300,000 to $505,000 for the homes, investing a total of $4.9 million, according to the deeds.
In two cases, Tim Mickelson and Dale Walker jointly purchased properties when they coached together at SDSU.
The partners transferred all the houses to Room to Room LLC, which was created in 2003, and donated between $2,500 and $4,999 in the 2004-05 academic year to SDSU's Aztec Athletic Foundation.
Public records show that at least two men on the SDSU men's golf team have rented from Room to Room, but Walker indicated there were more. The National Collegiate Athletic Association's bylaws do not specifically address coaches renting to players.
Dale Walker said that when he began the business, he consulted with SDSU's administration and the NCAA to make sure everything was legal. He contends all tenants pay fair-market rents.
Many students who rent from Room to Room said they pay about $700 monthly.
Ann Walker said Room to Room is hardly turning a hefty profit.
“We're not achieving great wealth,” she said. “In fact, very little. We have mainly spent money to try to make it better.”
The motivation for the mini-dorms was to provide a service for students, Ann Walker said.
“San Diego State is woefully lacking in housing for students,” she said.
Some students have complaints.
“We can't get a hold of the (manager),” said Eric Turner, who said he is one of seven renters in a six-bedroom house on 54th Street. “And they really don't make an effort to keep up the landscaping of the houses.”
Still, students like the idea of living in a house, particularly one that is so close to campus. Some said they were satisfied with the service.
Mary Mickelson said Room to Room relies on a management company to handle tenant complaints. It visits at least one of the properties nearly each day, she said.
Mini-dorm rallies
The conflict over mini-dorms has exploded in recent months. Rallies against mini-dorms have become a weekly occurrence. And the issue is not contained to San Diego State University.
Residents have been fighting mini-dorms in El Cerrito, Pacific Beach, Linda Vista and La Jolla.
City Attorney Michael Aguirre has promised to investigate the business practices of all mini-dorm operators. City officials recently persuaded two 25-year-olds behind more than 100 mini-dorm conversions, Michael Haaland and Ian Sells, to limit their business activities.
Code revisions that would restrict the creation of mini-dorms will go before the San Diego City Council in July. A six-month pilot program begins tomorrow, allowing police to issue citations of up to $1,000 to property owners and renters for mini-dorm-related disturbances around San Diego State University.
City officials and residents put some blame on SDSU. They say the university hasn't provided enough housing, and has plans to expand from 33,000 to nearly 45,000 full-and part-time students on its main campus by 2025.
SDSU recently has taken steps to respond. In March, the university announced that an SDSU auxiliary will pay for a compliance officer to help catch landlords violating city housing codes.
On April 17, SDSU unveiled a plan for high-rise residence halls and an apartment complex that would nearly double the amount of campus housing.
Jack Beresford, an SDSU spokesman, said the university administration was aware of Walker's business and found no conflict with NCAA or university policies. Beresford did say that in the past year SDSU has strengthened its stand against mini-dorms.
“We don't support or appreciate any mini-dorm developer,” Beresford said. “That's contrary to the work we're doing right now with the city of San Diego and others to address this important issue.”
Joni Wilson, a longtime 54th Street resident, said the student tenants disrespect the neighborhood. The parties are a constant. The students urinate on her front wall. Naked students have dashed past her house at dawn.
“This street used to be beautiful,” Wilson said. “Everybody had lawns. Now they've been cemented over, and everything else has died. The absentee homeowners could care less. Everything is weed-grown. There's garbage on everything.”
When asked about the neighbors, Dale Walker said he appreciates their situation, adding, “I'm sorry that they're upset.”
He defends his investments as legal and takes issue with the term mini-dorm. He said he isn't operating mini-dorms because there's no legal definition for them.
“God help the neighbors,” Walker said. “These aren't mini-dorms. They're houses.”