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East Bluff property owner jettisons Darwin Homes, will manage rentals themselves

 Residents of the East Bluff homes managed by Darwin Homes spoke about their concerns before the Peoria City Council back in December. Property owners SFR3 will take over management of the rentals.
Jess Moreano
/
WCBU
Residents of the East Bluff homes managed by Darwin Homes spoke about their concerns before the Peoria City Council back in December. Property owners SFR3 will take over management of the rentals.

The owners of the East Bluff properties formerly managed by Darwin Homes are taking over the oversight of the rentals themselves.

More than two dozen tenants of the rental properties received 30-day eviction notices from property management company Darwin Homes last December. That led to an outcry from residents and community advocates, who called for the city to intervene.

The city later negotiated an extension on the leases to give the residents more time to find new housing.

SFR3, the "boutique" real estate management fund that owns the properties, will now manage the properties directly through a new company, American Avenue Property Management.

Peoria Community Development Director Joe Dulin confirmed property owners SFR3 are no longer working with Darwin Homes and will manage the properties.

He said a lack of communication was one of the biggest issues residents and the city had with Darwin. He said SFR3 has been more responsive, and noted that company acted to extend the leases at the city's request, not Darwin.

Dulin said if good communication continues with SFR3, things should be better than they were.

Darwin Homes has not responded to a request for comment.

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Tim is the News Director at WCBU Peoria Public Radio.