They Never Dreamed of This: The Shalom House Sale Becomes a Gift to the Whole Albuquerque Jewish Community
By Ellen Marks
For the Hillel house at UNM, it means better security and a prayer answered in the form of a new social hall so students have space to eat dinner together, instead of in two different rooms. For the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society, it’s a “game-changer” that will bring more projects and success. And for all 12 non-profit Jewish organizations in the Albuquerque area, it means an endowment gift that will bring a revenue stream into the future.
Complete surprise and delight seem to have been the common reactions among Jewish non-profit leaders upon hearing they would share much of about $4 million in proceeds from the sale of the David Specter Shalom House.
“We are deeply grateful … for the very generous and unexpected gift,” Hillel director Sarah Koplik said. “It helps strengthen us in a difficult time.”
Other recipients run the gamut from the Jewish Community Center to the New Mexico Jewish Journal to the Jewish Care Program and to four Albuquerque congregations. While each of the organizations will benefit from future endowment income, several also received one-time direct payments last May for urgent needs.
It’s all due to the sale of the 47-year-old Shalom House to Redwood Housing Partners, a development and investment firm that operates low-income housing around the country.
The property, which is on the campus of the Jewish Community Center, has 47 units and rent is controlled as low-income housing. There is almost always a long waiting list. While most residents are not Jewish — federal rules prohibit a preference — there is a distinctly Jewish touch, with one congregation offering a monthly Shabbat service and an onsite Holocaust memorial garden.
Continued maintenance of the memorial was written into the sale agreement to make sure it is preserved, and the JCC will continue providing its longstanding offer of free access to residents, said Lisa Kaplan Witt, president of the Jewish Community Housing Corp., the board that oversees the housing. Rent will remain the same.
Kaplan Witt said the original mission of Shalom House was to embody Jewish values of charity, repairing the world and loving kindness.
With the mortgage paid off last year and the building facing expensive needed upgrades, the board decided to sell to experienced developers in a way that would benefit the Jewish community as a whole. That, Kaplan Wit said, is squarely in line with the vision of the original founders.
One of those founders, Harold Albert, said he initially was disappointed when he heard the building would be sold, but changed his mind when he learned that Shalom House would continue to offer affordable housing to low-income residents and that current employees would be retained “so there’s continuity.”
Plus, when he heard the proceeds would benefit “the whole Jewish community … my whole attitude changed.”
“I think the board of directors ultimately made the right decision,” Albert said. The sale "protects what we originally had in mind as a home for the Jewish community, and hopefully Jews will be motivated to move into the facility, especially now that Redwood is making improvements.”
Endowments and Immediate Funds
Sarah Winger, executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico, was instrumental in helping to set up the structure for distributing the Shalom House proceeds.
She said about $2.2 million of the sale amount was invested through the community foundation to support educational, cultural and community needs in the greater Albuquerque area. Called the David Specter Shalom House Endowment Fund, it is the largest gift in the foundation’s history.
In addition, four other endowment funds were created specifically for the nonprofits that did not already have one.
“Now all of the Jewish organizations in the greater Albuquerque area have endowment funds, which is a beautiful thing for sustainability in the future,” Winger said.
Every summer, starting next year, about 4 percent of the balance from the Shalom House endowment fund will be divided among the 12 groups.
As for the one-time payments, the largest recipient was the Jewish Community Center, which “has been the center of Jewish secular life in Albuquerque,” Kaplan Witt said. And its scope has grown over the years: It now oversees the Jewish Care Program’s social services, and it houses several other Jewish groups on its campus, she said.
Much of the board’s contribution of $1.3 million to the JCC will help it meet its capital campaign goal of $5 million.
The other two largest recipients were the Jewish Care Program, which received $300,000, and the Jewish Community Foundation’s existing “Opportunity Fund,” which received $84,000. The fund is designed to meet unforeseen needs, and the distribution will be based on grants given for such purposes as Jewish camps, a lecture series and youth leadership, for example, Kaplan Witt said.
The Jewish Care Program will add another social worker to its staff and “exponentially increase” its ability to serve the needs of low-income Jewish elderly, Kaplan Witt said.
That money, plus the perpetual endowment proceeds, “gives life and a future” to the care program, which offers free services as “the need continues to grow in the Albuquerque area," said Ron Winger, JCC board president.
He said the “fabulous gift” provides a cushion, although the program relies on donations and will need to continue its fundraising.
The other recipients of the David Specter Shalom House Endowment Fund are: Congregations Albert and B’Nai Israel, Nahalat Shalom, Chabad of New Mexico, the New Mexico Holocaust & Intolerance Museum and the Jewish Community Relations Council.
Here’s how some of the sales proceeds will be used:
— The New Mexico Jewish Journal has brought on two student reporters who are doing community reporting and adding multimedia. “Going forward we will be able to expand our reach and our coverage. As a new kid on the block, less than 2½ years old, we greatly appreciate being recognized for our value to the community," said Diane Joy Schmidt, founding publisher and editor.
— Besides a new social hall and security upgrades, Hillel is also making needed plumbing and electrical system upgrades. “The endowment gift will assist our college students for many years to come,” Koplik said.
—- At the New Mexico Historical Society, board members are “taking their time” in deciding what they will fund. Possibilities include a major research project, helping organizations digitize or doing a website refresh that makes resources more available, co-president Naomi Sandweiss said. “We never dreamed of this."
Sarah Winger said she’s grateful for the housing board’s “foresight and wisdom” in balancing immediate needs with a long-term revenue stream.
The David Specter Shalom House Endowment Fund “will snowball quite nicely and significantly contribute to our Jewish community in perpetuity.”
Winger said the board asked for her help in notifying some of the non-profit leaders about the unexpected gift.
Their reaction: “They were all very surprised to be included in this gift. It was a unifying experience for our whole community. It was beautiful.”
The New Owner: Redwood Housing Partners
Redwood Housing Partners, the new Shalom House owner, has owned and operated affordable housing in New Mexico for years, including in the Albuquerque area, company associate Daniel Wang said in a written statement.
The Seattle-based company purchased Shalom House because “we were attracted to the opportunity to preserve the property, invest in needed improvements and help ensure it remains a stable housing resource for residents well into the future,” Wang said.
Planned improvements include upgrades to apartments, building systems and common areas. At the same time, Redwood intends to “maintain the property’s core amenities,” Wang said.
“We also recognize the importance of the property's history and community significance and plan to be thoughtful stewards of those elements as the property moves forward,” he said.
Redwood operates affordable housing across 15 states, and, until recently, had been the subject of complaints about two properties in particular --- the Bon Air and Richmond Summit Apartments in Augusta, Ga.
The complaints centered on the length of time it took Redwood to acquire funding to upgrade the HUD housing after the company purchased the properties in 2020, according to a letter Georgia Congressman Rick W. Allen wrote to HUD in 2023.
That meant unsafe living conditions under the previous ownership — such as bedbug infestations and gun shots fired — were allowed to continue, Allen wrote.
However, this past March, Allen toured the properties with the company and HUD representatives and concluded that the apartments had been improved and offered “a clean and safe living environment,” according to a statement he released.
Wang, in the emailed statement, did not respond to specific questions about the problems, but said, “Bon Air is a historically significant community in Augusta, and we are proud of the improvements that have been delivered through our long-term commitment to the property and its residents.”
Kaplan Witt said Redwood came highly recommended by the Shalom House’s longtime manager and others in the field. She said the Georgia issues represented “one data point” among the many properties Redwood manages.
“If an offer had been made from a company that we felt was disreputable … we would have walked away,” said Rhonda Backinoff, Jewish Community Housing Corp. board secretary. “We were looking into what the best interests were, not just for the community, but for the residents, too.”
In fact, Kaplan Witt said she was getting ready to tour one of the renovated Shalom House apartments with Wang.
After decades of control by the local Jewish community, several board members said they felt emotional about selling Shalom House.
Through the years, board members and their spouses had brought free fruits and vegetables for residents, kept a food pantry for those who needed it and even played music as entertainment.
“We all feel an emotional attachment to the place, and we want the best for it,” board member Joyce Phillips said.
Ellen Marks has been a journalist for more than four decades, including stints in Boise, Idaho, Seattle and Albuquerque. She came to the Albuquerque Journal in 1986 and retired from there seven years ago, but continues to do regular assignments for the newspaper.
Her most recent story has topped the most-read list in the last month, "That's the Tradition: Jane Wishner on Conflict, Community, and the Jewish Future."
And her story "We Cannot Be Defined by the Hatred of Others," Antisemitism in New Mexico Now, published in May 2025, just won the American Jewish Press Association's Rockower Award for Writing about Antisemitism, in good company alongside The Forward and Chabad.org.
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