HOUSING > Projects under Development
AWF believes that a traditional housing development model, relying solely on a moderate rehabilitation, is insufficient. The housing development activities needed to restore and preserve this important section of the community, and the resources required to market conditions here, require a more comprehensive approach with a broader range of financing tools, which will enable us to respond to the needs of existing residents and compete for potential homebuyers and renters.
All our future housing development activity is being guided by the results of our just-completed neighborhood strategic plan. Our main new development effort—the Forgotten Blocks—focuses on redeveloping abandoned properties in a 6-square-block residential area plagued by high vacancy rates, aging infrastructure and blight. Fortunately, the area lies within three blocks of several neighborhood anchors and community assets that have received significant public and private funds for development and maintenance in the past several years.
The Forgotten Blocks include the 2700 and 2800 blocks of North Garnet, Opal, 19th, 20th and Gratz Streets, and the 1900 block of both West Somerset Street and Lehigh Avenue.
The project area’s designated blocks have an 80 percent occupation rate, with 199 properties owner-occupied and 169 rental units. The Forgotten Blocks project targets the remaining 20 percent of the properties, which has 53 vacant parcels. The end result will yield six commercial/mixed use properties, with six storefronts, 12 apartment units, 37 homes and several new green spaces.
We plan to redevelop 53 vacant properties over three phases, targeted to a mix of incomes including low- to middle-income families. Where a double lot is available, we will combine adjacent vacant buildings or lots, formerly the sites of small two-bedroom homes, to produce three-bedroom units. This will target vacant lots adjacent to vacant buildings for use as off-street parking or as side yards to enhance the attractiveness and marketability of the completed units.
We also plan to renovate and retain existing two-bedroom units to appeal to the neighborhood’s traditional market of small and medium size families.
Nine units will be complete by the fall, when a second phase of construction on 28 units will begin. We are also completing a feasibility plan for Lehigh Avenue, which we also hope to complete by the fall. To find out about purchasing a home, click here.