Housing authority to raze, rebuild Lemon Wood Acres
The Fayette County Housing Authority officially selected a real estate development partner Thursday and revealed that the firm wants to target Lemon Wood Acres for a complete demolition and rebuild. The housing board authorized Executive Director Thomas L. Harkless to negotiate and enter into an agreement with Falbo-Pennrose, subject to the review and approval of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
While Falbo-Pennrose wants to partner with the authority for development at six of its 22 public housing sites, Harkless said the main focus is Lemon Wood Acres, which sits on 22.8 acres in North Union Township near Laurel Highlands Senior High School.
Although preliminary plans called for demolishing half of Lemon Wood’s housing units and expanding and converting the remaining 75 into 55 bigger units, Harkless said that Falbo-Pennrose now wants to raze the entire project and start anew.
Authority director of technical services Andre Walters confirmed that point.
“This won’t be just a facelift. We’re tearing it down. …They found that Lemon Wood Acres would be the best project (of the six) to start with,” he said.
The plan still calls for Lemon Wood to have 55 public housing units of some type when the redevelopment is complete, said Harkless, but those units probably will take the shape of single-family dwellings or duplexes, possibly mixed in among other types of housing built on the site.
Harkless said the developer wants to beat an April 15 deadline to file for the tax credits that will form a big part of the financing package. He added that the authority also plans to loan Falbo-Pennrose money that will be repaid at closing, at which time the developer would get its fee.
Out of a hypothetical $5 million development project, Harkless said, Falbo-Pennrose’s fee might be in the range of $250,000.
If the timetable proceeds smoothly, Harkless said the authority could anticipate demolition starting at Lemon Wood in late summer or early fall.
Walters said the other sites that interest Falbo-Pennrose are Bierer Wood Acres, South Hill Terrace, Snowden Terrace, Fort Mason Village and Clarence Hess Terrace. Harkless said the latest plan calls for the housing authority alone to completely demolish Dunlap Creek Village and either sell the land or develop it for private home ownership. If the land were sold, the authority would plow that cash into makeover efforts elsewhere, said Harkless.
Harkless said that after Lemon Wood, he thinks Bierer Wood would attract the most attention from the development partner. He added that one of the firm’s major tasks is to devise a master plan for each site slated for improvements, a plan that includes financing and development timetables.
In a related move, Harkless in his executive director’s report noted that 203 of the 255 units slated for demolition have been removed from rental availability status. That means the vacancy rate has plunged from its historic 23 to 25 percent to only 12 percent.
Only 203 units are available for rental, less than half of what had been the norm in recent years.