Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991 TAG: 9103260459
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The money would be used for replacing all doors, windows and screens; fencing and heating; improvements to plumbing; upgrading of the electrical system; and other renovations at the 40-year-old complex.
"We feel that some of these improvements would provide better security and help deal with some of the residents' concerns," said Herbert McBride, executive director of the authority.
McBride said the authority's staff worked with Carolyn Johnson, president of the Lincoln Terrace tenants' council and newly appointed member of the authority's board, in developing the plans.
Johnson, who attended the first board meeting Monday since she was appointed last week by City Council, supported the decision to seek federal money. She had said earlier that she has been concerned in recent years about increasing violence in the housing projects, particularly the 300-unit Lincoln Terrace.
McBride said he is hopeful that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will approve the money under the so-called modernization program for public housing projects. In the past three years, the authority has received more than $10 million to upgrade three other projects: Jamestown Place, Morningside Manor and Hurt Park.
On another matter, the authority's board voted Monday to recommend that City Council approve the issuance of $19 million in tax-free revenue bonds to finance a Connecticut developer's plans to buy and renovate five apartment complexes containing nearly 700 units in Roanoke and Salem.
Michael G. Morgan, who has developed apartments, condominiums and office buildings in several states, will acquire and renovate the Park Towne, Brandon Ridge, Brandon West and Colonial Yorktown apartments in Roanoke and Mount Regis Village in Salem.
No one at a public hearing opposed the bond financing. The authority will not own any part of the projects and neither the authority nor the city will have any liability.
As a condition for the tax-exempt bonds, Morgan will be required to set aside 20 percent of the apartments for low-income residents and to spend at least 15 percent of the purchase price on rehabilitation within two years.
With the mortgage bonds, Morgan said he hopes to finance the transaction with investment bankers instead of banks, savings and loans or life insurance companies, which have been traditional sources of money for housing.
Also Monday, McBride told the board that the agency hopes to seek bids soon for construction of the proposed parking garage on Church Avenue next to Fire Station No. 1. The five-story garage will have 400 parking spaces.
The garage would replace the parking spaces lost by construction of Norfolk Southern's new building at Franklin and Williamson roads. The building site formerly was a parking lot that was used by tenants in the Crestar building.
The authority is obligated to provide 266 parking spaces for tenants in the Crestar building under terms of the original sale of the land, which was part of the Downtown East urban-renewal project. The garage will provide spaces for Crestar as well as parking for the public.
by CNB