THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260375
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KURT KENT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 86 lines
One of the most notorious neighborhoods in Portsmouth will be erased within the next four months.
The Portsmouth City Council provided the eraser for the River Edge district on Tuesday, approving $1.75 million to lay the groundwork for the neighborhood that will replace it.
The money will pay for water, sewer, roads and other infrastructure for the new Lake Shores development.
But first, the River Edge Apartments, which in recent years have become a den for gang members and drug dealers, will go.
``All of the contracts are in place'' to demolish the 54-year-old River Edge buildings, said James H. Epperson, partner and general manager of Portsmouth Partners of Virginia. All the buildings are empty.
``Everything comes out,'' he said. ``The streets, water and sewer, all that is taken out before the new goes in.''
The white asbestos shingles on the one- and two-story buildings will be carefully removed first. Air quality will be tested during removal to assure that dangerous particles don't escape.
Then the asphalt shingles, rust-red on some buildings, elm-green or black on others, will be torn off.
Finally, the buildings will be knocked down and hauled away.
With the demolition comes an end to an unusual neighborhood. Built to shelter shipyard workers during World War II, it once housed a hard-working community.
``Some of the finest people in Portsmouth lived in River Edge,'' Epperson said.
But as the decades passed, conditions deteriorated. An open-air drug market began to thrive. Shots punctuated the night. Murder found a home.
Meanwhile, substantial communities grew up around the River Edge rental units - Glensheallah, Lynn Shores, Merrimac Point and Port Norfolk.
``It was like the hole in the donut,'' Epperson said.
In March, five members of a gang of River Edge drug dealers were convicted on drug conspiracy charges. Sentencing is scheduled for July 29.
Taking the place of the 190 rental units of River Edge will be the 150 single-family homes of Lake Shores. Construction is expected to start by January, said City Manager Ronald W. Massie.
Though fewer families will live on the 47-acre plot, real estate valuation is expected to run more than 30 times higher when the Lake Shores homes replace the low-rent apartments. Massie said the real estate assessment will jump to $17 million from just $500,000.
Property taxes are expected to run about $200,000 a year higher after redevelopment.
The new homes will sell for $105,000 to $135,000. ``The homes that we are going to build are going to complement Port Norfolk homes,'' Epperson said. ``They're not going to be boxes. They'll be nice homes.''
The 10,000-square-foot lots will have street frontage from 90 to more than 100 feet.
The new development takes its name from a four-acre lake that will be dug in the center of the property. When each new home is purchased, the homeowner will pay a $400 maintenance fee to the city. Interest from the fees will pay for keeping up the lake and its surrounding park.
Bush Construction, which owns Portsmouth Partners, will build ``as many units as we can,'' Epperson said. But because Bush doesn't want the project to take forever, he said, three or four other approved contractors also will put up houses.
About 60 percent of the former River Edge residents have moved to Fairwood Homes, Epperson said. That 1,500-unit neighborhood of rental units, also owned by the Lake Shores developers, sits on the south side of I-264 at Victory Boulevard, across from Tower Mall.
The city started to monitor relocation about three months ago, Massie said. Of the 109 families still living in River Edge then, 38 went to Fairwood Homes. All had help from the developer.
Monitoring the relocation of families who lose their homes to development ``begins to set a precedent'' for future redevelopment, said Vice Mayor Johnny M. Clemons.
``We want all of our citizens to have safe, decent, sanitary housing,'' he said. Keeping track of where redeveloped residents go, he said, will help the city move toward the point where everybody has a good place to live.
The 266-acre Fairwood Homes complex will be redeveloped, Epperson said. But the work will be done in phases, starting in a few years and running over 15 years or longer.
``We're working closely with the city and the city's comprehensive plan,'' Epperson said. ILLUSTRATION: Color map
THE RIVER EDGE APARTMENTS
The empty buildings will be demolished within four months. by CNB