
DATE: Wednesday, May 14, 1997               TAG: 9705140504

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BATTINTO BATTS JR., STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  143 lines

PORTSMOUTH TO REPLACE COMMUNITY

Fairwood Homes, a neighborhood of World War II temporary houses that has seen better times, will be demolished in phases, purchased by the city and replaced by a commerce park.

City officials have reached an agreement with Portsmouth Partners of Virginia, owner of the 279-acre complex, that would enable the community once known as Academy Park to be phased out of Portsmouth's landscape over a number of years.

New housing might also be built in the neighborhood, but the timing and type have not been decided.

All of the community's 1,003 families will eventually face relocation - either within the neighborhood or outside - as the redevelopment takes place.

Tuesday night, the City Council, by a 6-1 vote, approved the plan's first phase: $6.4 million to purchase a 129-acre parcel of land fronting Victory Boulevard and $6 million to improve streets, storm water drainage and utilities in preparation for redevelopment.

Vice Mayor Johnny M. Clemons voted against the plan, saying the money could be better spent on schools.

The decision was hailed by about three dozen people who turned out to support the project.

``I have seen this section of Portsmouth go from a good place to live to a living hell,'' said Peter George Shackley, 52, who has lived in the nearby Bide-A-Wee neighborhood since 1972. ``Drive through this area and ask yourself, `Would I want to live near this?' ''

No one spoke against the project, although some citizens had to be reassured that the spending would not take away from improvements in their neighborhoods.

The proposal marks the third time in two years the city has decided to move residents out of a decaying neighborhood to replace it with new development.

Houses are now being built on what was River's Edge, a crime-plagued apartment complex near Midtown that was razed last year. Earlier this year, the city's housing authority unveiled a comprehensive plan to tear down the Ida Barbour Park public housing community to make way for new townhomes which tenants will have the option to purchase.

``Each of those communities had outlived its economic life,'' City Manager Ronald W. Massie said of the three neighborhoods. ``I don't know whose intentions you serve by leaving them unattended.''

Like the other two projects, the redevelopment of Fairwood Homes is being called critical to strengthening Portsmouth's tax base, alleviating crime and encouraging economic development.

The project will be financed through general obligation bonds and a bank loan that are to be repaid through tax revenues generated by developing the site, city officials said.

The planned commerce park will be located off I-264 and will offer businesses access to larger lots than available in the city's half-empty PortCentre Commerce Park, which was built on the grounds of another low-income neighborhood that was demolished.

The new commerce park will be developed according to demand, said Deputy City Manager Johnna Whitaker, who helped engineer the deal.

A market study will be conducted to determine what type of housing should be built on the adjacent land and when, she said.

Demolition, by Portsmouth Partners, is scheduled to begin by mid-fall and will take place in two phases. The first will dislocate 249 families.

The second phase of demolition, which will affect 67 families, won't begin until all of the first units are demolished and families relocated, said James M. Naquin, a consultant for Portsmouth Partners, which will also handle relocations. Tenants who chose to move within the neighborhood will be placed in homes that are now being renovated, he said.

The city also approved an option to purchase an additional 98 acres in Fairwood Homes gradually through the year 2003 for approximately $4.85 million. It could be used for additional commercial development, and a park on the land is being considered as a buffer.

The remaining 73 acres of the property is planned for new residential development. However, no plans, time frame or extent of city participation has been determined for that work, Whitaker said.

``If the city can get the first part going,'' she said, ``the hope is that other parties might become interested in developing it, and the city will not need to exercise those options.''

City officials are banking that the commerce park and new housing will encourage development around nearby Tower Mall, help with plans to upgrade and market the Bide-A-Wee Golf Course - located inside the Fairwood Homes complex - and raise residential and commercial property values in the area.

Despite the razing of the communities, the city manager said low-income people still have many places to live in Portsmouth.

A recent city study shows there are 2,500 housing units available in Portsmouth with rents comparable to those of Fairwood Homes, Massie said.

``You need low-income housing,'' he said, ``but it should be good housing, not stuff that is about to fall down.''

Fairwood Homes was built during World War II as temporary quarters for workers at the Naval Shipyard. It is among Portsmouth's most blighted neighborhoods. Many of the houses lack adequate roofing and modern plumbing and heating, and because of poor drainage, water stands in the streets for days after rains.

The owners have offered month-to-month leases, attracting a largely transient population.

However, some residents, such as Theodore Suitt and his wife, Pauline, have lived in the wooden homes for decades because of the low rent, which ranges from $200 for a one bedroom to $300 for three-bedroom homes.

``I think it is a good thing that they are going to tear the houses down because some of them are already torn down,'' said Suitt, 81, who has lived in the community for 23 years. ``They need so much work . . . it really isn't worth messing with them.''

Suitt said his house, while in relatively good shape compared to some others, needs floor repairs.

``The floor joints give,'' he said. ``The floor in the bedroom is unlevel. They came in here one time and raised the floor. The seals had rotted out.''

Plans for the community have been debated for more than a decade. When the Portsmouth Partners took over the property in 1983, they planned to redevelop the neighborhood.

Plans for a massive renovation fell through in the late 1980s because of a lack of support, Naquin said. Then the community was offered as a potential site for Virginia's first horse-racing track. Those plans were scuttled when a state commission chose a New Kent County site instead.

Almost immediately thereafter, talk began about Fairwood Homes becoming the site of a commerce park and new houses. Portsmouth Partners labored over the plan and how to finance it for years before deciding to enter the agreement with the city.

``The intent was to rehabilitate or redevelop the neighborhood. It didn't intend for it to sit like this,'' Naquin said. ``We finally have something that has made everyone happy.''

The city is pleased with the deal because of its economic potential. When the first phase of redevelopment is completed, the property is expected to generate at least $675,000 in additional revenue even after the city pays the debt service on the bonds to finance the project.

The commerce park also will help Portsmouth compete with other cities for businesses, said Matthew James, the city's director of economic development.

Although development of PortCentre has been slow - the 63-acre park is half full a decade after it was created - James thinks this additional commerce park will be successful.

``It is an ideal park to create, especially for a city that is not land rich,'' he said. ``Because of the configuration of PortCentre, we can't offer more than 10-acre parcels. This will allow us to offer 20- to 30-acre sites. That is why this project makes sense.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Maps

Color photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

WHAT HAPPENED: Portsmouth voted to buy Fairwood Homes and replace it

with a commerce park and new homes, eventually forcing 1,003

families to move.

WHAT IT MEANS: The deal is considered vital in the city's plans to

pump life back into the Tower Mall area. It is the third time in

two years Portsmouth has chosen to replace a decaying neighborhood

with new development.