WELLSTON 鈥 A nonprofit on Tuesday asked a St. 亚洲无码 County agency to donate three properties for its new headquarters here, but county officials said they couldn鈥檛 without a new Wellston redevelopment plan.
The St. 亚洲无码 County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority owns roughly 150 residential parcels spread throughout Wellston, an inner-ring suburb that has been devastated by population loss and disinvestment over the last several decades. The public agency also owns two large commercial tracts it recently reacquired from a developer that didn鈥檛 move forward with a project.
But the LCRA hasn鈥檛 updated its redevelopment plan for the city since 1999 and needs to reach a new agreement with Wellston officials before beginning to put the properties it owns back into private hands.
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鈥淎ny property sales or transfers are going to be held up until we get that plan in place,鈥 Bill Budde, assistant vice president for real estate and community investment at the St. 亚洲无码 Economic Development Partnership, which administers the LCRA, said on Tuesday at an LCRA board meeting.
Local nonprofit developer Equity Homes wants the LCRA to donate three properties on Evanston Avenue to the organization, its leaders told the LCRA board Tuesday. Equity Homes has acquired the former Wellston Early Childhood Center at 1623 Kienlen Avenue, vacant for over a decade, and plans to move its headquarters and about 20 staff to the building when the coronavirus pandemic subsides. It also acquired the former Grace Church building at 1701 Kienlen Avenue in Wellston, which it plans to rehab for use as community space. The group works closely with Beyond Housing, an active nonprofit in the area.
The two buildings sit on either side of Evanston Avenue, and Kevin Poe, managing director of Equity Homes, said the three LCRA-owned properties on the street would allow the group to assemble an office campus, and create a safer environment.
鈥淲e want to keep those properties clear of debris and mowed, and that鈥檚 not really being done,鈥 Poe told the board.
St. 亚洲无码 County Executive Sam Page鈥檚 administration has taken a keen interest in Wellston, interceding last year to prevent a U.S. Housing and Urban Development plan to demolish public housing units that as recently as 2018 housed some 20% of the city鈥檚 residents. Wellston and county officials in September chose 亚洲无码iana affordable housing developer to redevelop the public housing.
Erica Henderson, the Economic Development Partnership鈥檚 vice president of real estate, said she hoped to identify a funding source by the end of the year for the new Wellston plan, which she estimated would cost about $50,000. Local firm PGAV is also studying the area 鈥 the two dozen St. 亚洲无码 County municipalities, including Wellston, in the Normandy school district area.
Shannon Koenig, a top Page staffer who is working on the Wellston public housing redevelopment, told the board that the county is 鈥渨illing to support鈥 the creation of a new Wellston plan and that it could be coordinated with PGAV鈥檚 ongoing study.
鈥淚 know that there are other folks doing things in Wellston, so I think it鈥檚 important we鈥檙e all on the same page,鈥 she said.