More than the ‘projects’: How a $35 million grant could transform Five Points neighborhood
What could $35 million do for Jasmine Lawrence’s neighborhood in Phenix City?
“It would mean a quality of life change,” Lawrence, president of the residents council at the Frederick Douglass Homes public housing complex, told the Ledger-Enquirer. “Now, the resources that you would normally have to go outside of the neighborhood to look for, you could find closer to your residence.”
Lawrence and her group took a step toward trying to obtain those millions of dollars Tuesday night.
The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative planning leadership team of Lawrence, Mayor Eddie Lowe and Phenix City Housing Authority executive director Mary Mayrose hosted a public forum for folks to hear consultants present the three alternatives for transforming Frederick Douglass and the surrounding Five Points neighborhood in the heart of the city.
In the summer, Mayrose said, the committee hopes to apply for a $30-35 million implementation grant from HUD. Grant winners should be notified by December 2020, she said. Hope VI grants ranged from $10-15 million, she said.
And she is confident Phenix City again will be selected, calling the potential impact “transformational.”
In September 2018, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the Phenix City Housing Authority and the city one of its six $250,000 Choice Neighborhoods planning grants.
The money is helping form a comprehensive plan to redevelop the 272-unit Frederick Douglass Homes and the Five Points neighborhood, covering 752 acres (1.2 square miles).
Phenix City is the first jurisdiction in Alabama and metro Columbus to receive a Choice Neighborhoods planning grant, Mayrose said.
The Housing Authority of Columbus has already used the federal Hope VI grant to convert public housing into mixed-income developments. The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, another federal housing and urban development program, tries to improve the neighborhood and benefit its people as well as the public housing.
The need
Frederick Douglass is the oldest of the five public housing complexes operated by the Phenix City Housing Authority, which was established in 1938. The authority is responsible for 925 housing units.
“Although the residents of Frederick Douglass refer to their neighborhood with great pride,” she said, “they are also fully aware of the negative connotations associated with living at this public housing development — in a community where schools are struggling, where the housing stock is severely distressed, crime persists, and other social and economic challenges perpetuate and feed off one another in veritable isolation.”
Lawrence hopes the redevelopment will help change the perception of public housing.
“A lot of people have a stigma attached to it, that it’s just something to be cast to the side,” she said. “However, there are a lot of people in the community who work every day. There a lot of people who work on building better lives, not just sitting around on porches, as many people would assume takes place in the projects.”
Five Points “is sustained by the high level of involvement of residents in their community,” Mayrose said, as well as assets including government, education, recreation and healthcare facilities.
The community also has a hotel, bank, grocery store, two pharmacies and six churches.
The condition of the Frederick Douglass apartments is a concern, Lawrence said, especially the sewer system. She also welcomes the larger scope of the redevelopment to include the Five Points neighborhood.
“It’s going to be great for residents as well as business owners,” she said. “It’s going to provide an opportunity to change some things.”
Among the changes she would like to see are improved public transportation, job opportunities, childcare and healthcare.
The alternatives
C. Alyn Pruett, an urban planner with Campus and Community Strategies in Miami, Florida, presented the three alternatives to the approximately 50 folks who attended Tuesday’s forum.
The alternatives ranged from minimal to moderate to significant change. The consensus after the hour-long forum seemed to favor the significant change, which is called Alternative B.
Here are highlights of that plan:
Public housing
Replacing the original 272 apartments at Frederick Douglass with 223 new units on site and 84 affordable housing units at Liberty Hill, where the former Cobb Memorial Hospital operated.
Redevelopment of Riverview Court Apartments already has started, replacing 306 apartments with 350 new units on site and 84 affordable housing units completed at Hidden Hills Trace.
Entertainment district
Going from Mill Creek to the Chattahoochee River, an entertainment district would allow open containers of alcohol along the riverfront corridor, east of Broad Street.
An entertainment district could be created incrementally over five or 10 years, Pruett said, which is the pace envisioned by Alternative A. Alternative B, however, suggests a faster pace, sparked by a catalyst project that would quickly attract more development.
Examples of a catalyst project could be a cluster of restaurants and commercial properties, a venue for outdoor activities or an event center.
This alternative proposes moving city government offices from Broad Street to an undetermined site, allowing more space for new development in an entertainment district.
Neighborhood conservation
Grants or forgivable loans could be available to property owners for maintenance or upgrades.
Mill Creek greenway
This proposal calls for a greenway from the river to the Five Points intersection.
Five Points intersection
Just south of Frederick Douglass, this intersection could be converted into a roundabout with a sculpture and pedestrian bridge.
The area from Frederick Douglass south to Mill Creek could become mixed-use, including multistory buildings, with businesses on the ground floor and offices or residences above.
Incubator business district
The commercial corridor along 13th and Crawford could become an incubator business district, guiding entrepreneurs’ ideas to market.
An example could be creating a commercial kitchen where food business startups could rent space. Lofts could be built over the businesses to bring in residents and make the area more vibrant.
North of Frederick Douglass
This alternative would revise the zoning to develop small-scale apartment complexes, with 6-8 units, to keep the character of existing historic buildings.
Opelika Road corridor
Vacant land along the Opelika Road corridor could attract a large employer.
Veterans memorials
A trail of veterans memorials could be installed along 13th and Crawford, from the river, out to 20th and culminating in a park on the site of the former Cobb Memorial Hospital.
Concerns voiced
Although nobody spoke against Alternative B as the favored plan, some expressed concerns.
One resident requested more recreation opportunities for youth be considered in the plan. Another resident asked about increasing access to public transportation. Mayrose and Pruett said those issues will be addressed in the plan.
Mayrose acknowledged planners are wary of upgrading the area to such an extent that current residents couldn’t afford to live there anymore.
“We don’t want to gentrify the neighborhood,” she said.
Next steps
After a preliminary plan is developed by February, the final plan is expected to be presented to the community in May.
That’s also when the housing authority is scheduled to complete its “Doing While Planning” project, a requirement of the federal grant. The project, which residents are helping to plan and create, will produce a pocket park at the corner of 14th Place and 12th Avenue.
The project, Mayrose said, “will be highly visible to the community and will demonstrate the community’s ability to make positive change, and to show residents that planning can lead to actual neighborhood improvement.”
It’s too early to have estimated costs of the redevelopment, Mayrose said, but it will “undoubtedly show a gap between existing available resources and total development costs.”
The hope, she said, is that private investment and resources from the city and housing authority will combine with a federal implementation grant to fully fund the plan over several years.
Also making Mayrose optimistic about this redevelopment has been the participation from approximately 125 residents and dozens of community leaders, in addition to the 316 respondents to the survey.
“The planning process has brought residents and community stakeholders together and has provided unique opportunities for residents to take on leadership roles and advocate for community needs,” she said.
Lawrence said she appreciates that opportunity.
“I try to make sure all of the residents are represented,” she said. “They’re not just numbers; they’re not just faceless people.”
The housing authority has conducted five meetings for residents to update them on the potential redevelopment and their tenant rights, Mayrose said.
Where is Five Points?
Five Points has the following borders: the Chattahoochee River on the east, Highway 280 on the west, South Railroad Street on the north, and Mill Creek to the Dillingham Bridge on the south. It is called Five Points because of the five-point intersection created by the juncture of 12th Avenue, 13th Street, 14th Street and Crawford Road.
How to submit your input
To submit your input about the alternatives for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative in Phenix City, call the housing authority at 334-664-9991 or send an email via the contact link on the project’s website: 5pointscitycenter.org.
