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Washington Post Staff Writer
The D.C. Housing Authority has received a $20 million federal grant to redevelop the former Sheridan Terrace public housing project in Southeast Washington into a mix of 336 units of affordable and market-rate apartments and single-family houses.
Michael Kelly, the authority's executive director, said the award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is the equivalent of "winning an Oscar."
"It's HUD's recognition of excellence in technical achievement, city leadership and collaboration, D.C. Housing Authority capacity and the clarity of the vision of the neighbors of the Sheridan Terrace site," Kelly said.
The city won the grant on its third time applying for Hope VI funds for Sheridan Terrace. The authority bulldozed the once-crumbling and crime-ridden project in 1997, three years after the last tenant moved out of the 183-unit complex.
The HUD grant, announced this week by Kelly, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), will kick-start the development of the District's seventh Hope VI project.
The Housing Authority, whose partner in the project is William C. Smith & Co., will leverage the HUD grant with $87.7 million in public and private funds to develop the 9.8-acre Sheridan site -- bounded by Suitland Parkway and the District-Maryland line -- with 180 townhouses, 16 "manor homes" with four units per house and 100 apartments for seniors and families. A groundbreaking is expected in a year, and construction should be complete by 2011, officials said.
Residents who had to vacate the old Sheridan Terrace will have priority in returning to the new development, authority spokeswoman Dena Michaelson said, adding that 77 families have expressed interest in doing so.
With a redeveloped Sheridan Terrace, Washington will have seven Hope VI projects, second only to Chicago among U.S. cities. The federally funded Hope VI projects aim to restructure old public housing sites that traditionally clustered low-income families in high-density, high-rise buildings into lower-density, mixed-income developments. More HERE
There are four Hope VI developments in Ward 8, including Sheridan Terrace; two in Ward 6, including the Capper-Carrollsburg development adjacent to the new Washington Nationals stadium; and one in Ward 7. More HERE
