Three HOPE VI housing developments are set to open

Source: Frederick Newspost.com

Three HOPE VI housing developments are set to open within the next two months, with work to begin on a fourth by the end of the year and a fifth next spring.

Sixty apartments in the Hillcrest neighborhood and 23 senior apartments at Catoctin Manor on Motter Avenue should be available by mid-October, said Kevin Lollar, development director for the Housing Authority of the City of Frederick. Residents should be moving in by the start of November.

Friday morning, workers at Catoctin Manor were finishing the building's first floor, including the entryway and common areas.

Eight houses the authority is redeveloping in the Sagner neighborhood should be ready for occupants in mid-November, he said.

HOPE VI is a federal program to replace low-income housing projects with houses and apartments that people with varied incomes can afford.

In Frederick, the housing authority is replacing the Hanson-Taney complexes on North Bentz Street, which it demolished in 2006, with developments around the city.

When the authority tore down the old complexes it had to relocate slightly more than 100 families, said Teresa Justice, the authority's executive director. Roughly 75 of them might return to the new HOPE VI developments.

Half the Hillcrest apartments and 10 Catoctin Manor apartments have been leased, Lollar said.

As residents move in at Hillcrest and Catoctin Manor, work should start on laying new streets at the old Hanson-Taney site, he said. Grading on the site should start in November.

A street in the new development will be named for Lord Nickens, first president of Frederick's NAACP, Lollar said.

Plans call for 55 homes for purchase and 42 rental units at that site, with a mix of market-rate and affordable housing properties for sale, and affordable and public housing apartments.

The City of Frederick has begun demolition on the site of Rogers Homes at South Carroll and East South streets, Lollar said. Construction of that development should be under way by the spring.

Rogers Homes is slated for 32 rental apartments and four units to be purchased by residents.