Housing development revitalizes neighborhoods

Cleveland has broken ground on Villages of Central, a mixed-income housing development that is part of the city’s plan to encourage revitalization and homeownership in its Central neighborhood. The seven-year, $63-million project includes construction of 420 homes, as well as the renovation of 45 homes.

Nearly two years in the making, the Villages of Central is funded primarily by the Homeownership Zone Initiative (HZI) of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The HZI provides loans and grants for the creation of homeownership opportunities in low-income, distressed and blighted neighborhoods.

Cleveland was one of six cities chosen by HUD in 1997 to participate in the HZI. As part of the program, the agency has provided the city with $4.6 million in Economic Development Initiative grants and $12 million in Section 8 loans. That money, along with donations from private and public sources, is funding the Villages’ development.

Cleveland’s Department of Community Development selected locally based BFR Partners as master developer for the Villages. In April 2000, the company began work on Friendship Village, the first of the project’s six phases, which will consist of 54 homes.

The Villages of Central is scheduled for completion in July 2007. When the development is finished, 237 of the homes (51 percent) will target buyers with incomes that are 80 percent or less of the city’s median income. Forty-five of those homes will be sold to buyers with incomes at or below 50 percent of the median; 104 homes to buyers with incomes at or below 60 percent of the median; and 88 to buyers with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median.

Buyers will be able to choose from 25 floor plans, ranging from 1,100 to 2,700 square feet, and prices will range from $100,000 to $200,000. Subsidies in the form of deferred second mortgages will be offered, reducing monthly housing payments and making home ownership affordable to a range of buyers.

For more information about the Villages of Central, contact Joe Skrabec, communications manager for Cleveland’s Department of Community Development, (216) 664-4597, or visit www.villages-of-central.com.