The Challenge
Maclay Apartments, a 303 unit, FHA scattered site rental community in Harrisburg PA was foreclosed by HUD and sold to the City with a $1.4 million Up Front Grant for renovations. The property, scattered over nine blocks and 45 acres was deteriorated, overly dense, a magnet for crime and a blight to the Uptown Community.
The Plan
Landex Corporation, in partnership with Struever Bros, Eccles and Rouse, was selected by the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority to redevelop the community into rental and for-sale housing. The UpFront Grant allocation was inadequate to do a proper renovation of the site and the buildings. Landex worked with the City and HUD to increase the Upfront Grant to $11,800,000 for 222 units of rental housing and 72 units of for-sale housing. For the rental component, Landex secured private equity of $7,000,000 and CDBG funds of $122,000 to redevelop 222 units of rental housing.
Financing
- HUD Up Front Grant
- $8,880,000
- CDBG from the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority
- $122,000
- Equity
- $12,500,000
Results
The Residences at Governor’s Square is a 222 unit rental community located in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg, PA, the state’s capita city. It is walking distance from the Governor’s Mansion and the beautiful river on First Street. Many of the original Maclay Street Apartments were substantially renovated, while others, located in very poorly designed buildings, were demolished and replaced. Furthermore, the previously renovated townhomes that were converted from single-family buildings to five unit structures in 1981 were reconfigured, rehabilitated and the density was reduced. To accomplish the redevelopment, existing residents were temporarily relocated on site in accordance with the federal Uniform Relocation Act.
Revitalization of the community was not confined to the physical elements. Rather, the new community involved the creation of human service linkages with existing community-based service providers and the availability of employment opportunities for the under and unemployed. Thus, the master plan for the revitalized community paid heed to the physical design of the housing as well as to the human resources required to build the self-sufficiency of its residents.