LR studies options for ex-veterans home

Housing, playground, garden on list

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND --06/27/13--  A for sale sign is posted in front of the The Arkansas Veterans Home at 4701 West Charles Bussey Avenue in Little Rock Thursday.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND --06/27/13-- A for sale sign is posted in front of the The Arkansas Veterans Home at 4701 West Charles Bussey Avenue in Little Rock Thursday.

Suggested redevelopment plans for the site of the former Little Rock Veterans Home include single-family housing, a garden, a playground and a small park.

Rodney Forte, executive director of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance, which has expressed interest in buying the property at 4701 West Charles Bussey Ave., presented a preliminary site plan to the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners on Thursday.

The board unanimously approved a resolution allowing Forte to enter into negotiations for the site, which was vacated in the summer of 2012 after the deteriorating building was declared unfit for occupation and abandoned by the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.

In an agreement with Little Rock, the housing agency will pay $25,000 with the city pitching in another $25,000 to purchase the site at Charles Bussey Avenue and Madison Street. The property extends to West 22nd Street to the south and 21st Street to the east. The Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to demolish the old veterans home there and rid the property of asbestos before handing it over to the Housing Alliance.

Up to 12 public housing lots with single-family homes, a small playground, a community garden and a "pocket park" are suggested for redevelopment, according to a rendering drawn by Fennell Purifoy Architects.

"First-time homeowners and veterans are people that can fall into that category [of eligible tenants]. So that's our proposed plan," Forte said.

The board also approved allowing Forte to look into the agency purchasing another piece of property at Woodrow Street and Charles Bussey Avenue, with Asher Avenue bordering it to the south and a set of railroad tracks to the east. Appianway Street runs through the two-block area.

A site rendering of that plan proposes several multifamily buildings on the property, eight single-family homes, two small playgrounds, a garden and a mixed-use building.

Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson, who serves as liaison between the housing board and the city Board of Directors, objected to the agency's redevelopment of that property, which currently is listed on the city's condemnation list.

"I'm somewhat baffled by the rationale to purchase this property. ... It's in close proximity to a cemetery, a railroad track. It's hard for me to grasp any kind of redevelopment efforts with this," he said, noting his support of purchasing the former veterans home site because it's near other established redevelopment efforts.

Forte said that owning land designated for redevelopment will assist the housing agency in gaining more points in the scoring system for its federal application for a $30 million Choice Neighborhood implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Little Rock's Metropolitan Housing Alliance already received a $300,000 Choice Neighborhood planning grant, but isn't guaranteed to be awarded the implementation grant. It's competing with cities such as San Antonio.

"The [Woodrow Street] property has a rundown building on it. It's somewhat of an eyesore to say the least. I've wanted this property since I've been here. I thought it was a great spot; there's a lot of traffic. It just needed something better on it than what is there now. I would like to purchase it contingent upon appraisal, HUD approval and board approval," Forte said.

In response to Richardson, he added: "My job is to give us the best possible way to compete for the Choice [Neighborhood] process. This property, based on the definition that you gave, what you just described in essence was the complete Choice Neighborhood boundary. ... The whole choice box is a desert -- food desert, shopping desert and all of the above. So, at the end of the day, what we are trying to do is provide housing opportunities."

Ward 1 Director Erma Hendrix, whose ward includes the Woodrow Street property, said she is supportive of the agency redeveloping the site.

Metro on 08/23/2014

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