Tuxedo Court set for HOPE VI
Housing authority awarded $20 million HUD grant to build new units, homes

Friday, June 04, 2004

ERIC VELASCO
Birmingham News staff writer

Tuxedo Court became Birmingham's second HOPE VI project with a $20 million grant announced Thursday that will help replace its 488 public housing units with 331 homes to rent or buy.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant will help transform Tuxedo Court into a mix of public and private housing, with an 8.6-acre park along both Five Points West Avenue and Interstate 20-59.

Two community buildings, a day-care center and a community center will be renovated and a new management-maintenance facility will be built.

The plan includes adding small parks throughout the new community, with walking and bike trails that connect to Bush Middle School, Ensley High School and Ensley Park.

Total cost for the project is $55 million, a consultant with Atlanta-based Boulevard Group told the Birmingham housing authority in January. The rest would come from tax-exempt bonds, tax-credit equity, the housing authority and mortgages.

The housing authority has asked the City of Birmingham for $9.4 million in roads and other improvements in the area, but the city declined.

Efforts to reach Ralph Ruggs, the housing authority's executive director, were unsuccessful Thursday.

HOPE VI is a federal program designed to provide home ownership opportunities for public housing residents and to replace blighted, poverty-stricken housing complexes with mixed-income communities.

Tuxedo Court was built in the 1950s. The new community will include 110 public housing units, 110 rental homes and 111 homes that will be sold.

Resident relocation is expected to begin by the end of the summer, according to a schedule posted by the Boulevard Group, which helped the housing authority apply for the HOPE VI grant.

Demolition should begin by the spring of 2005. The project is scheduled for completion by May 2008.

Birmingham's other HOPE VI project, at the former downtown Metropolitan Gardens complex, has reached the home-building stage. The new complex, which will be called Park Place, is scheduled for completion at the end of December, 2005.

This was the second attempt by the housing authority to win federal funding to replace Tuxedo Court.