Online Extra: Housing for All
A Savannah Housing Project Wins a Preservation Award.
By Jeesoo Park | From Preservation | November/December 2007
Savannah's century-old Heritage Corner
Credit: Mercy Housing
Thanks to the work of Mercy Housing, a nonprofit that acquires, develops, and leases low-income housing, many families in Savannah, Ga., can live in new and improved, not to mention affordable, conditions.
In 2002, Mercy Housing opened Heritage Place Apartments in one of Savannah's oldest African-American neighborhoods, the Cuyler-Brownsville Historic District. The apartments triggered demands for more affordable housing in the area and upon receiving historic tax credit funding in 2003, Mercy Housing met those requests by rehabilitating Heritage Corner and Heritage Row properties, providing 70 new affordable units.
"These buildings are wood-frame constructions, previously owned by private owners and now by Mercy Housing," says Robin Haddock, regional director of housing development at Mercy Housing. The dedication ceremony for the new apartments took place in April 2006.
Heritage Corner occupies a section at the gateway of a neighborhood that was originally built as housing for low-income workers in the early 1900s. Heritage Row, located five blocks away, is a block of buildings constructed in 1912.
Mercy Housing has partnered with local community groups to provide health care and education programs to the residents of Heritage Corner and Row Apartments.
The $9.2 million project was financed by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the Guilford Capital Corporation, the City of Savannah, Community Housing Services Agency, Inc., and the Mercy Loan Fund.
Read more about 2007 winner Irene Lam, who saved a gold dome in Arizona >>
For more of this article, e-mail us to purchase a copy. Subscribe to the magazine.
Read more excerpts from our current issue >>
Comments
