Demolition, transformation coming to Lee Walker Heights

John Boyle, jboyle@citizen-times.com 7:03 p.m. EDT October 26, 2014

Kids play outside the buildings at Lee Walker Heights, the oldest public housing development in Asheville on Wednesday. Opened in 1949, the 96-unit complex on the South Slope of downtown houses about 240 people. The Housing Authority of the City of Asheville plans a complete transformation of the development, calling for relocating current residents, demolishing the existing buildings and rebuilding public housing mixed in with affordable and workforce housing. 10/22/14(Photo: PHOTOS BY Katie Bailey/CITIZEN-TIMES)

ASHEVILLE Lee Walker Heights was the citys first public housing development to open, and it will be the first to be torn down.

In the coming months, the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville plans to partner with a private developer to transform the isolated 96-unit housing complex at the end of Ashevilles South Slope near downtown. Plans call for relocating Lee Walkers 204 residents, demolishing and rebuilding all 96 of the town home units, then adding at least another hundred units to create a mixed-income, mixed-use development.

If the plans come together and the project has a lot of variables residents likely will move in 2016, with demolition and construction ensuing that same year.

Itll be the first time weve actually demoed a development and replaced it with a mixed-income development, keeping in mind that were bringing the residents back to the new development, said Gene Bell, CEO of the Housing Authority. So, thatd be a historic moment not for the bigger picture in the United States but it would be for Asheville.

Sitting next to him at HACAs South French Broad headquarters, Chief Operating Office David Nash added a quick caveat.

I would only qualify that by saying weve got a long way to go before we declare its a historical moment, he said. Theres a lot of of work and a lot of money that needs to be pulled together.

But plans are moving ahead for Lee Walker Heights, which opened in 1950 as a blacks-only public housing project on 11.5 acres off Short Coxe Avenue. The Housing Authority has narrowed its list of possible private developer partners to three, and it has held several community meetings with residents to keep them apprised of plans.

The city of Asheville and Duke Energy also are players in the deal. The city is committing to provide infrastructure improvements, in part by designating Lee Walker part of the South Slope Innovation District, meaning future infrastructure development in the area would be eligible for special obligation bond financing. Low-income tax credits and federal funding also could be in play, options the Housing Authority and its partner will explore.

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Demolition, transformation coming to Lee Walker Heights