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Original Article

By JOHN PECK
Times Staff Writer

City commits up to $1M in urban renewal grants

The investor whose multimillion-dollar development interest in the historic Lowe Mill area will accelerate the relocation of Huntsville’s Downtown Rescue Mission also plans to convert a neighboring apartment complex to condominiums.

Gary Reynolds, owner of Mirabeau Apartments on Bob Wallace Avenue, formed Mill Village Partners Inc. last year with plans for an extensive redevelopment of Lowe Mill Village. The $4 million- to $5 million mill project will be in addition to a $35 million makeover of Mirabeau into condominiums priced in the $125,000 to $225,000 range, he said.

The city is committing up to $1 million in federal urban renewal grants to back the private development loan.

“What he’s doing is borrowing the money to buy the property, renovate, and pay soft costs such as drawings and marketing,” said Huntsville Community Development Director Jerry Galloway. “We’re guaranteeing to the bank if 20 percent of the units aren’t sold, community development will buy them up before they go into foreclosure.”

Reynolds said the grant money, appropriated through the Housing and Urban Development agency, is designed to be “leveraged” with private investments.

Reynolds shared the first public details of the Lowe village redevelopment plans Tuesday during an interview with The Times.

Galloway and Reynolds said the homeless shelter relocation is crucial to making the Lowe Mill area attractive to buyers.

“The outside consultants we hired said that the mission would have to be relocated and the new houses and refurbishment of houses under way for a year before we could deliver the first condos,” Reynolds said.

The condo development and mill house renovations will be done under the auspices of First Priority Management, headed by Ann Crews, Reynolds said. Names of other investors and partners were not immediately available.

Reynolds, who has a history in affordable housing developments in Clearwater, Indianapolis and elsewhere, said a goal of the Lowe Mill redevelopment is to restore the neighborhood to its historic character (circa 1899-1901) and convert as many rental houses as possible into owner-occupied homes. About two out of three homes there now are rentals.

Galloway said a public-private partnership seemed the only way to prevent Lowe Mill from deteriorating into an inner city slum. Two previous redevelopment interests backed out over the past five years because of the shelter, he said.

“The bottom line is, the feeling was that as long as the mission stays, we were never going to revitalize Lowe Mill,” Galloway said. “It’s important to revitalize because Lowe is now a gateway into downtown, and we don’t want slums. It’s been deteriorating with the percentage of rentals going up and the condition of housing deteriorating.”

Galloway said the city stood to lose the federal revitalization grant if it did not commit the money to a neighborhood renewal effort by June.

The Lowe Mill project seemed ripe because the city already had plans to move the rescue mission on Ninth Avenue for a road straightening project, he said. Reynolds said he read about the road straightening project around 2005 and contacted the city then about investing in the neighborhood. He was inspired about Lowe’s potential by the success Mirabeau, which he bought out of foreclosure in 2002. Mirabeau was formerly known as Westland and Fantasia apartments.

Reynolds formed Mill Village Partners in June 2007, according to incorporation records with the secretary of state. He formed a condominium LLC several months later.

The city purchased the homeless shelter March 27 for $3.9 million with an order to vacate by October. The mission bought the Westminster Christian Academy campus the following day for $3.7 million.

Northwest Huntsville residents are livid that the mission is relocating to Westminster near Sparkman and University drives. Critics argue the relocation will simply shift the blight associated with the mission from Lowe Mill to neighborhoods surrounding its new home.

Galloway repeated previous city claims that the city had nothing to do with the mission’s site selection. Galloway hopes Westminster, with its 16 acres and living amenities (gym, cafeteria, kitchen, classrooms suitable for dorms) under one roof will prove a better fit for a homeless shelter than the mission’s multiple buildings scattered across 5 acres.

Galloway said city and mission leaders are more committed to make the new location work so the city won’t again find itself rescuing a dying neighborhood.

City Councilman Richard Showers said Tuesday he will continue the fight with northwest Huntsville residents to find another site. Showers said he opposes any location that could bring down a neighborhood.

“I would not want it in anyone’s district,” he said.

Showers and City Councilman Glenn Watson met with neighborhood leaders Monday to discuss options. Those options include delaying the mission’s move date to give the city time to find another site.

Reynolds said any delay will jeopardize his revitalization offer. He’s already spent about $1 million purchasing properties in Lowe Mill and on studies, consultants and early designs. Reynolds said the Lowe homes and condos will offer affordable living within close proximity to Parkway Place, downtown and hospitals.

The Lowe Mill project would not be an unprecedented public-private venture in inner city Huntsville. Galloway said his office spent about $5 million from grants and other money in the 1990s cleaning up the Meadow Hills neighborhood across from Alabama A&M University. The project involved rehabilitating 138 homes and making other neighborhood improvements.

The city also wants to focus renewal efforts on the Terry Heights and the Lincoln Mill areas, he said.

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Eric M. (ericgmorgan.com)