Dec 1 – NEW LONDON – The city’s housing authority is seeking approval to demolish nine older retirement and disability homes in Gordon Court and replace them with a multi-storey complex.
The $30 million plan is part of a larger project that calls for the redevelopment of all three state-controlled facilities operated by the New London Housing Authority: Gordon Court, at 11 Gordon Court off Williams Street; the George Washington Carver Apartments on Colman Street; and Riozzi Court.
All 60-year-old complexes are accessible to tenants aged 62 or older or 100% disabled. The federally subsidized Williams Park Apartments on Hempstead Street, a 99-unit high-rise building, is not included in the demo and rebuild master project.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on a site development plan submitted for the Gordon Court phase of the plan on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Reducing buildings, adding apartments
The Gordon Court project would replace 38 existing units, most divided into four-apartment buildings. The proposed detached complex would house 86 apartments.
Renderings show a three-story U-shaped building on the west side of the property with 81 one-bedroom units and five two-bedroom units. A permit application states that 10% of the apartments will be accessible to the disabled.
The first floor plans show a main entrance, vestibule and lobby, along with office and laundry areas. Twenty-six apartments are spread along the central hall and two wings with a communal area in the easternmost part of the complex.
Associated improvements include new utilities, parking for up to 29 vehicles and various landscaping additions.
Although a recently awarded $250,000 state grant will cover planning for the Gordon Court project, the housing authority has not yet secured the state funding needed to demolish the units and build the new complex.
Norbert Deslauriers, executive director of the Housing Authority, said Tuesday that his group plans to submit a funding request to the Connecticut Housing Authority by Jan. 15, 2025, for federal tax credits that, combined with expected state grants, would fund the work.
“But we need Planning and Zoning Commission approval for the project as part of our application,” he said.
Deslauriers said a project timeline expects demolition to begin in late 2025.
“We expect 18 to 24 months to demolish the buildings and build the new complex,” he said.
Mayor Michael Passero said discussions on the project predate the COVID-19 pandemic and it has the support of Department of Housing (DOH) officials.
He said the detached homes at Gordon Court and other Housing Authority sites have problems related to their age.
Residents have been complaining for years about mold in their buildings, as well as about outdated equipment and lack of timely maintenance.
“There’s no point in putting money into those homes; they really can’t be renovated,” Passero said. “What we get is a modern building, with more units, that looks like market-rate housing.”
Deslauriers said Gordon Court residents would be moved to other housing authority apartments during the work. The new building’s additional units would be used to house tenants of the two other housing sites as their homes are demolished and replaced.
Reclaiming housing vouchers
The proposed upgrade works are also seen as a way to regain control of housing vouchers.
Passero and other city officials have cited the decade-old loss of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as one of the biggest obstacles to keeping the housing complexes in good condition.
The vouchers are part of a federal program to help low-income families, elderly and disabled people afford housing. Voucher holders pay 30% of their monthly adjusted income for rent and utilities, and the program pays the remainder of the rent.
In 2013, the Housing Authority lost the ability to administer 114 vouchers and relinquished control of its voucher program because it was operating inefficiently, the DOH said.
The program was transferred to the DOH, which currently administers more than 350 vouchers in the city. Officials said vouchers are key to running a housing authority because they would generate additional revenue that could be used to hire more housing authority staff.
Deslauriers said he met with Gordon Court residents in October to discuss the project.
“There was a lot of discussion and a lot of questions,” he said, adding that he later collected answers to the tenants’ questions and dropped them off on their doorsteps. “These are old buildings that we’ve spent money on over the years. But it’s been Band-Aids – a lot of Band-Aids.’
j.penney@theday.com
