The collaboration of public and private partners to create a more vibrant neighborhood in the West End area have yielded big results.
As part of the City of Roanoke’s strategy to focus CDBG funds on a specific area to achieve a greater impact for the community, revitalization of the West End area began in July 2011. Final activities were finished on June 30th with a total of $5,607,124 in CDBG and HOME funds expended.
The following are among the positive results of this effort:
• A total of 117 residential properties were addressed (30 new homeownership, 49 owner-occupied limited and major rehabilitation, 18 residential façade improvements, 18 lead safe abatements, and 2 demolitions).
• The funding provided 2,500 linear feet of new or rehabbed sidewalks; 1,200 linear feet of storm water pipes and structures was installed to handle frequent flooding along 13th Street.
• The number of City Code violations showed a significant decrease since 2011 as the result of HUD staff working closely with the city’s Code Enforcement team to perform sweeps throughout the area to address code violations.
• Police Department statistics show crime in the West End area has decreased since 2010—overall crime is down 10 percent, and property crime is down 19 percent.
• The median sales price of homes in Roanoke’s West End increased 72 percent since 2011 as the result of investments from the city and private investors for revitalization. The median sales price went from $70,000 to $121,000; the average assessed value increased from $87,000 to $140,000.
• Freedom First Credit Union opened a Financial Services Center to serve the neighborhood, which resulted in more than 1,600 new accounts being opened, and $4.27 million in loans being granted since the branch’s opening in 2014.
• Since 2011, $4.7 million in new building permits have been issued for the area: nearly $1 million in the new financial service center, with commercial property being refurbished and private home construction and remodeling, stabilization, and visual improvement to the Campbell/Patterson intersection by private owners; and with plans for a future community garden at that spot.
• Other notable results include the development of a West End Village Plan, LEAP Community Kitchen, community garden, private development of former City Health Department building for market rate housing, and the creation of gateway public artwork, which will be installed at intersection of Campbell and Patterson in the near future.
The West End project was selected as the 2015 winner of Neighborhood Project of the Year by Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Association.
In July the target area for HUD funds will transition to Melrose-Orange—from 10th Street to 24th Street, and Loudon Avenue to Hanover Avenue—and similar results are anticipated. Habitat is building or rehabilitating eight new homes for ownership in this area, and TAP and Renovation Alliance are doing major and limited housing rehabilitation. The City of Ronaoke is also working in partnership with RRHA to create a neighborhood transformation plan.
For more information, contact Keith Holland, Community Resources Program Administrator for the City of Roanoke, at 853-6404 or email him at [email protected].