A year after class action suit settlement, Thames River project moving forward
New London — The city's housing authority is as close as it has ever been to knocking down the dismal high rise housing complex known as the Thames River Apartments and building cleaner and safer housing for low-income residents, according to executive director Sue Shontell.
Construction still is at least two years out, but Shontell said Friday that the authority has put together a redevelopment team and will introduce the key players to tenants at a meeting tentatively scheduled for Sept. 16.
The authority's board of directors voted in June to use Peabody Properties Inc., a Braintree, Mass. property management company, and Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative, a low-income housing specialist also from Braintree, as its developers.
The housing authority, defendants in a class action suit brought on behalf of Thames River tenants, a year ago entered into a stipulated judgment that set out a series of dates over a three-year-period for the redevelopment of the aging apartment buildings at Crystal Avenue and State Pier Road.
The housing authority manages the 124-unit complex under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Under the court order, the redevelopment team, which also includes the authority, has until Sept. 30 to complete and adopt a financing plan and development approach.
Shontell said payment of the developers, for whom contracts are being prepared, will be built into the final cost of the project.
She said the companies are experts at obtaining financing and that she expects the project, which has been estimated to cost as much as $40 million, will be paid for with grants from several different entities.
"This is a critical time right now," said Robert I. Reardon, Jr., who represented the tenants pro bono and continues to monitor compliance with the schedule put in place by Superior Court Judge David M. Sheridan. "This is where the rubber meets the road."
While the developers have started surveying and testing the existing seven-acre site, Shontell said they also are looking at alternatives in the city.
Reardon has advocated moving the low income housing out of the industrial area in the shadow of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge into a more residential part of the city.
Reardon said he has been keeping up with the authority's progress and will be getting more involved now that the project is moving forward.
"I wouldn't want to limit them to any particular site, but I noticed there was some land still owned by the city in Bates Woods," Reardon said.
He said the Bates Woods property is accessible through the Progress Point apartment complex — another housing authority-run property — and is adjacent to the Waterford border.
He suggested the city could approach Waterford, which also is obligated to provide affordable housing, about a potential collaboration.
"It's a more suitable location, but not the only location," Reardon said. "There are other areas where the city can provide land."
While the class-action suit may have settled, Reardon has filed a notice of intent to file another lawsuit against the housing authority as the result of a shooting in May.
A 17-year-old girl was shot in the arm and a 4-year-old suffered a leg injury after two men opened fire in the courtyard, according to police, who still are investigating the incident.
Shontell said the authority asked city police to conduct a safety review of the property and has been making changes recommended by the police, including installation of additional lighting around the property.
The housing authority has a five-member board of directors that meets every fourth Tuesday of the month.
Current members include Chairman David Collins, Russell M. Carr, Marlin Scott, who is a resident of the Thames River Highrise, and Tambria Moore, executive assistant for city Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio. One position on the volunteer board is vacant.
k.florin@theday.com
Twitter: @KFLORIN
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