An engineering firm has submitted site plans to the city of Wilmington for 40 affordable housing units near Greenfield Lake, getting the ball rolling to comply with a federal government mandate for the property put in place almost 10 years ago.
Formerly the site of the Adrian B. Rhodes Armed Forces Reserve Center, which closed in 2006, 4 acres of land at 2144 West Lakeshore Drive will eventually hold 40 one-bedroom units for homeless seniors, veterans and people with disabilities, according to Good Shepherd Center's plan. In 2008, Lakeside Partners was awarded the project and the property was deeded from the city to Lakeside.
"The city spent a number of years entertaining proposals that were not homeless-service oriented," said Katrina Knight, director of Good Shepherd Center, a nonprofit organization that feeds and shelters the homeless in Wilmington. "The feds were slow to do this, but eventually they made it clear to the city to seriously consider the one proposal they had received for a homeless response that we submitted with two nonprofits at the time."
After such a long period with nothing happening, the other two nonprofits dropped out of the process.
Another homeless shelter on the property, Knight said, would only temporarily address the problem of homelessness in the Wilmington area.
"We know today, and we knew nine years ago, the answer is not to continually add shelter," she said. "We need to do a better job as a country of reducing folks' length of stay in shelters and expediting their return to housing ...The answer is not to just keep adding shelter beds. That's a response, but it's not a solution."
Good Shepherd and its limited liability company Lakeside Partners plan to call the community Lakeside Reserve, which according to site plans submitted to city planners by Paramounte Engineering will consist of three phases. The first phase, site plans show, is a 16-unit apartment building consisting of more than 16,000 square feet. Units will be about 660 square feet each, with common areas and laundry facilities, among other amenities available to residents.
Phases II and III involve six four-unit apartment buildings, according to the plans.
"Lakeside Reserve will provide affordable 1-bedroom units costing just 30 percent of residents’ income," the Good Shepherd Center website says. "In addition, there will be common areas for group activities and on-site case management and supportive services (transportation, counseling, etc.) provided by Good Shepherd Center staff."
Knight said the construction is expected to cost about $5 million.
"The whole point of this is we have clients today who need an apartment, and there just aren't enough of them [affordable to low-income residents] in our community," she said. "There are some, but there are waiting lists, and we just don't have enough."
Currently, the center struggles to find one-bedroom apartments under $600 a month, Knight said. Some people who receive disability aid only get about $700 a month in the state of North Carolina, she said.
She said the center would like to break ground on the project by next spring or early next summer.
