2009-09-18 23:29:04 - Working alongside Audubon Lifestyles, The International Sustainability Council, LandDesign, and Shook Kelley, The Double Oaks Neighborhood Development is developing a vision of sustainability for the Double Oaks Neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership, Inc. (“CMHP”) purchased Double Oaks Apartments in September 2007 to create a large-scale redevelopment in Charlotte, North Carolina within a mile and a half of the City’s urban core. This 80-acre redevelopment replaces dilapidated structures with a mixed-income, mixed-use site inclusive of high quality affordable housing, improved infrastructure, and enhanced green space. CMHP proposed the redevelopment of Double Oaks Apartments as an ideal model for showcasing the HUD/EPA/DOT Sustainable Communities Initiative.

CMHP is partnering with the International Sustainability Council (ISC) and working with LandDesign, Audubon Lifestyles, and Shook Kelley to realize the vision for Double Oaks, which based on the ISC approved Sustainability Charter for Double Oaks. Funding partners who invested in the idea of a “HOPE VI,

without HOPE VI funding” include the City of Charlotte, NeighborWorks America, Wachovia Bank, Housing Partnership Network, Neighborhood Housing Services of America-Community Development Financial Institution, The Wachovia Foundation, and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. Partners are being sought for additional planning and environmental funding.

This is an unprecedented opportunity to illustrate the long-term value of a market driven redevelopment that can be replicated elsewhere. It builds upon the reputations and expertise of CMHP’s prior successes. The organization has acted as a developer and investor for neighborhoods and affordable housing developments as well as a master developer for the local housing authority in its Park at Oaklawn HOPE VI redevelopment.

The vision for Double Oaks was born out of The Statesville Avenue Corridor Plan, which was developed by CMHP and the City of Charlotte to provide a roadmap for revitalizing a key inner-city corridor in Charlotte.

The Statesville Avenue Corridor Plan was adopted by the Charlotte City Council in 2001. Since adoption, CMHP has developed projects totaling $71 million and other public bodies have invested $51 million on road improvements, new school construction, and water and sewer upgrades. The purchase and redevelopment of Double Oaks was crucial to maximizing these investments. Three neighborhoods within this Corridor have been successfully revitalized, a fourth is underway, and Double Oaks rests literally in the middle of these four neighborhoods.

The former Double Oaks Apartments site was poorly designed, and the units were in deplorable condition at the time of acquisition. The apartments had a 34% vacancy rate even in a market where affordable housing is in demand. The existing structures had low value as multi-family housing. In contrast, the 80 acres on which they sat were adjacent to well-planned, revitalized communities. As the property had been foreclosed on by HUD and the mortgage was headed towards a HUD bulk sale, the opportunity was obvious. Prior experience in Statesville Avenue Corridor communities suggests such uses would be feasible. Recent Corridor projects, such as The Park at Oaklawn Apartment’s 178 family tax-credit units and The Gables at Druid Hills Senior Apartment’s 63 senior tax-credit units are operating at 98% occupancy, suggesting a high demand for quality, affordable rental housing. The sale of 71 homes at The Park at Oaklawn in approximately 9 months, with 25 homes sold to Charlotte Housing Authority residents, suggests an extremely high demand for affordable homeownership opportunities within 1 mile of downtown Charlotte.

CMHP worked with Shook Kelley to establish a development program and to create a master plan and brand position that defines the vision. LandDesign’s expertise in civil engineering and landscape architecture was sought during the implementation phase. Sustainability is a key component of Double Oaks, and therefore Audubon Lifestyles was engaged to review and advise on various sustainability topics and to help insure compliance with the ISC Principles of Sustainability. Double Oaks builds upon the lessons learned from prior redevelopments in Charlotte just as the Sustainable Communities Initiative builds upon the lessons learned from HOPE VI. Double Oaks meets the stated goals of the Sustainable Communities initiative as follows:

Provides more transportation choices
Double Oaks provides more transportation choices by adding sidewalks and bike lanes, connecting streets, and extending and improving greenways. And we are doing so without creating “sprawl” or additional demand on the environment by utilizing existing infrastructure and utilities to provide for the community’s needs within an affordable, mixed-use, mixed income project.

Promotes equitable, affordable housing
Double Oaks promotes equitable, affordable housing within a mixed-income neighborhood by adding back affordable units that are well-built and incorporate Energy Star standards. Tax credits for the first 216 affordable rental units and a daycare have been secured. Fifty-four of the units will be affordable to individuals and families with incomes at or below 30% AMI. These units will be in three different properties, which address both multi-family and senior housing options. These efforts will co-exist with a market-rate housing component within low-income census tracts (50 and 51). Building the affordable along with market-rate housing creates a socially and economically sustainable neighborhood.

Enhances economic competitiveness
Double Oaks enhances economic competitiveness by promoting commercial and retail development as well as ensuring affordable workforce homes close to the urban core.

Supports an existing community
Double Oaks takes advantage of the strengths of the Statesville Avenue Corridor neighborhoods while addressing the deplorable conditions that exist in Double Oaks. It truly is land recycling with an achievable plan for a mixed-use redevelopment. It is community revitalization at its best, building upon the successes of neighboring Greenville, Genesis Park, and The Park at Oaklawn. It improves the efficiency of more than $50 million of public works investments and pays close attention to enhancing the use of transit-oriented opportunities in the neighborhood. A street realignment project will connect the Double Oaks neighborhood to other neighborhoods.

Coordinates policies & leverages investment Double Oaks coordinates policies and leverages investment by creating a funding collaborative that includes private, charitable, local, state, and federal dollars. The City of Charlotte alone committed to financial participation totaling $25 million, signaling the importance of completing work in the Statesville Avenue Corridor and preserving affordable neighborhoods close to the urban core.

Values communities & neighborhoods
At the heart of this project is CMHP’s mission to expand affordable and well-maintained housing within stable neighborhoods for low and moderate income families in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with a continuing interest in the ability of occupants to more fully enter the economic mainstream. To meet this mission in Double Oaks, the plan calls for a significant investment to transition the neighborhood from one plagued by crime, deplorable structures, and challenging environmental issues to a healthy, safe, and walkable urban neighborhood.

Enhances integrated planning & investment
Given the opportunity for Double Oaks to truly exemplify the principles of the Sustainable Communities initiative, The Housing Partnership and its partners seek the support of the HUD/DOT/EPA partnership to enhance integrated planning and investment. The master plan for Double Oaks integrates housing, transportation, water infrastructure, and land use planning and investment. The project proposes a restoration of an adjacent, degredated stream and proposes it to be a key feature and educational opportunity of the site, should funding availability make it a feasible improvement.

Provides a vision for sustainable growth
Double Oaks provides a vision for sustainable growth in the Statesville Avenue Corridor. This effort promotes a larger vision of what revitalization can encompass in an urban setting and works in concert with the neighborhood itself. Planning efforts are being coordinated with public and private partners to achieve housing, transportation, air quality, and clean water goals. The planning process has involved actively seeking available federal housing and transportation dollars to accomplish the full vision for Double Oaks, despite the troubled economy.

Housing affordability
Double Oaks addresses the issue of housing affordability in the context of a family’s full budget. While Low Income Housing tax credits may make it possible to build quality affordable structures and CMHP has the management expertise to maintain that investment, Double Oaks goes a step further to add energy efficient amenities to its pattern book and create bike lanes and walkability through sidewalks to offer alternative transportation options to the local bus routes. Living in Double Oaks will offer families the opportunity to cut both transportation and energy costs.

Redevelops an underutilized site
The environmental justice goals this project seeks to achieve include obtaining funds to relocate a sewer line from a stream bed to allow for a full stream restoration effort, resulting in improved water quality and an enhanced environmental amenity that equals that of higher-income
neighborhoods. We are providing for increased measures of protection for stormwater runoff by utilizing best management practices for the control and treatment of the project’s runoff and thus protecting receiving systems. Other environmental goals include creating a positive green space at the site of a former dump. This redevelopment will involve working with the County Park and Recreation staff to create a true park/green space on this land to be enjoyed by the entire neighborhood. The redevelopment location already has infrastructure and bus service.

Develops livability measures & tools
Double Oaks could serve as a case study to develop livability measures and tools. The Double Oaks team is interested in working with HUD, DOT, and EPA to help Double Oaks attain livability goals by developing and providing analytical tools to evaluate progress as well as state and local technical assistance programs to remove barriers to coordinated housing, transportation, and environmental protection investments.

Joint research, data collection, & outreach
The Double Oaks team is willing to participate in any joint research, data collection, and outreach HUD, DOT, and EPA engage in to develop information platforms and analytic tools to track housing and transportation options and expenditures, establish standardized and efficient performance measures, and identify best practices. Purchasing Double Oaks was considered a bold move in September 2007. The greater community quickly showed its confidence in CMHP’s ability to do the job by drawing together the right planning and funding partners to proceed. These partners are now poised to work with HUD, DOT, and EPA to fully realize the most ambitious goals for this redevelopment.

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