The steel grid rising alongside the Ronstadt Transit Center just north of East Congress Street is a public housing project that will restore the name Martin Luther King to downtown Tucson.
It's a project that holds much promise.
First, the financing for the $23 million building is "in the bank," according to Albert Elias, director of the city's Department of Housing and Community Development. Most of the funds came from the federal government, including a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, he said.
The building will incorporate green, environmentally friendly or sustainable construction and many amenities for its residents.
The six-story, 68-apartment building will be handicapped accessible, offer a balcony on each one-bedroom unit, a controlled-access lobby, a computer laboratory and a rooftop community space, Elias said.
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Some of the elderly or disabled residents of the old Martin Luther King apartments on East Congress Street — reborn as One North Fifth, a privately developed, market-rate apartment building with retail space at street level — may opt to return to downtown when the new building is completed sometime near the end of 2010, he said.
The building is being constructed atop the 285-space underground Depot Plaza parking garage. The apartments are positioned quite close to the north side of One North Fifth and will block some residents' views. A private developer has the right of first refusal on the land east of the new building and may eventually build market-rate apartments there.
The per-unit cost of about $338,000 could buy a spacious single-family home. Elias said that the projects costs were driven up by building on top of a parking garage, rather than starting from dirt. Building for special populations and including amenities in the compact building space also added to the cost.
The drawings look tight; the views of some residents in all three buildings (if the third is built) would open to other apartment buildings in Depot Plaza and not much else.
"We could have just torn down the old MLK and built a new one, but instead we sold it and repositioned it as market-rate housing," Elias told us.
"This is a livable community we are creating," he said Wednesday at a steel-raising celebration held atop the Pennington Street Garage. "It brings together all the things you need to have a high quality of life — transportation, services and amenities and density."
The new MLK will be adjacent to the Ronstadt Transit Center and only about half a block from the planned modern streetcar's route, he noted.
The still-extant MLK resident council participated in planning the new building, said Olga Osterhage, deputy director of the Housing and Community Development Department.
For example, there was debate about whether to have one laundry room for the building or machines on each floor, she said. The council chose the latter.
Those eligible to live in the new building must demonstrate their income is 50 percent of the area's median income, she said. "Our average (elderly or disabled) resident has an income of $9,400" a year.
The minimum rent at the new MLK will be $50 a month.
It looks like residents will get good value for their money. The University of Arizona will provide basic nursing care, such as blood-pressure readings, and Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest will offer computer, exercise and recreational opportunities, such as bingo night, Osterhage said. Our Family Services will provide counseling, she said.
Residents of the old MLK were relocated about three years ago and offered permanent housing or temporary housing until the building is ready for occupancy. Elias said about 20 have said they want to come back downtown.
The president of the MLK resident council, Ray Sidoma, attended the steel-raising celebration Wednesday. He and his wife now live at the Silverbell Homes, a development at Silverbell and Goret roads that has a mix of public, affordable and market-rate housing.
Asked if he plans to return downtown, Sidoma said probably not. "It's quiet out there," he said.
We're impressed with the plans for the new MLK and pleased that the city has the money in the bank to do the work.
The challenge: to come in on budget and on time.
