http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hr/hc-sand1017.artoct17,1,5441841.story

Rental Housing Gets Upgrade

Transformation A Group Effort

By MARK PAZNIOKAS
Courant Staff Writer

October 17 2003

Julie Fagan's first assignment in Hartford for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was to assess security at the old SAND apartment complex on North Main Street.

She found an open-air drug market. Gangs controlled the grimy, 11-building complex of housing for the poor. They posted lookouts in the tallest building, a 10-story apartment tower for the elderly.

That was 1995. In addition to the drug and gang problems, the complex of institutional-style homes was ill-kept and spiraling into bankruptcy. Some city officials wondered if SAND was worth saving.

Fagan, the state's top HUD official, recalled the apartment's grim history Thursday at a ceremony marking the rebirth of the nearly 30-year-old complex, now called the South Arsenal Neighborhood Association, better known as the SANA Apartments.

Today, the identical, concrete-block buildings are being transformed. The exteriors have been brightened with pitched roofs, trim details and clapboard siding. Thirty-six families already have moved into renovated apartments with new cabinetry, windows and mechanical systems, including central air.

"I think what happened here is a miracle," said state Rep. Marie Kirkley-Bey, one of the local, state and federal officials who worked to secure $29 million in financing for the project at 1570 Main St., north of downtown in the Clay-Arsenal neighborhood.

When finished next year, the 269-unit apartment complex will be thinned slightly, offering 256 larger apartments. HUD foreclosed on the project in 2001, transferring ownership to the city. The city quickly turned it over to the SOC Group, a partnership of the nonprofit Sheldon Oak Central and the Carabetta Organization, a construction and property-management firm.

Mayor Eddie A. Perez and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who worked to untangle the apartments' legal and financial issues, were among the officials to attend Thursday.

"It is a great day for SANA," said Perez, who grew up in the neighborhood.

The 10-story tower, with 148 of the 256 units, will be finished next year. The 10 three-story buildings will have 108 apartments with two, three or four bedrooms.

By doing the work in phases, most of the tenants have been able to remain during construction.

Housing Opportunities Unlimited has been hired to provide a range of services to residents, including high school equivalency classes and job-preparation tutoring.

Reprinted with permission of The Hartford Courant.