VIHA development projects included in the Territory's approved plan include: Croixville Apts., Louis E. Brown Villas and Estate Hoffman/Nullyberg.

Croixville Apartments

The Croixville Apartments Project, located in Prince Quarter, St. Croix, involves the complete rehabilitation of a housing complex that was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. When completed, the project will consist of 80 rental units and will be 100% affordable to residents with incomes at or below 50% of the area median income.

Croixville Apartments is being created as a Family Development. There will be forty 2-Bedroom and forty 3-Bedroom apartments for families with children. There will be one additional unit for a live-on-site property superintendent. Another feature of the development is that it will have an on site center/maintenance facility that will house a variety of social services to include, but not limited to, job training, after school activities, recreational, educational and family self-sufficiency programs.

Croixville Apartments is being developed by Estate Plessen Associates, L.P., a limited partnership comprised of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority and Plessen-Michaels Corporation (wholly owned by The Michaels Development Company). Each of these entities has a 50-50% ownership interest in the partnership, and each will be involved in specific aspects of the development.

Croixville Apartments has secured an award of $1,028,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. Banco Popular sponsored the application. Additionally, Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and HOME funds (approved by the V.I. Housing Finance Authority) will be used. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank is providing the construction loan for the project.

Upon completion, the property will be 100% subsidized by Section 8 Project Base Vouchers as approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Louis E. Brown Villas (LEB)

The LEB Revitalization plan proposes to develop a mixed-income community by demolishing the former 436 unit housing community and constructing 124 rental units, 70 single-family homes, a commercial retail facility, professional offices, a Headstart facility and community center.

The plans for LEB incorporate a variety of housing units varying in size, number of bedrooms, living accommodations, cost of construction and methods of funding. The proposed LEB revitalization budget is estimated at $30 million. The proposed financing structure includes utilizing tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Public Housing Capital funds, Replacement Housing Factor Grant funds, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and HOME Program Funds.

The demolition of the first seventeen (17) buildings in the western half of the community was completed in 2001. A Section 18 Demolition Application was approved in 2002 to demolish the remaining 34 buildings on the eastern half of the site. The estimated cost for all remaining demolition is $5 million dollars.

100% of all families were relocated from LEB to other public housing communities or housed within the private sector under the Section 8 program. All families relocated from LEB will have first priority to return to the revitalized site upon its completion.

Estate Hoffman/Nullyberg

VIHA's Hoffman/Nullyberg Project represents the final phase of replacing public housing units from the former Warren E. Brown Community, which was destroyed in Hurricane Marilyn. The development plan for this community proposes to construct 176 units and one community center. The development will be a mixed-income community comprised of 109 multi-family units and 67 single-family units, with one, two, three and four bedrooms. All of the 176 units will initially be offered for rent, with the 67 single-family homes being able to participate in a lease/purchase program.

The Development Team for Hoffman/Nullyberg is aggressively working to implement project schedules that will facilitate closing the financial deal for this project by December 2002.