By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Later this summer, a new Salisbury neighborhood will come on line.
Carpenter’s Corner, the first public housing built in Salisbury since 1978, will offer 22 apartment units for seniors 55 and older.
But the $2.5 million subdivision won’t have the look of apartments.
Instead, the 11 duplexes tucked into the corner at Old Concord Road and South Shaver Street resemble single-family houses, blending in with the rest of this long-ago urban redevelopment area.
“Really, they don’t look like public housing,” Salisbury Housing Authority Executive Director Layton Woodcock says.
The homes will take the spot once occupied by the much-maligned 44-unit Lincoln Park Apartments, which were torn down seven years ago.
Sam Foust, assistant director and property manager for the Salisbury Housing Authority, says he has received applications from 68 people looking to transfer from other public housing units to Carpenter’s Corner.
Those applications don’t include people who have never been in public housing who are already on the authority’s waiting list.
Layton Woodcock, executive director of the housing authority, says priority allocations for the new Carpenter’s Corner homes probably will go “to folks who have been with us for awhile.”
In particular, residents who were displaced when Lincoln Park Apartments were demolished will be given first preference, Woodcock says.
Carpenter’s Corner covers about a 4.5-acre site and owes its name to longtime Salisbury Housing Authority Commissioner Sonny Carpenter, who is the current chairman.
By the time the new duplexes are dedicated this summer ó the construction deadline is July 21 ó Carpenter will be the longest serving commissioner in the authority’s history. Former Salisbury Mayor Wiley Lash appointed him as a housing authority commissioner 25 years ago, and he has been serving ever since.
Back in the late 1960s and into the mid 1970s, Carpenter also served as executive director of the city’s redevelopment commission, playing a huge role in the reshaping of this whole area, once known as Dixonville.
One good thing, jokes Carpenter, is the new housing is being named for him before he dies. He describes it as “head and shoulders” above the former Lincoln Park Apartments.
For one thing, housing authority officials say, the construction is far superior.
Blue Ridge Enterprises of Mount Airy is the general contractor. Local companies submitted proposals on the project, but Blue Ridge ended up with the low bid.
Construction started last July and has battled some weather delays.
The community includes two new streets ó a short Lincoln Park Road and a longer Sonny Acres Drive, which is a cul-de-sac. Sonny Acres Drive also refers to Carpenter.
Of the 22 housing units, 16 are one-bedroom and six two-bedroom. Six of the apartments are fully accessible for the disabled.
Jeff Jahnke, special programs manager for the housing authority, said the regular units have 36-inch-wide doors meaning they could be easily adapted to 504 guidelines for the disabled if needed.
The homes are stick-built onto concrete slabs. The exterior brick varies from duplex to duplex, and Woodcock thinks it will keep the community from looking too institutional.
Each unit has a front porch and sharply pitched roof.
Inside, the units offer washer and dryer connections but not the appliances themselves. Apartments will be furnished with stoves and refrigerators.
Flooring will have the look of hardwood and marble, though it won’t be those materials.
Jahnke says the construction is a cut above most public housing and, to him, the units seem more spacious than typical homes.
Extensive landscaping for the new community is on the horizon. An island on the cul-de-sac will include a gazebo, Woodcock says.
Salisbury’s last public housing construction included units at Lafayette Circle and Cedar Street.
“HUD (U.S. Housing and Urban Development) hasn’t had any construction programs in a long time,” Woodcock says.
The money for Carpenter’s Corner comes from “replacement housing factor funds,” which allow the housing authority to build back 50 percent of what was taken down. Since Lincoln Park Apartments included 44 units, Carpenter’s Corner was allowed a maximum of 22 units.
Not counting Carpenter’s Corner, Salisbury Housing Authority oversees 523 public housing units. It also has built 32 tax-credit units for seniors off Lash Drive.
Salisbury Housing Authority recently learned it will be receiving $1.2 million in federal stimulus money, which it will use to install heating and air-conditioning systems in three communities: Civic Park Apartments, Pine Hill Apartments and Linn Lane/Partee Street Apartments.
Some 169 families will benefit from those upgrades. Those apartments have never had central air-conditioning.
The stimulus money also will go toward installing new windows and security screens at the East Lafayette Street Apartments, which include 64 units.