Azell Branch sat and soaked up some sun on the back patio of his new apartment in Savannah Gardens, an affordable housing community featuring energy-efficient apartments and single-family homes that is being developed on the former site of Strathmore Estates in east Savannah.
Branch is one of hundreds who relocated from Strathmore, a community of World War II-era “temporary” homes built for shipbuilders that later became beset with drug dealers and violence.
Most of the 380 structures have been demolished since 2009, after Savannah teamed up with a nonprofit housing organization to tear them down and make way for the energy-efficient multi-family dwellings at Savannah Gardens.
The 30 structures that remain sit vacant, their windows shattered and facades marked with graffiti, cast-aside furniture and trash piled outside.
The remaining eyesores off Pennyslvania Avenue were approved for demolition last month by the Savannah City Council to make way for the final phase of Savannah Gardens, which will add another 76 multi-family apartments to the community, where 249 have already been completed. More than 90 percent of the apartments have been rented.
Branch, who spent 12 years living in Strathmore before moving in 2011, said he is not sorry to see the last of the shacks torn down.
“It was cold in the winter and hot in the summer,” Branch said. “Too many holes in it.”
All the new buildings are being built to Earthcraft standards, a green building certification specific to the climate and materials relevant to the Southeast.
Prior to construction, the city will have to make right-of-way improvements, including new streets, lanes, sidewalks, parks and utilities. The infrastructure work is expected to be bid out soon and be installed beginning later this year.
The project is a collaboration between the city and CHSA Development, a nonprofit housing organization that purchased the property in 2007 for about $13 million using both loans and grant funds.
Another nonprofit, Mercy Housing Southeast, was selected by CHSA Development to become the affordable apartment developer.
The city budgeted $13 million to complete improvements at the Savannah Gardens site, including the installation of new infrastructure and parks.
To date, the city has spent about $11 million of the budgeted amount.
Mercy Housing is counting on selling tax credits to help fund the project, which the nonprofit received to construct the previous phases of the development.
Along with the demolition, the Savannah City Council approved a resolution supporting the organization’s application for those tax credits, which are awarded on a competitive basis.
The community is not just for low-income residents, however.
Steps have been taken to make sure the housing is available to households with varied incomes so it will be an economically diverse neighborhood, said Martin Fretty, director of the city’s housing department.
“We feel that is a more healthy mix overall,” Fretty said.
About 10 percent of the 439 apartments will be rented at market rate, while the rest will be based on income, according to CHSA Director Darrel Daise.
The project will include about 560 units, some of them single-family homes, when it’s finished.
Of the 120 single-family houses that will be built, 31 are complete and eight are under construction. Of those, 20 have been sold and three other buyers have been approved to close.
As anticipated, the physical improvements have helped reduce crime in the area, Fretty said.
Reported crimes against people and property in the Twickenham and Savannah Gardens area have dropped from 235 in 2008 to 103 in 2012, he said.
The $290,740 demolition contract with American Clearing provides for the salvage of building materials, which has also been done in previous phases of the project in partnership with the Emergent Structures.
Reclaimed materials have been repurposed for flooring and rain barrel stands, as well as for an outdoor learning center at Shuman Elementary, said Scott Boylston, president of the nonprofit organization.
In addition, there are plans to use reclaimed windows from Strathmore to build a greenhouse in east Savannah, which will be used as an educational resource.
Boylston said building reclamation diverts usable materials from landfills and reduces the need for new materials.
“It’s beneficial to both sides,” he said.