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Sarno picks developer for Longhill

Mayor Domenic Sarno accepted letters from Forest Park residents from Springfield Forward member Richard Carpenter on Tuesday. Reminder Publications photo by G. Michael Dobbs
By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD The neighborhood activists who delivered hundreds of letters against a proposed development of the Longhill Gardens apartments "are very disappointed based on what we've seen so far that the mayor has squandered an opportunity to turn Springfield around," George Pappas, a spokesperson for Springfield Forward, told Reminder Publications on Thursday.

Sarno was up against a March 20 deadline to assign state low income tax credits to help finance the $15 million renovation of the project. Sarno explained that if he had not acted, the process to redevelop the project would start over with seeking a new receiver for the property through Housing Court.

Citibank holds the mortgage on most of the property and if the proposal with WinnDevelopment fell through, Sarno explained Citibank could sell the property to anyone after July 1.

WinnDevelopment has proposed taking the current 211 apartments and demolishing 99 of them to make room for off-street parking. The refurbished apartments would be considered low-income housing. They have committed to establishing security, marketing and management practices of the same quality and type as they have at their successful Northern Heights and Museum Park complex.

Sarno released a statement on March 19 that read in part, "After careful examination and exhaustive inquiries into all viable alternatives, I have made the difficult decision to offer conditional support to WinnDevelopment in its request for state funding for the Longhill Gardens redevelopment project. Our support is conditioned upon WinnDevelopment's coming to a reasonable agreement with the City and the neighborhood residents before moving forward with a development plan."

Sarno continued, "I have received hundreds of letters and phone calls from citizens on both sides of this issue, which was inherited by my administration. Those in opposition had suggested elderly housing (Section 202) and alternative developers for the project. I examined those options and others but none were feasible."

In his letter to Tina Brooks, the undersecretary of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, on March 19, Sarno referred to past problems at the site.

"We cannot continue to let our neighborhoods be so negatively affected by poor management and landlord neglect. With the appropriate state funding the city trusts that WinnDevelopment can turn around this troubled project in the same manner they have demonstrated down the street at Northern Heights and Museum Park. It is for these reasons that the city has made this redevelopment the top priority for state funding in the March 2008 round."

Support for the project split neighborhood activists. Although the Forest Park Civic Association voted in favor of the project, several board members were part of the Springfield Forward group.

In a statement read by Pappas on Tuesday at the press conference on the steps of City Hall, he said the group is "not against redeveloping Longhill Gardens. What we oppose is the rush to accept the first offer put on the table. We believe the city of Springfield can do better."

Members of the group on Tuesday suggested the complex could be used for elderly housing, turned into luxury condominiums to diversify Springfield's housing, provide housing for interns at Baystate Medical Center or be specialized housing for Alzheimer's patients.

Also on the steps of City Hall were members of Concerned Citizens of Springfield, a group that has been active in the revitalization of Forest Park. Michelle Leonard said that counter to what members of Springfield Forward had told the press, "the vast majority of Longhill Street residents are in favor [of the proposal]."

Russell Selig said the complex, if left undeveloped, would become a "copper mine" vandals would break into the now secured buildings to scavenge for valuable copper pipes.

In an e-mail to the city's chief development officer David Panagore, Gilbert Winn wrote his company had "entertained and dismissed a senior housing project in this location not only because it is not a logical property given the physical characteristics, unlike many other [Section] 202 projects ... The $100,000+ ($11 million+) of hard costs alone makes this a bad fit."

Winn was referring to the cost to install elevators and other features in what he described as a "multi-building, multi-bedroom non-elevator hilly site with half of its parking a long staircase away."

Pappas said his group, although it released a statement in reaction to Sarno's decision, was reaching out to the mayor directly to obtain the details of the proposal and would be issuing a detailed reaction next week.

"We don't want to provide a knee jerk reaction," he said.

The group's statement included, "The devil is in the details. Unfortunately, the details were never forthcoming from the developer or his supporters and the process was carried out in the dark, which is why Springfield Forward objected to the proposal in the first place. It will be critical from this point forward for the mayor and the developer to offer complete transparency and finite details of the proposed plan to the citizens of Springfield. Springfield Forward will continue to be involved. The process has just begun."