- Gainesville won a $25 million Choice Neighborhoods grant from HUD to redevelop a 1.5-square-mile area in East Gainesville.
- The grant will replace 100 units and add 72 new units near University Avenue and Williston Road, focusing on Pine Meadows and Pine Terrace.
- Mayor Harvey Ward emphasized leveraging $500,000 into the $25 million grant to boost East Gainesville’s investment and reputation.
Gainesville leaders set Tuesday aside to celebrate its winning one of four Choice Neighborhood grants given nationwide by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, providing $25 million for redevelopment in the easternmost section of the city.
The grant award was announced at the city’s Sept. 3 meeting, but the city hosted Tuesday’s event at the ELITE Training Center (56 NE 26th Terrace) as the official celebration. Malcolm Kiner, chief operating officer for the Gainesville Housing Authority (GHA), said the coordination on the grant starts Thursday with a HUD meeting.
Pamela Davis, CEO of GHA, said the grant will be a new chapter for the neighborhood, which covers 1.5 square miles.
“This opportunity allows us to think beyond housing alone and focus on the larger vision of creating a thriving neighborhood where families have access to quality housing, education, employment, health wellness resources, economic opportunities,” Davis said.
The event included four separate displays that talked about the work of the ELITE Training Center, the plans for the $25 million, the GHA Jobs Plus program and an upcoming Built From Within program.
As for housing, the grant will focus on GHA’s Pine Meadows and Pine Terrace neighborhoods along with a new development south of the Walgreens at the corner of University Avenue and Williston Road. That new development will include 72 units, and 100 units will be replaced at the GHA properties along with additional units.
The grant application said the units at Pine Meadows and Pine Terrace “require significant rehabilitation and retrofitting to render the structures viable as safe and sanitary housing” and also mentioned mixed-use development, both housing and commercial, as an option for the sites.
Mayor Harvey Ward said East Gainesville is ready for the level of investment and to change the narrative that the “good stuff” happens a few miles to the west.
He said the city leveraged $500,000 into a $25 million grant, so now what might the city do with the new grant?
“We have a lot of work we have to do to show the country and the world that Gainesville can handle stuff like this,” Ward said. “That we are the kind of city that gets mentioned in the $25-million-dollar grant category.”
