The city of White Plains is one step closer to starting the planned revitalization of its Winbrook neighborhood following a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The grant comes from HUD”™s Capital Fund Education and Training Community Facilities Program and will be used specifically to fund the construction of a 13,500-square-foot Community Education Facility.
The city has also committed to contributing $1.5 million to the development efforts, which combined with the HUD grant should cover the full cost of the community center, according to Karen Pasquale, senior adviser to White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach.
Preliminary plans call for the community center to be a tower, with the lower floors containing facilities to accommodate social and educational programs and the upper floors reserved for housing units, Pasquale said.
“The thought is to use this as a cornerstone to jumpstart the revitalization of the whole Winbrook neighborhood,” Pasquale said. The proposed location of the building is at the intersection of Quarropas Street and South Lexington Avenue.
City officials are hoping to begin the design phase of the community center in 2012 following a request-for-proposal process.
Upon the building”™s completion, which will likely be in 2015, Pasquale said residents from the surrounding neighborhood will be able to move into the housing units within the community center. That in turn will allow developers to renovate other residential buildings in the vicinity.
Roach said in a statement the grant enables the city and the White Plains Housing Authority to “take the first, crucial steps forward on a comprehensive redesign plan for Winbrook, which is long overdue.”
The city was one of only five public housing authorities out of 58 nationwide that had applied to HUD for this particular grant. In total, HUD awarded $14.5 million to the five recipients.
Housing Authority Executive Director Mack Carter said the grant ”“ and the community redevelopment project as a whole ”“ will boost low-income families and the entire community.
“This funding is going to help the downtown White Plains community support job training and educational programming for both low-income families and the White Plains community at-large,” Carter said in a statement.
Programming at the community center is expected to include adult education, job training, youth programs, and possibly dance, music and theater.
