Push still on to rehabilitate blighted St. Pete neighborhoods

St. Petersburg Tribune

ST. PETERSBURG Two years ago, Shanoah Washingtons home on Preston Street in the Melrose Mercy neighborhood was a gutted shell.

Thieves had ripped out the air handler and plumbing. Gone, too, were windows, electrical wiring and most of the kitchen.

The home attracted the attention of St. Petersburg City Council Chairman Karl Nurse, who bought it and spent $34,000 doing it up as a way to reduce blight in his district.

If all goes according to plan, Washington will go from renter to owner through a lease-to-buy program that would allow her to own a home for the first time in her life.

The home was among an estimated 5,000 in the city that banks foreclosed on during the recession. Many of them were in the poorest neighborhoods, including Midtown, where hundreds of vacant homes fell into disrepair and attracted criminals, including drug dealers.

***

With so many homes affected, the problems facing communities like Melrose Mercy border on overwhelming. But slowly, the city and nonprofit groups are transforming derelict properties into new homes, hoping that piece by piece they can turn around some of the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods and encourage residents to stay and to maintain their properties.

Using $8.3 million of federal stimulus money, the city has bought 86 derelict properties, with 23 rehabbed and sold and an additional 16 undergoing renovation.

The Banyan group, a St. Petersburg nonprofit organization, plans to raise $6.5 million in bonds to buy and renovate Citrus Grove apartment complex on 15th Street South.

Read the rest here:
Push still on to rehabilitate blighted St. Pete neighborhoods