With ground broken and some foundations laid for the second phase of the Courtyard Apartments, what to name the 81-unit apartment building, when exactly it will be finished, and who will live there are the uncertainties that remain.

Thursday, June 15, 2000

With ground broken and some foundations laid for the second phase of the Courtyard Apartments, what to name the 81-unit apartment building, when exactly it will be finished, and who will live there are the uncertainties that remain.

The process of putting the names – there are more than 170 people on the waiting list for both buildings – to the apartments can’t go any further until the apartments are named, however. That probably won’t happen until next month’s meeting of the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Agency Board. Only when the building is named will the floor plans go to the printer and then to the people on the waiting list.

And, while the recent wet weather has slowed excavation and construction efforts some, HRA executive director Kermit Mahan said the delay has been minimal.

"It’s like sitting on top of a gravel pit," Mahan said, referring to the fact that the water has quickly drained away. "You couldn’t ask for better subsoil conditions."

Hopes are high at the HRA that construction will wrap up by May 2001.

Also at Wednesday’s HRA Board meeting, the board approved applying for a yearly grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for capital improvements in the amount of $631,836. It is the same amount the housing organization was awarded last year; whether it is renewed depends on performance and whether the HRA spent all the funds it was allocated last year. Increases are given when other organizations don’t spend all that they’re allocated.

Included in the application will be a five-year plan for the HRA.

Major components of the plan include more than $200,000 for the acquisition and demolition of the H&S and old Doors and Floors buildings, which will go to make way for additional parking for the Twin Towers; remortaring of joints and tuckpointing at Pickett Place; refurbishment of 16 scattered site housing sites; new refrigerators for Pickett Place apartments and new stoves for Twin Towers as well as other improvements.

Mahan explained that water infiltration is a problem at Pickett Place; one that will consume a considerable amount of funds during the repair process.

The following items also were discussed Wednesday:

n The status of the railroad yard cleanup grant – Mahan reported that the grant application is with the state Department of Trade and Economic Development. Staff hope to know whether the Austin HRA will get the $500,000 grant by the end of the month. If the grant comes through, Mahan said he thought a contractor could likely be hired within 60 days, once the environmental review process was complete. The property would be acquired, cleared of debris, and the soil treated for pollution, so that business could locate in the now largely deserted former railroad area.

n An update on Murphy’s Creek, the multiple housing project that Mahan has been working on with the Apex Austin housing committee – He reported that the Apex executive committee had given the project its blessing, and that the Hormel Foundation Board would formally hear the proposal at its June 28 meeting.