New
homeowners move into Danbury complex
February 24, 2007; As originally appeared in
The News-Times by Elizabeth Putnam
DANBURY
-- Ivonne Lenis' two teenagers no longer have to share
a bedroom.
" I've been waiting many years for this, my first home," Lenis
said. "My kids are excited."
Lenis and her two children are the first to move into The
Renaissance at High Ridge, a revamped affordable housing
complex that was the center of a financial scandal a few
years ago involving the Danbury Housing Authority.
GRC Properties began renovating the former High Ridge Gardens
housing complex over the summer after four years of vacancy
and efforts by a coalition of government, business and nonprofit
leaders to turn the once crime-ridden area into housing for
low-income residents.
" It's been a very long process, but today makes it
worthwhile," Bob Gleason of GRC said Friday at a ribbon-cutting
ceremony in honor of the complex's first home buyers.
The Savings Bank of Danbury and the Housing Development
Fund, a Stamford-based group that helps low-income residents,
are providing 99 percent mortgages for up to 40 years for
home buyers, along with closing-cost assistance.
The Savings Bank of Danbury is funding the entire project,
which costs about $24 million, including the $3.1 to buy
the project, $8 million for construction, and $12 million
in mortgage loans to the residents.
GRC, the developer, is building 60 units in several phases.
About a dozen units are complete, and the Housing Development
Fund continues to look for more buyers.
" It's a terrific day for the city of Danbury after
several challenges," said Mayor Mark Boughton, who worked
with the agencies involved to ensure the project would come
to fruition.
The Danbury Housing Authority decided to sell the abandoned
buildings at High Ridge in 2005 to return them to use as
affordable housing and to pay debt caused by the authority's
failed 2002 attempt to renovate the buildings and other financial
troubles.
In
December 2003, the Department of Housing and Urban Development
reported
the authority incurred $92,816 in costs "that
were ineligible, unsupported and were unreasonable or unnecessary." The
costs included unauthorized bonuses and personal charges
on authority credit cards.
The housing authority also defaulted on an $11 million bond
to renovate High Ridge Gardens. That bond now is being repaid
from the $3.1 million that GRC Property gave for High Ridge.
" To see what was here and what is here now is fantastic," said
Dom Chieffalo, chairman of the Danbury Housing Authority.
Lenis officially closed on her three-bedroom unit Friday
after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Three other new homeowners
who will close on their properties over the next few weeks
were with Lenis at the ceremony.
" I've always rented. Now I can make it my own," said
Magrene Kelly, 39, one of the new homeowners.
Contact Elizabeth Putnam
at eputnam@newstimes.com
or at (203) 731-3411.
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The Renaissance at High Ridge
Location: High Ridge Road in Danbury
Cost: $190,000 to $210,000
Eligibility: First-time homebuyers who meet certain financial
criteria and participate in Housing Development Fund's First
Time Homebuyers Program
Contact: The Housing Development Fund at (203) 798-6527
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