From Dalton Village to Arbor Glen
Arbor Glen is about to rise from Dalton Village's ashes.
On more than 5 acres - where one of Charlotte's most crime-ridden public
housing development once stood construction workers are laying out the
streets of a new neighborhood.
By mid-August, look for the frames of 144 apartment homes - phase one of
a federal, state and local effort to rebuild the community at Clanton Road
and West Boulevard. It will take five years and $30 million to finish the
project, which will eventually include 400 homes. With its mixture of rental
apartments priced for the working poor and homes sold at market rates, Arbor
Glen is designed to succeed where the 30-year-old Dalton Village failed,
said the housing authority's Von Gore. Gore directs the agency's HOPE VI
program, which is providing more than $2 million to Arbor Glen. The program
operates on the theory that mixed-income communities fare better than those
built only for the poor because homeowners better care for their
investments.
Of the 144 homes slated for completion late next year, 52 are reserved
for senior citizens. The seniors will have their own community center. Also
planned: another community center, a four-lane lap pool and a circular
fountain as you drive in. "It's got all the goodies in it," said
Roger Williams, Arbor Glen's job superintendent. Williams works for Crosland
Contractors, which is building the development for the authority and the
Crosland Group.
Designed by Watts Leaf Architects and Newman Bower Architects, Arbor Glen
will closely resemble Crestmont, a development in Ballantyne, said Williams.
Just south of the construction site stand 50 brick-and-aluminum apartment
homes refurbished from the only part of Dalton Village left standing when
most of the community was razed three years ago.
Marcella Williams, no relation to the job superintendent, has lived in
one of these apartments for 2 1/2 months. She keeps an eye on the
construction across the street, wondering if she can go from public housing
renter to Arbor Glen homeowner. "Once in a while," she said,
"you just need a steppingstone."
[Originally published in the Charlotte Observer on 7/10/01]
Author: Lauren Markoe (704) 358-5076; lmarkoe@charlotteobserver.com
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