Marlton, NJ (April 8, 2009)—The next step of a much-anticipated revival of the Newtown neighborhood of Sarasota, Florida, started today as residents began moving into their apartment homes at Janie's Garden, a brand-new, mixed-income multifamily community, developed by the Sarasota Housing Authority and Michaels Development Company, and managed by Interstate Realty Management. Both Michaels Development Company and Interstate Realty Management are affiliates of the Michaels Organization.
The 86-unit, garden-style community featuring both apartment flats and townhomes that opens this week is the first of the Sarasota Housing Authority's multi-phase, multi-million dollar redevelopment of the former Janie Poe public housing project. Janie Poe had gained notoriety over the past three decades for its dilapidated conditions and was the subject of the 2004 documentary Condemned, by Sarasota filmmaker Diane Mason.
"We are so pleased to be a part of the rebirth of the Newtown neighborhood," said Milton Pratt, Jr. senior vice president of Michaels Development Company, who has overseen the project's development since its beginning. "We thank the Sarasota Housing Authority, under the very able leadership of William Russell and its board of commissioners, as well as the City and County Commissions and the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, for entrusting us to fulfill their vision of a new 'Newtown,' where people of every income level can live, work and play in beautiful surroundings," Pratt said.
When the project's three phases are fully complete, the new Janie's Garden will feature 225 luxury apartment homes, a clubhouse, fitness center, business center, a residents' lounge, and green space adorned with picnic pavilions and bicycle racks. Retail space for neighborhood businesses will be available in the second phase of the project.
Janie's Garden offers a range of apartment sizes, from one-bedrooms to four, as well as rents that will accommodate people with a variety of incomes. Of the 86 apartments now leasing in the first phase, 26 of them are available to those eligible for housing assistance. Three of the 10 families scheduled to move in this week are former residents of the Janie Poe project. Former residents have been given first preference on new apartments at Janie's Garden as a way to ensure minimum displacement for their families by the redevelopment efforts.
The revitalization of the Newtown neighborhood, undertaken as a public-private joint venture between the Sarasota Housing Authority, Michaels Development Company, and a variety of local stake holders, benefited from federal housing subsidies, including Low Income Housing Tax Credits as well as significant funding from the City of Sarasota, Sarasota County and the state of Florida. Among the local partners involved in the project were Carlson Studio Architecture and King Engineering of Sarasota and Bank of Commerce of Florida as a participating construction lender.
According to William Russell, executive director of the Sarasota Housing Authority, Janie's Garden is only the first jewel in the redevelopment planned for Newtown. "When all the other phases are completed in this $150 million dollar revitalization effort, Newtown will be home to more than 800 units of market-rate, public and affordable housing, as well as a facility for the elderly, and retail space," Russell said.