Orlando Housing Authority
 

THE VILLAS AT CARVER PARK IS OCCUPIED
Former Carver Court Public Housing Residents Offered Preference for Units 

ORLANDO, Florida (September 3, 2009)
The Orlando Housing Authority announced the opening of the Villas at Carver Park in April 2009.  All of the occupants must be at least 62 years.  The entire Carver Park community is a mixed-income development built on the former Carver Court public housing site.  The Villas at Carver Park is the first phase of the multi-phase Carver Park to be completed. It is at the corner of Gore Street and Westmoreland Avenue.  

The Villas at Carver Park is a four (4) story residential building with sixty-four (64) one bedroom public housing units for the elderly, i.e., age 62 and older.  Three (3) former residents of Carver Court, will move in Monday, April 13, 2009. By April 30, 2009, all of the remaining apartments will be leased.  “We are so excited and gratified to see former Carver Court residents return to the site as the first residents of the new Villas at Carver Park,” stated Vivian Bryant, President and CEO of the Orlando Housing Authority.  “They have waited over eight years to come back and are so happy.”  

The Villas at Carver Park is on the former Carver Court Apartments site.  Carver Court had two hundred and twelve (212) units of obsolete public housing built in 1945.  One hundred forty-eight (148) families were relocated from the site between September 2000 and March 2001.  The remaining units had already been vacated due to structural problems; the apartments were built on a former land fill.  Severe settling caused damage to the building’s foundations.  During relocation, Carver Court residents were offered public housing units.  Some of them eventually received Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. 

Previous Carver Court residents had first preference to return to the Carver Park community.  The Orlando Housing Authority kept in contact with all former Carver Court residents.  Because of the lengthy time span between relocation and the availability of the new residential units, many families had settled into their new locations and did not want to move back to the Carver Park community. Current Orlando Housing Authority public housing residents and Jackson Court Apartment residents were given a priority to move to the Carver Park community.  The Jackson Court Apartments are an affordable housing complex jointly owned by the City of Orlando’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and the Orlando Housing Authority; Jackson Court residents were given a preference to move to the Villas at Carver Park because their apartments will be redeveloped and they will be relocated to other affordable housing.  Other families who had a preference for The Villas at Carver Park included eligible Parramore area families as well as other elderly general public households that met both the public housing and the tax credit guidelines. 

The major sources of funds for the development of the Carver Park community include, but are not limited to, the following:  (1) $18, 084, 255 2002 HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), (2) The State of Florida’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program and bonds from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, (3) approximately $3 million from the City of Orlando and (4) $200,000 from the State of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection Preservation  Program. 

The Villas at Carver Park was designed by OB Plus Architecture, Inc. (Orlando, Florida)  The General Contractor was Bradley Construction (Clearwater, Florida) and engineering was provided by Vanasse, Hangen, Brustlin, Inc. (Orlando, Florida).  JCB Construction (Orlando, Florida) and J. Malever Construction (Groveland, Florida) constructed the infrastructure. Interior designs are by Barbara Ondo Design (Jacksonville, Florida). Landscaping design is by Foster Conant and Associates (Orlando, Florida).

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For additional information or to schedule an interview with Vivian Bryant, contact at 407-895-3300, extension 1000 or email to vbryant@orl-oha.org.