Savannah's Housing Authority has selected a local development team to redevelop the Fellwood Homes and Fellwood Annex site. That's located near West Bay and Richards Streets.
Fellwood Homes was torn down last year. The Sustainable Fellwood Team, led by Melaver Incorporated is now over the project.
The Fellwood redevelopment project is part of an overall plan to revitalize the entire neighborhood. The Fellwood site will include affordable homes, senior living, and market-rate rentals -- a lot like a community already in Savannah: Ashley Midtown.
Ashley Midtown is in East Savannah near Anderson Street and Bee Road. The Housing Authority built the mixed-income neighborhood a few years ago on the site of the former Garden Homes.
NEWS 3 spoke with a woman who says living in Ashley Midtown has been a dream come true. "I love it, I really do. I love it," says Tonya Pough about her home. She’s lived in Ashley Midtown for about two years. Before that, she was in Hitch Village -- and wasn't happy.
"Not to say that, putting the projects down, I mean, because it's a great place to start off. But when you can move up, move up as fast as you can," says Tonya, and that's exactly what she and her daughter did. Since then, Tonya's had no regrets.
"When we first got the chance to come in and see the place, my daughter was rolling all over the carpet 'cause we didn't have carpet in Hitch Village. So coming out here was a breath of fresh air," says Tonya.
She says the people are nice and the managers worked with her so she could live here. "Financially. For some who qualify, they go by your income and they went by my income and that's why I was able to afford the apartment," says Tonya.
She gets nothing but compliments when people come to visit and she says it's a great place to raise her daughter, who's become an honor roll student while living in Ashley Midtown.
Tonya says living in a place like this community gives people hope -- hope that they can have a better life if they just try. "For a little while I thought I wasn't ever going to get out of Hitch Village and when the opportunity came, I jumped on it, now I'm confident to know that my next step is buying a house," says Tonya.
The Fellwood Redevelopment Project will be paid for, using a combination of tax credits and local funds. Contract negotiations with the developer are expected to begin later this month.
People who move into the redeveloped Fellwood site could have lower electricity bills. That's because the developers plan to incorporate green design concepts.
The Abercorn Common Shopping center is one energy-efficient development, also designed by Melaver incorporated. Developers say the center is designed to reduce energy use by 30 percent and water use by 50 percent.
