Representatives of the ownership team and the developer could not be reached for this story.īesse said he has already given notice to the apartment management that he plans to move out at the end of September, when his lease is up, to avoid any conflict of interest in the matter. When he learned that the developers were filing the plan, Besse said he felt obligated to inform his fellow tenants and constituents. 4, Besse said the developers told him they were filing their plan with the city, with an eye towards having it ready for review by the planning board in September. If I can’t then I’ll go down fighting.”ĭuring the most recent meeting on Aug. If I can get a deal like that, then I’ll take it as the best deal I can get. If I can get sufficient concessions from them on affordability and historic preservation, then I would withdraw my objections to the retail. “They can’t get the retail without a rezoning. “They believe they can do better financially with a plan that includes a retail component,” Besse said. If he’s able to identify grants for historic preservation, he said he thinks he might be able to present the developer and ownership group with a financially attractive alternative.
Ardmore is on a national registry of historic neighborhoods and the apartments were built between 19, Besse said. Besse said the developer, Robin Team of Carolina Investment Properties in Lexington, told him that if he blocked the rezoning, they would drop the retail component and simply proceed with the plan to build new residential units - an option that would sidestep the requirement for a rezoning.īesse said he asked the developer and representatives of the ownership group if they would give him time to try to come up with an alternative plan to preserve at least some of the housing. Besse was opposed from the outset. The apartment complex is the largest concentration of affordable housing in his district, he said, and while he generally supports mixed-use development, this is one area of the city that doesn’t lack for retail.Īt a later meeting with the architect and the ownership group, Besse said he told them the proposal was “ a nonstarter” as far as he was concerned. It’s the kind of affordable-living environment that is becoming increasingly scarce in our city.”īesse said an architect hired for the project approached him in January and outlined the proposed redevelopment. “It’s located in an area that is safe, and is in walking distance of retail jobs and the hospital. “The rent for one bedroom is in the $500s and for two bedrooms is in the $600s,” Besse said. But he found that he really liked the apartments, which are within short walking distance of Thruway Shopping Center, Whole Foods and Harris Teeter, and ended up staying longer than he had initially planned.Īlong with elderly neighbors like Nichols, the racially diverse population of the apartment complex also includes young families and working professionals. In the midst of a divorce, he moved into the Cloverdale Apartments in 2011, with the expectation that it would be a short stay during a transitional period of his life. “For her to remember that, when she can’t even remember what she ate 15 minutes ago,” she said, “it’s really sad.”īesse, who represents the Southwest Ward on city council, by coincidence and circumstance is a victim of the impending dislocation himself. Her mother’s clarity made an impression on Billings. “I really, really hate to leave,” Nichols told her daughter. 7, Billings received some devastating news through a flier left outside her mother’s door by city Councilman Dan Besse: The building’s owners would be tearing down the Ardmore Terrace and Cloverdale apartment complexes - with roughly 350 units distributed through about 90 buildings - and erecting a new, mixed-use development with retail and housing.
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