Mary Shepard Place Redevelopment: A New Home for Clay Arsenal

0:00It's April 30th. Welcome in. This is Hartford News Today, where local news meets AI, I'm Corey, with the story. Hartford's gearing up for a big change in Mary Shepherd Place, the last public housing complex in the city that hasn't been touched by redevelopment. Built back in the 1940s, it'll see 127 low-income apartments demolished and replaced by 159 new, ones across two phases. Construction could kick off early next year, aiming to blend the spot right into the clay arsenal neighborhood instead of keeping it cut off. The first phase costs $68 million, with work on both rental phases overlapping to speed things up. That means relocating about 109 families first. They've teamed up with Boston's Trinity Financial, experts in affordable housing, and a third phase of 20 townhouses for sale might follow by. Around 2031. This comes after a rethink from the Hartford Housing Authority, who ditched pricey renovations for a full tear down and rebuilt. The new setup spreads units over 23 buildings, with one, two, and three-bedroom

1:07options, plus a fresh community center to make it all more. Walkable and welcoming. Financing hinges on $38 million from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, mostly low-income tax credits. Tenants get choices like vouchers, moves to other spots, or priority to return once it's done, as long as they're current on rent. Neighborhood leaders in struggling clay arsenal see this as a game changer. Pairing with a new headquarters from Hartford gives the fight poverty and spark real revitalization. Finally turning the area into a place folks want to call home long term.