One of the early goals of the Knox Hill Neighborhood Association was the demolition of the eyesore buildings and 1958-64 Fairmount on the corner of Fairmount and Harrison. The Irish Cliffs Apartments had been a source of illegal activity from gangs, to Drug dealing to prostitution. The property was majorly blighted and stood at one of the primary entrances to the neighborhood.
The group began to lobby the city to have the property , which had numerous code violations and orders to be declared vacant and ultimately demolished. Along the way there were attempts to sell the building to be redone as a group home, offers on the property from various slum lords, a lawsuit filed by the bank that owned the building against city officials but after 2 years the two buildings know at the Irish Cliffs apartments are finally under demolition.
The fences are up the bulldozer on site and demolition of a real "blighted' property has finally begun. The property has over 30000.00 in back taxes owed to eth state and will ultimately be held by the state after that it will like revert to the city meaning it could take up to 3 years before anything can be actually done with the property. In the meantime the Neighborhood Association plans to do some Flower plantings and landscaping on the edge of the property to deter it being used as a parking lot.
Ultimately the neighborhood hopes to acquire the property for redevelopment as historic style infill housing or as mixed use retail residential. the neighborhood is in the preliminary stages of establishing a non profit development corporation to guide development in the neighborhood and to acquire blighted properties under its "Save not Raze" project which will acquire blighted properties by donation or through receivership and resell them once stabilized with protective preservation covenants.
As one long time resident put it , "its a great day in Knox Hill and for once we actually are celebrating the demolition of building".
Irish Cliffs Apartments Under Demolition
Reviewed by citra
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
