This week’s featured question was submitted for Merrill Area Housing Authority Director Paul Russell:
The question reads:
“I thought I remembered reading something somewhere about a plan or idea to gut out and remodel Jenny Towers. Is that true or still a plan? Will apartments be included? If so, where will folks go while their apartments are being worked on?”
Question answered by Russell:
“The remodel project is related to the public housing conversion and Park Place, not Jenny Towers.
“The project planned for Jenny Towers will consist of a green space project slated for summer/fall 2017. There will be no disruption to the tenants at Jenny Towers during this project, except for some temporary parking requirements. The public housing conversion project will consist of two phases and should commence around March 1st.
“Phase one will consist of new construction of a three-story, 38-unit building across West Main Street from Park Place and the renovation of Westgate Family Housing in the Sixth Ward. Phase two – planned for 2018 – will be a remodel of the existing Park Place structure resulting in 54 larger accessible apartments.
“This Housing and Urban Development (HUD) project is net neutral in these 102 units and will just spread the 92 residents at Park Place into two buildings.
“The tenant relocation plan that was created with the residents will not displace anyone outside of Park Place during this project. After the new 38-unit building is complete, 38 Park Place residents will move into their newly assigned units.
“This allows for room to move some other residents around and remodel Park Place one tower at a time. HUD and the Merrill Area Housing Authority are responsible to pay for and coordinate resident moves during this two year project. Thank you for the question!”
Have a question or concern you would like to address? Simply send your question or concern to [email protected] along with an indication of which entity your question or concern pertains to. Current participants are the Merrill Police Department, Merrill Fire Department, Tomahawk Police Department, Lincoln County Administrative Coordinator Randy Scholz, Lincoln County Parks and Forestry Director Kevin Kleinschmidt, Merrill City Administrator Dave Johnson and Merrill Area Housing Authority Director Paul Russell. Please note: Those who submit to the ‘Ask an Official’ feature remain anonymous.