Demolition to begin on Fairview Manor complex
Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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Stumble It!Monday night’s Fairbanks City Council meeting raised questions about what exactly is happening with the Fairview Manor Housing Complex.
One thing is for sure, an unoccupied building will be demolished in the next few weeks to make room for affordable housing units.
Charles Boyd Bettisworth of Bettisworth North Architects and city property manager Pat Smith addressed the city with a request for approval to move on to phase one of a project to build new affordable housing units and also requested approval on revisions to the senior housing project.
“We have an urgent need for approval either by the end of this week or next in order to start working on the new affordable housing units,” Bettisworth said. “Someone needs to start ripping those buildings down next week if we’re going to stay on schedule."
In order to proceed with the first phase, the vacant Fairview Manor housing units will be demolished in the next two weeks. Units which are still occupied will not be demolished.
The new units will be named Weeks Field Estates after the former airfield, which once sat on the same property. The first phase of the project will contain 74 of the 120 units.
“The plan is to begin construction on the low income housing pretty soon,” Bettisworth said.
Raven Landing will be the name of the new senior housing complex, which also will sit on the same property. It will consist of 20 units.
“In order to move forward with the funding we’ve been granted for the senior housing project, we needed to revise the original sight plan to allow for construction without tearing down a building,” Bettisworth said.
The new plan would build Raven Landing on a green space area that is currently unoccupied.
“The biggest reason for shifting Raven Landing was so they could start building it this year,” Councilman Chad Roberts said.
Originally, the plan had suggested that market value condominiums and commercial retail space also be built but developers have decided that commercial property, at this point isn’t feasible.
Instead of commercial property, Raven Landing developers have asked that a common space be added to connect the two senior units.
The entire property will be strictly residential now for senior citizens and low-income families.
“It’s really a win-win situation,” Bettisworth said. “We may be able to move ahead with construction, and we won’t have to displace tenants from their current home."
Contractors for Raven Landing requested that the city approve a change of plans, which would allow construction to begin sooner rather than later. As of now, the western-most building is the only unoccupied building that will be demolished.
As far as the construction date for Raven Landing, contractors are awaiting approval from the city council.
No specific demolition date has been set but all the buildings are expected to be demolished by next year, and the entire facility is expected to be complete in 2010.
Community Discussion
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Finally getting rid of this eyesore.
I remember when it was built... It was really welcomed by the community.
It might be interesting to see how much they're charging for rent at Fairview Manor, and compare that to what they'll charge once the new units are up. I'm curious to see what's considered "affordable".
Good riddance to this eyesore and criminal haven
An unfortunate mix of occupants. Seniors deserve better.
AKguy ... you ain't no beauty and Fairview manor has been good to the community for several decades. Give it some respect if you need to say something.
I know that I had two seperate roomies back a while ago that used to go there to buy drugs....two rommies I have hence stayed away from because the drugs made them quite irrational at times and downright lazy (they both enjoyed drugs more than work)
It is an eyesore and the community will be better without it
"Unfortunate Mix" huh.....nice terminology to tug at the heart strings - maybe we can save it "for the children" also
I spent some of my childhood years there back in the 80's. Very fond memories of friends and family. It wasn't until the govmnt made pot illegal again and then a bunch of softies from the states moved up here, all downhill from there, but, thats progress!
No doubt about it, it's an eyesore. Hopefully the new ones won't end up the same way.
Is the senior housing low income or is it the original plan for upscale senior housing for sale?
this is the big ugly blue apartment complex on airport way right?
Good luck getting the city's building department to sign off on anything in a reasonable amount of time.
" In order to proceed with the first phase, the vacant Fairview Manor housing units will be demolished. Units which are still occupied will not be demolished."
LOL! Thank you for letting us know that they won't be demolishing units with people in them!! Love it!
Why not burn it and let the fire department fight it as a training fire?
Previously there was planned for retail space in these unit complex. I think that a little convenience store would be imperative for elderly and young families. Lots of little mom and pop store would love to get a little floor space in that area. Would not take much Square footage.
Bring back a retail spot!!-maybe the space between the senior complexes?
Are we surprised by the bantering of Fairview Manor?
We need to realize that some people may not have a choice but to live there. Have you looked at the price of renting these days?
I remember Fairview Manor back when I was in high school, Lathrop right across the street to be exact. The entire housing complex is full of violent people, drug dealers and drug addicts, a couple of friends of mine lived there and told me all kinds of horror stories about a man getting stabbed while taking out his garbage and a girl getting raped by one of her neighbors. I feel sorry for the Seniors who will be forced into living there if the current renters are not evicted.
Oh, and the reason why the one building is mentioned to be unoccupied is because a friend of mine fell through the floor of his kitchen one morning while cooking breakfast. Of course the management immediately threw everyone in that building out on the street to condemn it. It's about time they started to clean this place up.
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