TULSA, Okla. — Eight months after the renovation of Pioneer Plaza, Tulsa Housing Authority broke ground on a new housing complex that also sits atop the hill off MLK Jr. Boulevard.
The $36 million project for what will be called The Hilltop is funded by federal tax credits, Tulsa County Rental Assistance, and several philanthropic investments among other channel.
The Hilltop will house 106 units. Twenty of the units will be exclusively for pre-screened homeless adults getting a fresh start on the Tulsa housing market.
- Previous coverage>>> Tulsa Housing Authority flips high-rise after 19-month renovation
"You hear me talk a lot about the 6,000 new affordable units, the reducing of blight by 60% between now and 2028," Mayor Monroe Nichols said during the Dec. 11 groundbreaking. "And as I think about one project that brings both those things together, it is indeed this one."
City and county officials will admit the privately-owned Sunset Plaza that previously stood at the property was a hazard for the Greenwood area and needed to be bulldozed.
WATCH: 'The Hilltop' to hold 106 units, 20 for Tulsans exiting homelessness
"When we invest in high-quality, deeply affordable housing paired with supportive services, we aren't just building units. We are building pathways," Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation president Bill Major said.
Likewise, Tulsa Housing Authority CEO Aaron Darden said putting the complex near an elementary school and public library among other amenities is not a burden, but a benefit to the surrounding community.
"Whether that's blighted properties or vacant properties or commercial sites that maybe have been abandoned, I think that's going to be critical that we work with our other partners (and) with the city and identifying other areas that maybe could be acquired," Darden said. "And something like The Hilltop be done on those sites as well."
Another 545 units are planned for the 36 North housing project in north Tulsa, with its first phase done and more phases opening in the next year and a half, Darden told 2 News.
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