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Moving Plan: Couple want to save historic houses that will otherwise be targeted for demolition
Journal map by Nicholas Weir
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Published: June 16, 2008
Some boarded-up houses near the new baseball stadium could have new lives as affordable housing in the West Salem neighborhood.
Jeff and Susan MacIntosh, who have restored 14 houses and an apartment building in the Holly Avenue, West Salem, West End and Sunnyside neighborhoods over the past 25 years, plan to move from six to nine houses, restore them, and sell them for $120,000 to $160,000.
The houses are on Peters Creek Parkway and Park Circle, across the street from the new stadium. The houses would be moved to vacant lots that the city owns on Cotton Street in Salem Pointe. The price for the lots hasn't been negotiated yet.
The lots are left over from the Salem Pointe redevelopment project in the 1980s. Forty-three duplexes and single-family houses were to be built in an area off of Broad Street near Business 40.
The first developer, Isler and Associates of Durham, went bankrupt. Several other developers worked on the project, but it was never completed as planned.
The project sounds like a good one for the neighborhood, said Steven Shafer, the president of the West Salem Neighborhood Association. The association has had one meeting with the MacIntoshes, who have recently renovated two houses in the neighborhood.
One of the challenges for the project, Shafer said, would be to make sure that the historic houses that date from the 1920s to '40s, would fit into a modern-style, town-house complex.
Shafer said that the transition from the historic neighborhood to the development must be as consistent as possible.
Joe Bellissimo, the project manager for the baseball stadium, said he would sell the MacIntoshes the houses for $1.
If the houses aren't moved, Bellissimo's company will have to pay about $5,000 a house to demolish them, said Bruce Bailiff, who works in the city's neighborhood services department.
The city has owned the lots on Salem Pointe since the 1980s, said Mellin Parker, the city's director of housing and neighborhood development.
The city council would need to vote to amend the redevelopment plan, name the MacIntoshes the preferred developers and approve the sale of the property to the MacIntoshes, Parker said.
It is expected to take about six months for them to acquire the land and lay the groundwork for moving houses, MacIntosh said, and another six months for the renovations. He hopes to have the houses ready for sale by summer 2009.
MacIntosh said that he and his wife have always done projects piecemeal. This project allows them to have a bigger effect on a neighborhood. And it offers a number of advantages for the city.
"It doesn't put houses in the landfill. It preserves local architecture," he said.
"It provides a product that is in demand downtown, which is historic housing at a moderate price."
■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com .
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