Ten buildings at Simon Bright Apartments demolished to ease congestion
Photo of Simon Bright Apartments demolition from The Corbett Group Facebook Page.
The Kinston Housing Authority (KHA) is demolishing 80 of the 224 units, or ten buildings at Simon Bright Apartments. The Corbett group out of Goldsboro is doing the demolition.
“Currently, at Simon Bright we have driveways that only allow for one vehicle to pass at a time, and there are approximately 50 parking spaces for 224 apartments,” said Rhonda Abbot, Executive Director Kinston Housing Authority. “Often times, vehicles block the narrow drives and other vehicles, including emergency vehicles cannot get through.”
Demolition of these buildings will ease traffic congestion, provide adequate parking spaces for the remaining residents, and improve access for emergency service vehicles. After demolition, there will be 144 apartment units remaining.
“We will add parking lots and two way driveways,” said Abbot. “We are also adding two playground areas, one on each side of Bright Street.”
In July of 2021, KHA received approval from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the demolition. At the time, 77 of the 80 units were occupied.
“We worked with all 77 families and they were relocated to other housing within about six months,” said Abbot. “KHA paid all moving expenses for relocation including security deposits, utility deposits, and moving costs. We received 80 additional housing vouchers from HUD to replace the public housing units.”
The expected completion date for the demolition of the ten buildings is April 23, 2023. KHA will follow up with a contract for site improvements which will include two way drives, parking lots, and playgrounds. They plan to begin the site improvements contract in 2023.
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