Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Longtime Hurt Park residents (from left) Norma Smith, James Emmons and Lawrence Bennett are seeing their neighborhood change.

Roanoke Mayor David Bowers (right) addresses a crowd Tuesday morning on a lot at the corner of 17th Street Northwest and Rorer Avenue, where a single-family home will be built by the Roanoke Neighborhood Revitalization Partnership.

Roanoke's initiative to revitalize targeted neighborhoods took another step Tuesday in the Hurt Park community.

Gone are the old Hurt Park public housing units.

In their place will be a mix of new and renovated housing options. Representatives of five agencies broke ground Tuesday on what will be one of 19 planned single-family homes in the community off the west end of downtown between the city's railroad tracks and the Roanoke River. Renovations to 50 other existing homes are planned, too, and 40 new town house rental units have been constructed. The estimated $4.2 million initiative is being financed predominately with federal grant money.

Although the new development is not traditional public housing, it is still intended to target low- to moderate-income families, said Roger Vest of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

"The old, antiquated public housing park that had outgrown its life cycle, and the desire of the neighborhood at that time [2007] was to tear down the units," Vest said.

The Roanoke Neighborhood Revitalization Partnership -- a cooperative venture among the five agencies -- will work with the city to provide an array of housing services to the Hurt Park neighborhood.

Lawrence Bennett, 78, a Hurt Park resident and member of the Hurt Park Neighborhood Alliance, said he is satisfied so far with the city's and partnership's efforts to improve the neighborhood.

"This is the best thing I've seen happen in my 78 years to us. It's beautiful. I can't hardly believe it's happening. I'm glad to be part of it, the little bit I'm doing," Bennett said.

Hurt Park is one of several neighborhoods the city has sought improve since the city council's adoption of the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative in 2001. Gainsboro, Lincoln Terrace and Southeast by Design are three other neighborhoods the city has channeled funds into over the years with the intent of stimulating long-term development.

The agencies forming the most recent partnership -- the housing authority, Rebuilding Together Roanoke, Blue Ridge Housing Development Corp., Habitat for Humanity and Total Action Against Poverty -- intend to assist city officials in their effort to create new and better housing opportunities for residents, TAP housing director Angela Penn said.

The hope is that new development will encourage more home ownership and improve the overall quality of the area, Vest said.

He added that working as a partnership rather than as individual agencies would better equip them to implement the city's vision for neighborhoods.

"Before, you had housing agencies competing for the same dollars, and there was a duplication of services," he said.

Now each agency has a clear role in developing and improving housing in the area, Vest said.

About $3.2 million in federal funding provided by Community Development Block Grants and Home Investment Partnership Program funds will cover the housing development, which includes the construction of 19 residences and reparations on the 50 existing ones by 2010, said Frank Baratta, the city's budget team leader spearheading the project.

The housing authority used an additional $1 million in city funds to construct 40 tax-credit town house rental units in place of the old Hurt Park public housing complex, Vest added.

Jimmy Cook, president of the neighborhood alliance and a 55-year Hurt Park resident, has worked with the partnership and the city to ensure that residents of the neighborhood have a voice in the process. Cook is employed as an intake specialist by TAP and said that he serves as a direct link between the neighborhood and the partnership.

In addition to improving existing homes, residents hope the development will attract newcomers to the area, he said.

"We want people to have pride about the neighborhood," Cook said. "Our main goals are more single-family residences and more home ownership."

Staff photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis contributed to this report.