New Albany's Linden Meadows to be razed

Link to the CJ Article

The city of New Albany intends to move quickly to erase most of the ill-fated Linden Meadows subdivision following its building commission’s approval this week to raze 16 vacant, dilapidated houses.In an announcement Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Jeff Gahan said he walked through several of the properties three weeks ago and supports demolishing the homes because they have become a nuisance and a safety concern.
The mass razing is a significant move because the development on the east side of Interstate 64 has been in limbo — and rapidly deteriorating — while city officials tried to line up a private developer to save some of the homes that had been moved to a 5-acre plot that had been a small city-owned park.
The demolitions could begin in the next 30 days. Another home that had badly deteriorated was razed last month.
“We’ve got to do something,” said Dan Coffey, a city councilman who represents western New Albany.
Linden Meadows was envisioned as a subdivision of low- and moderate-income houses created eight years ago when homes on Cottom Avenue were moved to make way for an expansion of Floyd Memorial Hospital.
Seventeen homes were moved, but only one was sold and is occupied. A nonprofit housing development group that had overseen the project hit a series of snags — including a lawsuit and a bank foreclosure on a $1 million construction loan — that ultimately forced the organization to fold.
New Albany officials tried in vain to arrange for a private developer to salvage the subdivision, but its vacant, boarded and deteriorating homes have continued to rot. A deal last winter hatched by the city’s redevelopment commission to provide funds for a private development group to save at least five of the homes fell through when financing couldn’t be arranged, Coffey said.
It’s disappointing that the effort failed, but it’s time to move on, he said, adding that he couldn’t recall the amount that the City Council agreed to set aside to fund the demolition.
“It turned out to be one of the biggest messes New Albany has ever had,” Coffey said. “It could have been something good if it had been done right.”
Reporter Grace Schneider can be reached at 812-949-4040.