BEVERLY — Officials broke ground yesterday on the first phase of a $20 million affordable-housing project that they hope will help transform one of the city's poorer neighborhoods.
Six new buildings with a total of 58 apartments are planned for Gloucester Crossing, a neighborhood of triple-deckers located a mile from the downtown near the Cummings Center.
"This is much more than a housing development," North Shore Community Development Coalition Executive Director Mickey Northcutt said. "It's a really good chance for us to enhance what is already a great neighborhood."
The development, called Holcroft Park Homes, is being built by North Shore CDC and by the YMCA of the North Shore. The organizations bought 10 properties in the area in 2007 with the idea of creating affordable housing.
Police Chief Mark Ray said crime in the neighborhood has been declining since the agencies signaled their intention to move in. The organizations helped to create the Beverly Resource Group, which has met with neighbors and planned community events in an attempt to address poverty and crime.
"Your presence has provided so much," Ray said. "Gloucester Crossing had the highest crime rate and fear of crime in the city. Since your investment, a remarkable transformation has occurred."
The neighborhood is not trouble-free, however. In March, Grant Street resident James Vernazzaro was murdered at Balch Playground when police say he was beaten to death by two youths from a nearby group home.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place under a tent set up on one of the construction sites on Mill Street, with officials stepping onto a covered dirt pile to speak.
Mayor Bill Scanlon talked about the history of the neighborhood, which was built alongside railroad tracks for workers at the adjacent United Shoe Machinery Corp., the former factory that was once the city's largest employer. The Shoe has since been replaced by the Cummings Center office park.
"People will be able to live here and walk to the supermarket, walk to the downtown," Scanlon said.
Ward 3 City Councilor Jim Latter, who represents the neighborhood, said he realized the importance of affordable housing when 23 people were left homeless by a fire last year in one of the apartment buildings that has since been demolished to make way for the new project.
"There's nothing more important we can do than find affordable places for people to live and raise their families," Latter said.
The first phase of the project, which is under way, will include one building with 20 apartments on Mill Street and three buildings with three apartments each on Grant Street. Northcutt said those buildings are scheduled to be completed by March of 2012.
The second phase will include two more buildings on Mill Street with a total of 29 apartments. Northcutt said North Shore CDC and the YMCA are still pursuing funding for that phase.
Individuals who make less than $35,340 and families making less than $50,460 will be eligible to live there. The YMCA will manage the apartments once they are built.
Linda Durant, who lives in the neighborhood on Beckford Street, said the new buildings are an opportunity but no guarantee that the neighborhood will improve.
As she walked her dog at the Gage Street Playground down the street from the groundbreaking ceremony, she pointed to the trash scattered throughout in the park. A grocery cart sat empty on the sidewalk.
"It's what the management and the residents do with it," Durant said. "Will they use it as an opportunity, or will they use it and abuse it?"
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by email at pleighton@salemnews.com.
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