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Feb 19, 2009 5:15 pm US/Central
Dallas Hotel Low-Income Project In Jeopardy
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A proposed $30 million renovation of a downtown Dallas hotel will be scrapped next week, unless backers can convince neighborhood groups that residents at the facility won't pose a threat. At the center of the controversy – the Plaza Hotel.
Currently, the Plaza sits empty. The building was once a Sheraton Hotel and later a Ramada.
Supporters want to convert the hotel into housing for low-income residents and even some homeless. But at this point, only an 11th hour change of heart by neighborhood groups can salvage the plan.
Central Dallas Ministries President and CEO Larry James believes that the opposition is a matter of not knowing all the facts. "I think mainly because neighbors don't understand the totality of the concept," he explained.
James faces a tough selling job. He has a vision of turning the Plaza into apartments available for all income levels.
With taxpayer assistance, James envisions adding on to the existing structure and structuring 304 units, including efficiencies, one, and two-bedroom apartments.
To move forward with the project, James must get city council approval next week. "The 'housing-first' approach that we would take would place people in the apartments and provide case management around them and would help them stabilize and do very well."
The problem is most neighbors in the area don't like the notion of the building becoming a low-income property. Newly revitalized and upscale areas, like the Cedars Homeowners Association, oppose the idea. Next-door neighbors at the Buzz Condominiums voted 29-3, over the weekend, to tell Dallas City Hall they don't want it either.
Dallas councilwoman Pauline Medrano said from the beginning everyone knew the neighborhoods blessings were mandatory and she's listening to them. "If the neighborhood is not in agreement then the project would not go forward," she explained.
But opposition is not uniform. Buzz Condominium resident Tiera Hampton has no problem with converting the Plaza. "I personally don't have anything against it. They [the homeless] need somewhere to go, so if that's turning it into it, then I'm fine with it," she said.
Medrano told CBS 11 News that she hopes there is still room for negotiation, but James said if the vote goes down the project is probably dead.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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