CITY OF THE VILLAGE, OKLAHOMA

      SHOVEL-READY PROJECT GETS BOOST
               FROM ARRA FUNDING
      As the City of Oklahoma grew, The Village, once a suburb, became an
"island" surrounded by the booming, bigger city.  The desire to protect its own
growth and viability led The Village to aggressively pursue redevelopment within its
borders by purchasing a 27-acre blighted apartment complex with 436 units known
as the Vintage Lake Apartments. Crime-ridden and unsuitable for rehabilitation, the
complex presented a formidable challenge. The proximity of this site to The Village
post office, police department, city hall and city library,  all within a five-minute walk,
presented a unique opportunity to capitalize on access to these civic amenities as
well as connections to walking trails, three nearby city parks, a school, YMCA facil-
ity and retail centers.

      The ambitious plans for this  site had a major hurdle.  Before redevelopment
could be pursued, The Village was faced with an estimated cost of $769,321 for
asbestos abatement. The huge task involved 114 individual apartments with a total
of 153,076 square feet of ceilings textured with chrysotile asbestos. Assisted by a
$254,000 loan from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality's EPA
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund as well as a $200,000 EPA Brownfields
Cleanup Grant funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, The
Village was able to surmount    CRIME-RIDDEN AND UNSUITABLE FOR REHABILITA-
TES obstacle and push its re-    TION,  THE COMPLEX PRESENTED A FORMIDABLE
development goals.                            CHALLENGE

      All asbestos abatement work was completed in August 2009 and a redevel-
opment agreement with a potential developer is expected to be signed by the end
of 2009. The agreement will provide for the construction of at least 116 new gar-
den homes and 40 two-story condominiums. Included in the agreement is a five-
acre greenbelt featuring a landscaped pedestrian walkway which will run through
the heart of the redevelopment.

      Redevelopment of the site will involve private investment of approximately
$25 million.  About three acres of the property will be sold to another developer in a
later phase which The Village hopes will become a new town center. This one pro-
ject will benefit the community in an abundance of ways, including job  creation,
crime reduction, an in-
creased tax base, and most
importantly, a significant im-
provement for human health
and the environment.

      For more information
on this project, please con-
tact Bruce Stone, City Man-
ager, at:
bruce_stone@thevillageok. org

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