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McClendon cointinues effort to revive old Mayfair site

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Mayor wants to bring affordable housing to abandoned apartment complex in West Memphis

ralphhardin@gmail.com It was one of the first items on his agenda when Mayor Marco McClendon first took the reins of the West Memphis government — to repurpose an abandoned apartment complex known as a place for drugs and violence.

Last week, Mc Clendon took a step toward that goal as the City of West Memphis took possession of the site of the former Mayfair Apartments, located in the 800 block of E.

Barton, after the land commission awarded the property to the city. McClendon said he hopes to turn the former apartments into first-class affordable housing, a dream that predates his time as mayor.

Former Mayor Bill Johnson wrangled with the blighted property for most of his 20 years in office, finally seeing to the condemnation and demolition of the Mayfair Apartments in 2017.

The cost of tear the blighted buildings down to the slabs and cleaning out the lot came in at $162,000.

“It has been a long time coming,” said Johnson, who passed away in 2019.

“I’m glad to see it. We won’t get our money right away but at least it is cleaned up.

In the late 1990a, problems with the living conditions and financial management at the apartment complex mounted and became the source of complaints to many agencies from tenants and neighbors around East Barton and McAuley.

Ownership and partner-

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File Photo

West Memphis Mayor Marco McClendon HOUSING (cont.)

ships changed so frequently it was difficult at many points to even say who was responsible for the blight.

At least two companies approached the city with proposals to redevelop the complex, but after a decade struggling with the issues present at Mayfair, city council rejected the final proposal and condemned the property last summer.

Even then, while serving on the city council McClendon maintained he did not want the lot to be neglected as it had before the city moved to condemn the property.

After taking office, one of McClendon’s first agenda items was attracting a developer for the property.

In March of 2019, the mayor announced plans for a new apartment complex at the site, tenatively called “The Park at Barton,” a $6.4 million, 95,044 square-foot gated complex. Planned amenities included a gazebo, barbecue area, a bus stop and a playground.

While that project never got off the ground, city officials are optimistic this time around. They’ve been consulting with a former Memphis housing official on the project. McClendon said the Housing Development Department is working with Robert Lipscomb in developing single-family housing on the property.

The mayor said until plans are finalized, the goal is to keep the grass cut and the area clean with help from the community.

“It’s definitely been an eye sore for the last decade,” he said. “Even before it was torn down, it was definitely crime-infested.”

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