The Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank gets a $250,000 grant to support revitalizing the Hilltop section of the city.
The grant from Bank of America will help the Land Bank’s Lower Hilltop Equitable Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative.
The goal is to transform vacant and abandoned properties into affordable homes and strengthen the Hilltop neighborhood.
Bud Freel is the president of the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank.
"We were working within the boundaries of 2nd street and 4th street, North Franklin and North Van Buren, and we identified over 50 vacant properties. Since that time we have purchased over 40 of them. We have 14 that we have totally rehabbed and sold. We have four more under contract and 13 that are in construction," said Freel.
Freel notes the grant money will specifically assist the Land Bank with five properties, finishing their rehabilitation and making them ready for sale.
He adds the main goal of the initiative was to pick a part of the city, in this case the Hilltop section, that has a high rate of vacant properties, acquire as many as possible to rehab, and then slowly expand out.
"Our goal is to acquire as many vacant properties as we can, totally rehab them which many times means, we take the properties back to the studs and rebuild the property with all new systems and appliances,” said Freel. “We then sell the properties for affordable home ownership. In many cases these are first time home buyers."
He says this is not just about rehabbing houses, but revitalizing a community neglected for many years.
He adds vacant properties accumulate trash and debris, attract crime and have high incidents of fire that hurt property values on the block.
