For Release: Immediate  Date: August 22, 2001

Hurricane Floyd Redevelopment Center

Robert Carver/Barbara Blackston 919-733-1910/252-243-4855

RALEIGH - State and local officials, developers and community leaders will break ground Friday morning on a new subdivision in Wilson, partially financed with state Hurricane Floyd relief funds, that will ultimately provide 36 homes for victims of the storm and other low- to moderate-income families in Eastern North Carolina.

David Kelly, director of the North Carolina Redevelopment Center, a division of the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and the agency which oversees the state's recovery effort, will attend the event marking the start of construction of the Adventura East II subdivision Friday at 10:30 a.m.

"I'm pleased the state could help bring more new, affordable housing to Eastern North Carolina," said Kelly. "Getting flood victims back into safe and sanitary housing is the state's top priority. Helping people become home owners through projects like this is a much-welcomed added benefit."

The homes will sell for $70,000 to $80,000. The subdivision will feature 12 floor plans with three- to four-bedroom homes ranging in size from 1,079 to 1,400 square feet.

The state provided $263,725 in grants to build the subdivision's infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer lines. Another $82,068 in state funds administered by the North Carolina Community Development Initiative, which assists non-profit developers in producing permanent replacement homes in areas affected by the flood, helped acquire the land. The overall project will cost approximately $3.5 million.

The non-profit Wilson Community Improvement Association (WCIA), which also serves as the state's Housing Recovery Assistance Center for Hurricane Floyd recovery efforts, has spearheaded development of the subdivision. Other partners in the project include the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, which provided a $100,000 grant, and the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, which helped with $150,000 in funding.

WCIA expects the first residents to move in by May 2002. Thirteen homes have already been pre-sold, two to flood victims. Under the terms of the state infrastructure grant, at least 50 percent of the subdivision must be sold to victims of Hurricane Floyd. If, after five years following construction, the developer has not met that threshold, the state would be owed the grant funds for the number of lots shy of the 50 percent mark.

Directions: Adventura East II is located on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive (U.S. 264) east of Wilson on the way to Greenville. The development is on the left and is well marked with signs. In addition to the contacts listed above, you may also call Barbara Blackston at 252-315-4389 or Vera Burton at 252-315-3918 for further information.

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