Thanks to a $36 million HOPE VI grant and another $4 million in HOME funds, workers in St. Louis recently began a multi-year project to transform the nearly four decade old Blumeyer Public Housing Complex into housing that when completed will result in some 800 new homes, 500 of which will be for lease and the remaining 300 available for purchase.

Blumeyer HOPE VI Community partners formed the nucleus that has helped the neighborhood to be reborn. In addition to HUD, the partners include the City of St. Louis and the St. Louis City Housing Authority, Fannie Mae, US Bank, Urban Strategies, McCormack Baron Salazar and other organizations.

Resident Craig Ferrel came up with the winning name -- Renaissance Place at Grand.

Phase I of the $107 million project has an estimated completion date of Spring 2005 for 158 multi-family rental units, ranging from one-bedroom garden apartments to five-bedroom townhouses.

According to a former resident and community activist, the Blumeyer complex is rich with a long history of community activism. The neighborhood started changing in the late 1960s when professionals and married couples began moving from Blumeyer to outlying areas. As a result, from the early 1970s until a few years ago the complex was home to predominantly female single-parent households.

At that time residents decided to take action and formed an association with a goal of improving the quality of life for families who lived there. And shortly thereafter, the Blumeyer Resident Management Corp., in partnership with the St. Louis City Housing Authority and other groups and businesses, formed a nucleus that began planning the rebirth of Blumeyer.

Their actions came together in 2001 when the local housing authority applied for a HOPE VI Revitalization Grant that would transform the neighborhood from a blighted area to a new vibrant mixed-income community.

Blumeyer residents liken the neighborhood's rebirth to a renaissance and say it's an opportunity to showcase the community's diversity. Appropriately, in a renaming contest, the winning entry for the complex is Renaissance Place at Grand, which many say captures the spirit of the community's rebirth.