The Power of Partnership in St. Petersburg Dated French Villas is now brand new The Landings

Dated French Villas had crumbling pipes. Now called The Landings has brand new efficient bathrooms. Inviting surroundings and supportive services are included in the new chapter of the housing development. The successful preservation of the affordable units required the determination of the housing authority Executive Director Debbie Johnson (center) who knocked on all doors until she developed a public - private partnership to rehabilitate the 184 apartments.

The French Villas apartments in St. Petersburg were dated and in need of a major rehabilitation, starting with its broken pipes. However, funding to fix the 184 units was hard to find.

After a public-private partnership was developed as part of HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), funding was leveraged in the amount of $24.4 million, enough to redo the housing complex and rename it. The partnership developed by Debbie Johnson, Executive Director of the Pinellas County Housing Authority included, among others, Pinellas County, Norstar Development, Florida Housing Finance Corporation, and HUD.

The Landings at Cross Bayou in St. Petersburg, Florida has a computer area, exercise room, library, new common areas, and demonstrates the real power of partnership.

The completion of the project was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the end of May. Alesia Scott-Ford, HUD's Field Office Director in North Florida was overjoyed with the many lives that will be positively impacted from the new environment and highlighted the success of this journey, one of the first RAD projects in Florida.

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