Norwalk has won $250,000 from HUD to help with transformation of its Washington Village public housing project into a sustainable mixed-income neighborhood, authorities say.
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development said Friday that Norwalk is among 17 cities receiving $4 million in the first planning grant funding through HUD’s new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.Â
EJP Consulting Group LLC, Norwalk Redevelopment Agency and Family and Children’s Agency are involved in the conversion project.
Washington Village, in the town’s South Norwalk section, was built in 1941 and is the oldest public housing site in the state. But its obsolete buildings, units, and site design have deterred public investment in South Norwalk, HUD said.Â
Plans to remake the neighborhood include revitalizing the South Norwalk Rail Station, developing a two-mile pedestrian and bicycle path in the downtown corridor, and investment in housing, office and retail buildings.Â
Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is a centerpiece of the Obama administration program to support the   transformation of America’s distressed neighborhoods.
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