The high cost of living in southeast Raleigh has already forced many residents of the area to move out.

The high cost of living there has already forced many residents of the area to move out.

Several areas in downtown Raleigh offer stark contrasts often called gentrification, where gleaming new homes, many worth more than $1 million, gradually replace smaller, older homes.

"It’s allowed inflation to kind of take over so things that were once affordable are no longer affordable," said LeVelle Moton, who grew up in south east Raleigh and also the basketball coach for North Carolina Central University.

Moton did not want to see moderate to low income housing areas like Heritage Park be replaced with more high-dollar homes.

"It’s not only a moral obligation, it’s a social responsibility for me to come back and be able to help provide affordable housing for people in this community who supported me since I was a child," Moton said.

Moton, along with Raleigh Housing Authority board chair Arne Morris now work with developers to eventually replace the current units at Heritage Park with new affordable ones. They also plan to keep the current tenants.

"Our plan is to double or triple the number of units so we want to provide more housing," Moton said. "We need to, with the growth of Raleigh."

Morris added, "There’s no plan on displacing individuals. We my have to move people around during the redevelopment, but everyone will get an opportunity to move back into this complex when it is redeveloped, just as long as they are in good standing."

Morris says the plan requires an integrated population with the ability to access services within a mixed-use property.

"Where we have buildings that would have potentially services, healthcare services, possibly grocery services and and other services our tenants may need," Morris said.

"We’re bringing low and moderate income individuals together and if we’re blending incomes, we’re hopefully breaking down poverty," Morris said.

Morris says, co-developer "Raleigh Raises" will be responsible for making sure some of the businesses on the site will have minority ownership as well as services that would be useful to residents of the Heritage Park community.

Morris says the plan will also include units set aside for seniors from 55 to older than 62 years of age.

Moton hopes the transformation of Heritage Park will be a catalyst for more like it.

"This is not a business development for us, it’s personal," Moton said. "Seeing tangible outcomes and smiles on the faces of people in this community that supported us since we were kids, that means an awful lot to us."

Other partners of the project include Vistabution, LLC, a local minority-owned general contracting business as well as Management Professionals, Inc., a facilities and maintenance company based in Raleigh.

The development team says the effort will start this fall with a 12-month master planning process that will include residents, the city, local partners and stakeholders.

Copyright 2022 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.