JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – We first brought you the concerns of residents at Town Center Apartments a year ago when the City of Jacksonville informed them that they would have to vacate the property due to safety concerns.
One year later, the apartments are under new ownership and the new owners are speaking out, along with the residents.
Community Investment Group purchased the apartments in late May. Since then, they have begun renovating the once condemned apartments. One resident 9OYS spoke with said she’s just thankful she still has a roof over her head and that she won’t be put out on the street.
“What’s going on,” said Corine Parker, who lives there. “Where we going, because if they throw us out on the street, we don’t have nowhere to go.”
That’s what went through Parker’s mind when she woke up last summer with a note taped to her door that said she had 60 days to vacate her home.
“You go to bed from night to night, you don’t know if you are going to get up the next morning with a note on the door or a knock on the door you need to you have to vacate,” said Parker.
Now, almost a year later, there’s more clarity but she’s still uncertain of her future.
“The new owner … now they’re just trying to get things straight now, but they’ve just taken over so it’s going to take a minute or two for them to get this up together with us tenants,” said Parker.
The new owners told 9OYS they have no plans to tear down the apartments.
“We’re not bulldozing, we’re renovating, starting over roofing, plumbing, electrical, water, sewer doors, windows floors, were totally rehabbing these units,” said the President of Construction for Community Investment Group, Bret Reece.
The investment group also shares they’re working closely with a local non-profit to tackle issues with section Eight in the area.
“Onslow County has a poor reputation to Section Eight because it’s specific to a cap. Onslow County has a cap of $636. That means if your rent is $637, you can’t use your Section Eight voucher,” said Executive Director of Empower You, Michael Noreski.
What the new cost of rent will be is on everyone’s mind. The new owners say they haven’t made any decisions yet.
“We were not going to be quote-unquote, market rate. But we’re not going to be low income either,” said Reece.
And this uncertainty will worry some, like Parker, in the meantime.
“Our rent is going to go up so I don’t know if we can be able to handle that because he said it’s gonna be from $1,400 to $1,200,” said Parker.
In order to keep tenants informed, the new owners had a town hall meeting on their recent moves. They’re hoping to have another sometime in July.
