[Johnny Ryall]

City Wins Federal Funding For Demolition Of Cleaborn Homes
HOPE VI Money Signals Start of Triangle Noir Plan
BILL DRIES | The Daily News

The city of Memphis will be getting $22 million in federal funding from the department of Housing and Urban Development to kick off an ambitious 10 year $1 billion plan to transform the Downtown area south of FedExForum and parts of South Memphis. The Triangle Noir project was a plan that surfaced toward the end of the Herenton administration. During the change in administrations at the White House in 2009, the funding necessary to kick off the multi part plan was in doubt. Wednesday’s announcement in Memphis by assistant HUD secretary Dr. Raphael Bostic is the first definitive step toward beginning Triangle Noir.

The money will be used for the demolition of the Cleaborn Homes public housing project and a rebuilding of a mixed use, mixed income development on the site. The city’s other large public housing projects with the exception of Cleaborn and Foote Homes have undergone or are undergoing a similar transformation. The city hopes to win federal funding to demolish Foote Homes as well. Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. endorsed a continuation of efforts on the Triangle Noir project shortly after taking office in October. The federal money to demolish the housing project is intended to be a catalyst for leveraging private investment in other areas outside the development.