The Rome Housing Authority has set Jan. 27 as the new deadline for a request for proposals for Hight Homes.
Madison Retail LLC failed to meet a deadline to sign a contract and pay a $50,000 deposit earlier this month. Hudson said she wouldn’t be surprised if they came back with another offer when a third request for proposals is due Jan. 27.
While the Housing Authority of Northwest Georgia seeks a third round of proposals for the nine-acre site on Turner McCall Boulevard across from Floyd Medical Center, the authority will also seek a separate request for proposals for the demolition of the Hight Homes buildings.
“We’ve waited this long, we can wait another 60 days,” said Lee Hight, the chairman of the authority’s board.
Key elements in the new request for proposals for redevelopment of the site will be a minimum $3 million cash offer plus another $750,000 in assistance for the construction of a new housing authority administration building on the nine-acre tract at Turner McCall Boulevard and North Fifth Avenue. Hudson said that’s where the housing authority wants to be based.
The new request for proposals also drops the non-refundable cash deposit required from the winning bidder from $50,000 to $25,000.
Several groups have engaged in unofficial discussions with Hudson since Madison Retail failed to meet its deadline. Hudson and Hight both said one unnamed developer has asked the authority to not move forward with demolition of the existing buildings, however the developer has not indicated what plans they may have for some of the oldest public housing units in Rome.
Any proposal the housing authority accepts for the Hight Homes site must be approved by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development because the federal government has provided funds for the public housing project, which was initially constructed nearly 70 years ago.
The Housing Authority has now put out a request for proposals three times for the old Hight Homes project. The first time, Rome’s Ledbetter Properties submitted the lone proposal, which was rejected.
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