A sign advertising property is posted on a vacant house in the Civic Park area in northwest Flint in this Flint Journal file photo.
FLINT, MI -- The state is sending $2.6 million in federal funds here to demolish blighted homes in the historic Civic Park neighborhood in northwest Flint, an area where General Motors once used assembly-line techniques to quickly build nearly 1,000 homes for workers in a single construction season.
The Genesee County Land Bank said in a news release today, Sept. 10, that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority awarded the Hardest Hit funds for the demolition of 225 homes, even though the neighborhood's historic designation was initially a stumbling block to getting the work done.
Nearly half of all properties in Civic Park -- bordered by Pasadena Avenue, Dupont Street, Welch Boulevard and Brownell Boulevard -- are owned by the Land Bank, which took them from previous owners because of failures to pay back taxes.
Heidi Phaneuf, a spokeswoman for the Land Bank, said work by representatives of the city of Flint, a newly formed neighborhood association, the Flint Historic District Commission and others contributed to winning the grant funds, which come in addition to a $20.1-million award of Hardest Hit funds from the U.S. Department of Treasury late last year.
"We had every property evaluated to determine which ones could be demolished," Phanuef said. "Getting all these groups talking and meeting together was quite an effort."
Ron Fonger is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at rfonger@mlive.com or 810-347-9963. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook orGoogle+.