After months of construction work—and many more months of neighborhood bickering—the new Forest Park Apartment complex will be officially opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony this Wednesday, July 28.
The Forest Park Apartments are perhaps still better known by their former name, Longhill Gardens. For years, Longhill Gardens had a reputation as an unsafe and unkempt neighborhood scourge. When the complex was finally condemned by the city and boarded up in 2007, neighbors breathed a sigh of relief, hoping it would be the end of the crime, trash and all-around bad behavior many associated with the place.
But if there was a general neighborhood consensus about the problems at Longhill Gardens, there was sharp disagreement about what should happen to the property next. A Boston-based developer, WinnDevelopment, with state funding and the backing of City Hall and the Forest Park Civic Association, took over the property and spent $21 million rehabbing the complex, with a mix of market-rate, affordable and low-income units.
That plan did not sit well with some neighbors—including the grassroots Springfield Forward—who worry that the site will once again turn into a neighborhood headache. They say Forest Park Apartments is too densely populated (the new complex has 109 units, about 100 fewer than Longhill Gardens did) and lobbied for alternative uses, including a new middle school. The issue became a contentious issue in the neighborhood, and in last fall’s elections, when mayoral challenger Bud Williams sided with opponents of the complex against incumbent Mayor Domenic Sarno, who supported the project.
Whether the official opening of Forest Park Apartments signals an unofficial end to that strife remains to be seen. Certainly, we can be assured that skeptics will be keeping a close eye on the project for any signs of trouble.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place in the community room at the Forest Park Apartments, at 89 Longhill St., on Wed., July 28, at noon.
