Renovo’s Mills Park Sale Proceeds

RENOVO — The process to empty out the 27-unit Mills Park public housing in Renovo is underway.

Clinton County Housing Authority executive director Jeff Rich told The Record there are now 12 vacancies in the units along Huron Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets. Meanwhile the process to sell the units continues.

Rich said if all the approvals are received from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the remaining occupied units should be empty by the end of the year and the buildings put on the open market. He said he was “optimistic” the transition will occur over the next couple months, calling the return of the units to the tax rolls “a window of opportunity” with the impending need for housing related to the massive Renovo Energy Center project scheduled to begin next year.

Tenants had been notified earlier this year about the disposition of the buildings and those who departed to this point have done so of their own accord; once final HUD approval is received, Rich said, remaining Mills Park occupants will be given priority should they seek to remain in other housing authority units in Renovo.

He indicated proceeds from the prospective sale would be put towards a subsidized senior housing project planned for Flemington.

The housing authority has been working on the Mills Park sale since last winter. At the time Rich said the county put the assessed value of the units at $1.2 million and an authority-authorized study put the current value at $660,000.

Information at a borough council meeting last winter included word that the housing authority currently pays the borough $3,400 annually in lieu of taxes. That number would likely increase if and when the property would go back on the tax rolls.