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$2.4M home renovation project under way in Immokalee
By TRACY X. MIGUEL
More than 300 Timber Ridge and Sanders Pines residents in Immokalee are
getting their homes renovated.
Among a slate of improvements, Professional Building Systems
subcontractors are installing new kitchen and bathroom cabinets and
doors at the 40-unit Sanders Pines apartment complex, near Eden and
Carson roads.
The total cost of the project is $2.4 million.
The project is among a series of renovations that began in spring 2006
at affordable housing developments in Immokalee.
The Immokalee Non-Profit Housing Inc. board of directors decided to
rehabilitate 74 units to strengthen the properties to prevent future
hurricane damage as well as provide a safe, decent place for residents,
said Sheryl Soukup, executive director of Immokalee Non-Profit Housing
Inc.
The rehabilitation has been partially funded through the Collier County
Department of Housing and Human Services, using the U.S. Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant program.
The program provides grants for projects that improve low-income housing
in deteriorating neighborhoods by bettering residents’ health and
safety.
“We are really excited,” Soukup said.
Sanders Pines, with two- and three-bedroom units, was built in 1992, and
Timber Ridge, a subdivision of single-family homes, was built in 1995.
The residents of Sanders Pines and Timber Ridge, primarily Hispanic and
Haitian, are all low income, with 80 percent of the units set aside for
farmworkers.
There are 160 children under age 18 among the 300-plus people helped by
the project, Soukup said.
Among items selected specifically for these residents are kitchen and
bathroom cabinets that are wider and made of cherry wood high-pressure
laminate.
A total of 74 units are having their current pressboard cabinets, which
weren’t water-resistant, replaced with new cabinets, new sinks, faucet
handles and new entrance doors with peep holes.
The base cabinets have leg supports to minimize the cost of maintenance,
said Mario Valle, project manager for Professional Building Systems.
Professional Building Systems, a Naples-based general contractor, is
also replacing 181 doors to meet hurricane standards. The doors will
open to the outside.
The $553,000 project, scheduled to take less than five weeks from start
to finish, is expected to be completed in about a week, Valle said.
Marie Francis, 64, is among the residents enjoying a new kitchen. She
got her new kitchen and bathroom cabinets installed April 28.
“I like them,” said Francis, a farmworker for 28 years.
Francis, who has lived at Sanders Pines in a three-bedroom house for
seven years, was especially thrilled with the replacement of the faucet
handles.
Francis said the handles are easier to maneuver.
Nearby, residents at the 34-unit Timber Ridge complex have been enjoying
the renovations since the week of April 21.
Among them is Elizabeth Adame.
Beaming with joy, Adame said she no longer has to store kitchen utensils
inside the stove and garage. The new kitchen cabinets are about six
inches larger.
The bathroom pedestal sink has been replaced with a stone-color high
pressure laminate counter sink with a cabinet beneath the sink.
Before, Adame stored bathroom supplies inside an over-the-toilet
cabinet.
“My children are really happy,” Adame, a former farmworker, said.
Adame lives with her husband and three children, ages 13, 11 and 8.
The front door also has been replaced to open to the outside.
As hurricane season nears, the Adame family feels secure.
“I feel more safe,” Adame said.
At $700 a month for a three-bedroom and one-bathroom unit, Adame says it
is the best deal in town.
At Sanders Pines, roofs have been replaced, central air-conditioning
systems have been installed and the electrical system has been ungraded.
Timber Ridge got new garage doors.
Both developments also have had exterior painting done.
In addition, the units will receive new impact-resistant, energy
efficient windows. And exterior fencing that was damaged during
Hurricane Wilma will be repaired around the property.
The final part of the project is to renovate the community building at
Timber Ridge, which will be funded partially by the Naples Children and
Education Foundation.
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