The Cincinnati housing authority wants to demolish large swaths of an English Woods public housing complex and sell the land to the city for $10 million to build 400 owner-occupied homes that have sweeping downtown views.

        The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority's $75 million project would be funded by federal Hope VI grants, private developers and a city anxious to boost home ownership.

        “It has been argued in Cincinnati for a long time there is little land available for development,” said Donald Troendle, the housing authority's executive director. “Having this property that is very close to downtown with the rolling topography that exists there is really an opportunity.”

        The housing authority has not yet made a formal offer to the city. But during preliminary negotiations, the housing authority has asked the city to buy the land for $10 million and pay for improvements such as new streets, sidewalks and sewers.

        Peg Moertl, director of the city's community development department, said the offer seems too expensive.

        “This still has to be worked out,” Ms. Moertl said. “Maybe it does make sense, but it sounds like a big number to me.”

        Ms. Moertl wants a more detailed cost analysis and appraisal for the 86.6-acre site within blocks of Interstate 75 before committing funding.

        The city's financial support is crucial not only to help pay for the project. It's also a key factor that the Department of Housing and Urban Development gauges when it decides recipients of Hope VI grants — a program targeting the worst public housing projects nationwide.

        The group representing tenants — the English Woods Civic Association/Resident Community Council — already signed a memorandum of understanding supporting the project.

        Mr. Troendle said it's important to gain the city's support before sending the application to HUD. Applications are due in about six months.

        The redevelopment is sorely needed because the barracks-style 956-unit complex is largely obsolete, Mr. Troendle said.

        The plan calls for demolition of a 700-unit section built in 1942. Two more-modern additions — 118 units built in the early 1960s and the 138-unit Marquette Manor high-rise for elderly and disabled people — would be preserved.

        Of 400 new homes, 100 would be reserved for low-income buyers through special mortgage and down payment programs. The housing authority also would build 40 subsidized and 30 market-rate apartments at the site.

        Elda Marshall, director of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati, said builders will be interested in looking at the prime lots.

        But she said some might be reluctant to build expensive homes next to low-income housing.

        “The question is how many people would buy a $180,000 or $200,000 home next to subsidized housing,” Ms. Marshall said.

        The city's first Hope VI project — the demolition and redevelopment of the former Lincoln Court and Laurel Homes public housing projects in West End — is based on the premise that some middle-income buyers are willing to buy homes near low-income people. Mr. Troendle said early sales at the redeveloped Lincoln Court proves that middle-income buyers will purchase homes near subsidized units. One buyer even sold a home at the nearby Longworth Square subdivision to live in a larger home at the mixed-income Lincoln, renamed City West.

        The proposed English Woods development would have a much higher concentration of home ownership. Only 250 owner-occupied homes are being built at City West, a project that will include 965 mixed-income apartments when finished.

        Ms. Moertl said the city strongly supports the mixed-income approach.

        Mayor Charlie Luken, who lives in the West End, has promoted the housing authority's City West development as the type of housing Cincinnati needs. City Council also passed an impaction ordinance that aims to spread low-income housing throughout the region.

        “I think there is broad-based support for mixed-income communities,” Ms. Moertl said. “The actual details of the city's participation still has to be worked out.”

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