By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BOND HILL - The two largest African-American churches in Bond Hill will introduce a plan today to bulldoze the Huntington Meadows apartment complex and convert it into 300 single-family homes and condominiums.

The "Villages of Daybreak" project would consist of 300 detached single-family homes and attached condominiums. Prices would begin at $125,000.

The 49-acre site would be owned by Allen Temple AME Church and Tryed Stone Missionary Baptist Church. Northpointe Properties would also be a partner in the redevelopment effort.

City administrators were putting the final touches on the proposal Wednesday and plan to discuss it at today's Cincinnati City Council meeting. Assistant City Manager Deborah Holston said Villages of Daybreak would be one of the largest housing developments built in the city in recent history.

The administration will request that the city give $13 million to the project over a three-year period. Developers would get $10 million this year for site acquisition, demolition and environmental clean up and $3 million over the next two years.

Vice Mayor Alicia Reece called the development a "victory" for Bond Hill and the city. She said developers have pledged to work closely with city programs aimed at first-time homebuyers.

"This project will answer the community's cry for more single-family homes and hopefully increase homeownership, particularly among African-Americans," Reece saidRev. Donald Jordan Sr., pastor of Allen Temple, could not be reached for comment.

Jordan had said the site needed a single, local developer with a commitment to home ownership. He said any residential development would complement his efforts to breathe life into the former Swifton Commons shopping center to the west.

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com