The Tesoro/Wizard Car Wash in Mountain View washed its last car long ago. The boarded-up business in the heart of the neighborhood is not a crumbling blight -- at least not yet -- but having a failed business in such a prominent spot definitely detracts from efforts to revitalize the community. Enter the Cook Inlet Housing Authority. It bought the idle car wash/gas station and began demolition Wednesday. Soon the site will be home to Mountain View Village Lofts, 12 sleek, modern, affordable apartments, located above ground-floor retail and office spaces.
This $4 million project is just the latest in Cook Inlet Housing's redevelopment efforts in Mountain View. The agency has already invested over $43 million in more than 100 sites, mostly single-family homes and duplexes. Though subsidized to make them affordable, the homes are classy structures that would easily fit into any upscale Anchorage neighborhood.
One of the housing agency's projects, Park Place Villages, is the handsome building across the street from the Tesoro car wash (see the accompanying photo). Its 12 affordable apartments were quickly rented, though the large commercial space on the ground floor is still vacant. Cook Inlet Housing director Carol Gore says her agency needs more space for it own offices and will put some of its operations in there.
Bigger and better things are still to come in Mountain View, a neighborhood long saddled with a reputation for crime and poverty. This summer, Cook Inlet Housing will build high-quality affordable housing on eight other sites in Mountain View, using a design that won a competition sponsored by the agency.
On Bliss Street, deeper into the heart of the neighborhood, a notorious blight will see the wrecking ball next month. By next year, Cook Inlet Housing will have five smartly designed, rent-to-own, duplex townhomes there. The agency will also build another 12 well-designed, affordable rental units next door to the car wash. They'll replace a decrepit structure whose apartments are now boarded up.
Cook Inlet Housing isn't alone in its growing enthusiasm for redeveloping Mountain View. Credit Union 1 will build and open a brand new, full-service branch by next year, right in the commercial heart of the neighborhood. The owners of Red Apple Market building, prodded by the burst of redevelopment nearby, have pledged to give the aging grocery store a face-lift. And the Anchorage Community Land Trust is hard at work raising money for a $13 million arts and cultural center.
The arts and cultural center is part of an effort known as "Mountain View in Motion." With all that's happening now, the once-troubled neighborhood is definitely moving in the right direction.
BOTTOM LINE: Mountain View is a neighborhood on the way up.