At a ribbon-cutting today, the City of Birmingham will celebrate inking a $25 million development deal to build affordable homes at Bellview Heights in the Ensley Community.

Called the Oak Hill project, the new homes will be located near 51st Street Ensley and Avenue K. The partnership between the city and NCRC Housing Rehab Fund, LLC (NCRC HRF), known as GROWTH by NCRC will feature:

28 detached, single-family homes
Size of homes will range from 1,227-1,350 square feet

Bellview Ensley — Oak Hill Project lot in the Bellview Neighborhood in Ensley. Photo via Pat byington for Bham Now

“The City of Birmingham is proud to partner with GROWTH by NCRC on Oak Hill, in order to make our vision of community reinvestment a reality,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin. “Oak Hill offers high-quality homeownership opportunities to a well-deserving community that has weathered through economic challenges. The Ensley neighborhood is ripe for this kind of project. My hope is that by adding affordable new homes, we will generate opportunities for wealth-building, community engagement and neighborhood revitalization.”

The project also features an agreement with the Birmingham Construction Industry Authority to maximize opportunities for minority and women-owned enterprises and veteran-owned small businesses to participate in the development and construction of Oak Hill.

Construction begins this month with the first closings taking place in late 2021

Several Ensley Projects in the Works

The Ensley Community has several prominent projects in the pipeline.

Along with the Oak Hill project, the city council recently approved this past Spring the redevelopment of the old Ensley High School property, a $55 million project that will add 244 affordable homes and a grocery store. In downtown Ensley, the old Ramsay-McCormick Building has been torn down to make way for a new office tower that will house Birmingham Promise and a branch of Innovation Depot.

The three projects total nearly $100 million.

Stay tuned to Bham Now as we follow these and other development projects in the Birmingham area.