Spring 2011 Newsletter - M E Rinker Sr School of Building ...

Research CentersPowell Center for Construction & EnvironmentThe Powell Center continues to be engaged in the restoration ofThe Cotton Club, a former African-American music hall locatedon SE 7th Avenue in Gainesville. Among the famous musicianswho played at the Cotton Club in the late 1940s and early 1950swere James Brown, B.B. King and Brook Benton. A resident of thearea, Mr. Charles McKnight recalls James Brown sing his future hit“Please, Please, Please” on the Cotton Club stage.The restoration is being accomplished under the supervision of thePowell Center for Construction and Environment. Rick Fobair, acontractor and Ph.D. student, is the Project Manager for the projectand has been working with the Cotton Club Museum and CulturalCenter, Inc. (CCMCC) board, the City of Gainesville, and the Universityof Florida to organize the work effort that is involved inthis project. The Powell Center has been responsible for the fundraising,design, and construction of the Cotton Club and severalother historic buildings on the site. Dr. Charles Kibert serves on theBoard of Directors of the CCMCC, a non-profit established for thepurpose of overseeing the fundraising, reconstruction, and businessplan for the Cotton Club. The project involves the main CottonClub building, the Perryman Grocery Store, and several shotgunhouses, all of which will be restored, along with the site, to create anactive and vibrant center for the neighborhood and a tourist asset forGainesville. The overall budget for the project is about $2.1 million,and thus far about one-third of the money needed to complete theproject has been raised. The main Cotton Club building has a rebuiltfoundation; the siding, doors, and windows have been replaced; themetal roof has been demolished and replaced; the interior subflooringof the 5,000 square foot building has been replaced; the exteriorhas been repainted and caulked; and stairways to the entrances havebeen built. Funding to date has come from the Florida State Boardof Historical Preservation, the Gainesville Community RedevelopmentAgency, The Pantry, Inc., and from various fundraising events.Perry Roofing Company in Gainesville provided the labor to installthe roof. At present, a bathroom building is being built adjacent tothe Cotton Club to provide facilities for major events.The Cotton Club building in July 2007 prior to the start ofrestoration.The Cotton Club building with the exterior restored as of December2010.Shimberg Center for Housing StudiesThe Shimberg Center for Housing Studies is pleased to announcethat the Heartland 2060 Consortium, of which the Shimberg Centeris a member, has received a $1.4 million Sustainable CommunitiesRegional Planning Grant from HUD. The Heartland 2060 project isone of just two initiatives in Florida receiving the regional planninggrants this year.The grant will enable six rural counties in central Florida—DeSoto,Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okeechobee—to developa regional plan for sustainable development. The Consortium is ledby the Central Florida Regional Planning Council.As part of the Heartland 2060 project, the Shimberg Center will receive$100,000 to develop an affordable housing planning model forrural areas. This work will build on the Affordable Housing Suitability(AHS) Model, a GIS-based model that assesses the suitability ofsites for affordable housing development and preservation based onland use, environmental, socioeconomic, and transportation factors.The AHS Model is a joint project between the Shimberg Center, theDepartment of Urban and Regional Planning, and GeoPlan Center,with generous support from the Wachovia Foundation.The Shimberg Center’s work on the Heartland 2060 project willalso build on the Center's Neighborhood Data Initiative. With supportfrom Bank of America, we are compiling data on demographics,housing prices, property values, foreclosures, crime and schoolsfor Florida's neighborhoods. The Center launched the initiative in2010 with a study of housing and neighborhood conditions in ColemanPark, a historic African-American neighborhood in West PalmBeach. We are working with the Florida Housing Coalition and theCity of West Palm Beach to study the impact of new homeownershipopportunities in Coleman Park stemming from the federalNeighborhood Stabilization Program, which provides funds to stateand local governments to return foreclosed homes to productiveuse.Two other upcoming projects at the Shimberg Center:• We received a feasibility grant from the Jessie Ball DuPontFund to study the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). WAPis a federal program that helps low-income families weatherize theirhomes to improve energy efficiency. The study will compare WAPimplementation in local communities in Florida, Delaware and Virginia.• We will produce the ninth edition of our annual State ofFlorida’s Housing report. The report is a compendium of facts onFlorida’s housing stock, affordability, and sales trends, as well as theeconomic benefits of new residential construction in the state. Thisreport is produced with support from the Florida REALTORS®.26