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East Liberty community hopes prosperity doesn't pass it by

Enright Court, a community of homes in East Liberty, has been around for more than three decades.

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As intense development occurs throughout the neighborhood, a community organization is stepping in to make sure the Enright Court homeowners benefit from the boom and that the community remains affordable amid the changes.

Most of the people who live in Enright Court own their homes, and during that time some of the homes have gone into disrepair.

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James Jefferson and his wife were some of the first homeowners to move into the enclave off Broad Street in 1971.

"It was very, very nice, well-kept," he said.

Today, many of the original homeowners or their children still live there, but the years have taken their toll, and as new development happens around it, parts of Enright Court wither.

"A lot of people look at Enright Court and think it's a project-based community," said Mary Hester of East Liberty Development Inc. "It should look like the rest of East Liberty."

East Liberty Development Inc. has stepped in, and with the help of some grants, is purchasing blighted homes and remodeling them and other parts of Enright Court with the goal of preserving affordable homeownership.

"With the real estate boom you are seeing right now in East Liberty, a lot of people are being priced out," Hester said. "A lot of rentals, some of them being affordable and some of them being market rate."

The company plans to get started on some of the small parts of the project as early as next week. It expects most of the work to begin in the first quarter of 2019.

 

Cox Media Group

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