The last 10 units of the old Villa Alegre public-housing complex were razed last month, leaving the area looking like it's been cleared for a new park.

"That was one of our concerns if we knocked the place down too soon," said Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority Director Ed Romero. "The whole neighborhood looks out and says, 'Oh, that would make a beautiful park.' "

Last fall, the authority demolished most of the 104 units built in the 1960s at two separate complexes between West Alameda and West San Francisco streets. But it left standing the 10 units east of Camino del Campo and announced it might remodel them.

In December, however, City Councilor Patti Bushee questioned the wisdom of remodeling any of the units, noting they all had been described as being in "horrific shape."

Romero said Friday that when he met with people from the adjacent neighborhood, one person preferred building anew at the site where the 10 units stood.

"We're trying to take the least resistant way to this project, and that seemed to be a sticking point," he said. "So we just said, 'OK, fine, we'll do that.' "

Romero said he is leaning toward building eight new units in two, two-story fourplexes where the 10 one-story units once stood, but that depends on securing financing for those units plus 26 more around Camino del Campo. He said he has only started working on financing for those 34 units that would rent for no more than what would be affordable for people making up to 80 percent of median income — known as "workforce" units or "market-rate" units.

Further west, closer to St. Francis Drive, work could begin in May on 110 new units in mostly two-story complexes. Romero said financing is 80 percent complete for that part of the project.

Of those 110 units, 24 will be reserved for seniors who make no more than 30 percent of the area median income; four for families with no more than 30 percent of median income; and 69 for families with no more than 60 percent of the area median. There also will be 13 "workforce" units.

Romero said the total 47 "workforce" units — nearly a third of the 144 new units in the entire project — are not subsidized and are available to anyone regardless of income. But their rents will be capped at 80 percent of the area's median income because of an agreement for a $5.3 million federal "green energy" grant. The project has another $4.8 million in state loans for the project and is seeking $8 million from an unidentified private investor who would benefit from federal tax credits on the project.

"What we told (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials) was, 'We want to rent to whoever we want, but we'll cap our rent so we can create affordable units downtown,' " Romero said.

Romero said he has finalized a contract on using ground-source heat pumps and photovoltaic cells to heat and cool the 110 units. He said the authority's lease on the city-owned land for the other 34 units allows ground-source heat pumps, but he does not know if those units also would use photovoltaic cells to power the heat pumps.

The Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority operates about 700 public-housing units in Santa Fe and Española, and assists about 1,000 other people with subsidized rentals.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.