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David Hopkins,left, of PNC Bank, awarded members of Manchester Citizens Corporation with a check for $75,000. Next to Hopkins, from left, stand Linda Nelson, Earl Coleman, Brenda Moye, Jean Lewis, Patricia Washington, Roberta McHenry, Jerome Jackson and Virginia Barnes. (Photo/Henry Clay Webster)

State Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-42nd District, who brought state funding to the project by way of the County Infrastructure and Tourism Fund, predicted the development’s success. “My real estate background says this project will bring people to the neighborhood, because of the convenience of living in this neighborhood.”

The new units incorporate historic designs, courtesy of Devlin Architecture, so that they complement Manchester’s historic designation. The new three- and four-bedroom units will all feature two-car garages, a concept that should attract suburbanites used to more spacious lots.

After Fontana, Manchester’s new City Councilman Daniel Lavelle praised MCC members for “fight[ing] for this neighborhood unrelentingly for years.”

In a similar tone, Mark Masterson, executive director of the Northside Community Development Fund that has provided over $600,00 in financing for the project, championed the Manchester residents who have spent years lobbying for this project.

“It takes patience, perseverance and sometimes knocking down doors. I know what this takes having been a community organizer in my own neighborhood, there’s a lot of hours that you aren’t paid for.”

David Hopkins from PNC Bank, which is providing homebuyers with mortgages of 1.5 percent below market rate, used the opportunity to present MCC with a grant of $75,000. PNC assumed National City’s role in financing the project when it bought much of the bank’s assets in early 2009.

“I want to thank Jerome Jackson and Stanley Lowe. We felt more comfortable with each subsequent meeting,” Hopkins said.

Linda Nelson, of MCC, thanked Lowe for lending the money to start the project years ago.

“Some people wanted to see a parking lot [here], some people wanted a jail, some wanted a factory, but we knew what [belonged in this spot],” Nelson said.

In honor of two people who have been at the heart of Manchester’s revitalization efforts for 50 years, two new alleys will bear the names of Arthur and Betty Jane Ralph.