By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Seward Park Estates is the sorriest looking apartment complex in Seattle, a run-down reminder of the poverty and crime that once lurked behind a chain-link fence in the heart of Rainier Beach.

Life there was so bad a former manager carried a shotgun. Neighbors called it "New Jack City," after the 1991 movie starring Wesley Snipes as a Harlem drug dealer.

The World War II-era apartments are empty now. Gone is the midnight gunfire and wailing sirens. And that is good news to Rainier Beach.

After years of negotiations, the apartments are getting a second chance. More than $22 million in public and private money will be used to transform the place into affordable apartments with rents ranging from $450 to $650. A fitness center, day care and 24-hour security are planned.

The long overdue cleanup will eliminate the worst blight in Rainier Beach and bring 800 to 1,000 working-class residents back to the core of the neighborhood.

"Seward Park Estates was the most destabilizing project in Rainier Beach. We see this as a way to help rebuild the community," says Susan Cary, a housing specialist with Southeast Effective Development Inc., a non-profit community development corporation.

It was so bad some residents wanted the Estates bulldozed or sold as a site for new homes, given its prime location across from Lake Washington and Rainier Beach High School. Others pushed to preserve the affordable housing while cleaning up the area's reputation.

Continued:

• Residents unhapppy with focus on negative
• Community has a little bit of everything
• Planners hope to dress up neighborhood
• Diverse population makes for a unique feel