New housing replaces notorious Miller Homes in Trenton

TRENTON, N.J. (WPVI) -- The Miller Homes in Trenton, New Jersey had long stood as symbols of crime and poverty. But on Friday there was a new start as city leaders held a ribbon cutting for a brand new affordable housing project where the Miller Homes once stood.

The Rush Crossing Apartment Homes are now open for business. The new, affordable lifestyle community represents a fresh start in Trenton.

The Miller Homes were described as the poster child for public housing failure. So this revitalization is very exciting for the Trenton community.

The hope is this new 204-unit development will help build pride for residents there.

Representative Rush Holt says, "It's not just rooms, it's not apartments - these are homes."

Four years in the making, it took federal, state and local leaders - past and present - to get to this day.

Former Mayor of Trenton Doug Palmer tells us, "This is the result of people working together and bringing real communities together to make them safe."

Safe because at one point this beautiful space was a haven for crime.

The Miller project homes used to be in the very spot where the Rush Crossing Apartment Homes now stand.

"They called it 'Killer Homes'," Palmer explained. "Because of the violence that was here."

The two ten story towers had been boarded up since 1989 and become eyesores.

Trenton Mayor George Muschal remembers patrolling these streets as a police officer decades ago.

"We had many a battle here. You look at this project and it's unbelievably done right," the mayor said.

City leaders hope the revised look and quality of the new 204 homes will help build pride for the Trenton.

There is also a community center on the development named in honor of Wayne Lartigue - the former director of housing for the city. He grew up in public housing before aspiring to greater heights.

Representative Holt says, "He was an example of what a difference public housing can make. It can be a stepping stone, as he said, to economic self-sufficiency and to community integrity."

Although today was the ribbon cutting ceremony, the complex has been open for about a month. And they already have applications submitted for nearly half of the homes.

The community is excited about these positive changes.