The Selma Times-Journal

CRS Development hosted a housing dynamics seminar Monday morning at the Performing Arts Centre to update Selma city officials and residents on the construction of Selma Gardens, a new and affordable residential community on Tenth Avenue.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in May 2004 and since then, progress has been steady.

Selma Gardens will consist of 92 residential units that will include an assisted living facility for the elderly, a community center, single-family home designs and a three-story town home design.

There are four single-family home designs residents can choose from: The Selma, The Montgomery, The Ashley and The Hampton.

All of the single-family units are three-bedroom homes and are built with a fireplace.

CRS Development Vice President Dexter Samuels and Executive Vice President Armstead W. Joyner thanked the Selma City Council for giving them the green light on the project and presented a slideshow on the several amenities of Selma Gardens and its benefits.

Joyner said the community will have walking paths, tennis courts, open tot lots and natural landscaping, a method he calls &8220;green space architecture.&8221;

Joyner stressed that very few trees would be destroyed during construction.

Joyner also reviewed plans of the Windsor town home units and said Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. had reservations about town homes in Selma at first.

The Selma Gardens community center will have an indoor gym, a day care facility, classroom space and administrative space. The assisted living facility will include a multipurpose room as well as an Alzheimer’s room. The facility will be named after James and Shirley Samuels, the parents of Dexter and his brother, CEO and President of CRS Development Chris Samuels. A Selma native, Chris plays professional football as a linebacker for the Washington Redskins. Chris donated $8 million to the construction of Selma Gardens.

The focus of the seminar then shifted to the products being used to build the new community.

Major S. Sanders Jr., president of the Quality Housing Corporation and principal architect and co-project director of Selma Gardens, told seminar attendants that he is &8220;trying to give people a better bang for their buck&8221; with structural insulated panels

(SIPs).

SIPs are an innovative housing solution with many financial benefits for builders, contractors and homeowners.

The panels are composed of foam installation laminated between two lawyers of structural board and can withstand a full impact blow from a two-pound hammer without making a dent. These panels can be pre-cut and custom fabricated to any construction.

According to Sanders, SIPs are energy efficient and can reduce housing utilities by 50 to 60 percent annually.

As the presentation concluded, Joyner

used the Selma Gardens slogan as his closing statement.