Donoe Housing A Full Year Behind Schedule

Redevelopment of apartment buildings in Estate Donoe is at least a year behind schedule, and no one is sure when stalled work will resume, said Robert Graham, executive director of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority.

After decades of slow degradation and storm damage, the 1970-built Donoe buildings were finally crushed by the 2017 hurricanes. A plan for new low-income housing on the 10.6-acre site — offering 84 apartments in 14 buildings near schools, job centers, the public library, pharmacies, grocery shopping, banks and public transportation — broke ground in January 2021.

But with roughly 38 percent of the job complete, work stopped, Graham said Wednesday.

The same storms that knocked the buildings offline also obliterated the massive solar farm across the street. This potentially spread toxins like cadmium, arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals. The soil also contained remnants of original asbestos building material, officials said.

The Department of Planning and Natural Resources inspected contaminated top soil removed from the site and found toxins present were within acceptable thresholds for disposal at the Bovoni Landfill.