More Doors Closing on Working Poor

Crime followed: The crack cocaine epidemic took hold, bringing drug dealers with it. During a rash of homicides in the neighborhood in 1991, three occurred in the Glenmore.

In 1996, the properties went into foreclosure, and the notes went to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They were sold in 1997 to Florida homebuilding giant Lennar Corp.

The new owner paid off more than $55,000 in overdue water bills to keep the Glenmore open. But problems only deepened, and county inspectors, who found hundreds of violations on the properties, revoked their licenses and ordered them to accept no new renters.

Two plans by developers to restore the places have failed, and a task force has called for their demolition. A court battle drags on between the county and the current owner. The Glenmore's 14 remaining tenants have been given until the end of this month to leave.

Johnson, the county executive, has not endorsed a plan for the site. "We are hopeful that any redevelopment plan will be positive to this community and the neighborhoods surrounding these apartments," he said through a spokesman.

The county is in negotiations with Stavrou Associates, a Landover-based developer that wants to tear down both complexes and rebuild. Hunter's Ridge would be replaced by 350 market-rate condominiums. The Glenmore site would become 409 apartments, about 240 of them earmarked as affordable housing, said project developer Steve Moore.

County officials stress that details of the project, such as income limits and rent restrictions for the units to be designated affordable, still are being discussed.

Driving along Landover Road in his silver Cadillac, Arnold Berlin shakes his head at the state of Hunter's Ridge and the Glenmore.

"I'm not going to second-guess the county, but my feeling is that they could be good, solid properties," he said. "I think good management could take care of the problems."

Berlin, whose family has been in the apartment business on Landover Road for 30 years, owns and runs 2,800 garden apartments in Prince George's.

"I want to show you what Hunter's Ridge and the Glenmore could have been," he said, turning into Kings Square.

Its layout of blocky, three-story buildings is nearly identical to that of Hunter's Ridge and the Glenmore. But there the resemblance ends. Kings Square is full, with a waiting list. It has a day-care center, after-school resource center, community police office, pool and modest health club. In the summer, Berlin pays to transport the children who live here to free county-run day camps. He has his own security detail that patrols the streets.

He doesn't accept Section 8 rental vouchers, saying the paperwork is onerous. And he keeps a minimum income requirement of $28,800 for a two-bedroom apartment. His rents remain below the HUD-designated fair-market rent for the county, with two-bedroom apartments from the mid-$700 range.

"I don't think the county has enough housing, especially at this income level," he said.