NORTHAMPTON (14)
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LOCATION
Located in Southwest City, Northampton is bounded by Scanlan and Connecticut to the North, South Kingshighway to the East, Chippewa to the South, and Hampton to the West.

HISTORY
Much of Northampton was the City's last open land. Development had occurred to the west in Lindenwood Park due to interurban rail and to the north and east with immigrant workers of the Oak Hill railroad and its coal and clay mines. This land, however, was the area of actual deposits, and thus residential development did not occur until well after the depletion and settling of the mines. Though deposits were discovered in the 1830s and depleted by the turn of the century, the settling of the land would take nearly another half century.

The earliest subdivision was Kingshighway Hills in 1929 between South Kingshighway and Macklind. South Kingshighway became the place to buy a car after the "automobile row" of Locust Street west of Downtown moved to Southtown south of Fyler. The area west of Macklind did not develop until after World War II because of the old mines and lack of demand and labor during the war.

Hampton Gardens, a 510-unit apartment complex, was built in 1952 on a former cemetery for indigents. A neighborhood centerpiece, Tilles Park is land that sets over sinkholes and was commemorated after Rosalie Tilles in 1957. Much of the commercial development along Hampton took place after the postwar construction of neighboring homes.

CHARACTERISTICS
Northampton actually comprises two neighborhoods divided by Macklind: To the east is Kingshighway Hills; to the west is Tilles Park. Each is distinct in its housing stock and commercial bases.

Kingshighway Hills is Northampton's portion of Southtown, the commercial strip of South Kingshighway between Arsenal and Christy. This portion has a mix of businesses with a strip of pedestrian-oriented shops located near Chippewa, and with automobile-oriented businesses elsewhere. This is not an invasion of car lots and the like; rather, most, such as Uncle Bill's, have been here for years. Many small businesses are found along Hereford and at intersections on Chippewa. Supportive of this commercial base are a large number of apartments and four-family flats in the area bound by Oleatha, Kingshighway, Chippewa, and Brannon. Outside this large area of Kingshighway Hills is a mix of two-family flats and single-family homes. Overall, this eastern section of Northampton is mostly masonry construction, except for blocks of frame homes along and near Fyler.

Tilles Park has commercial uses limited to its edges along Hampton and Chippewa. The area overwhelmingly contains single-family homes, with some scattered two-family houses. The exception is Hampton Gardens, a large complex of brick, two- to three-story, one- and two-bedroom garden apartments located along the north side of the park. South of the park are numerous blocks of one-and-a-half- to two-story brick homes, while to the northeast of the park are many one- to one-and-a-half-story frame homes. Overall, this area has the city's largest collection of postwar-built homes, which are otherwise difficult to find in the city. In addition to newer housing stock, the park serves as the area's greatest asset, hosting daily and nightly soccer games and providing walking and running areas for young and old.

INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Ste. Joan of Arc serves as a neighborhood school for K-8. The parish is the most stabilizing institution in the neighborhood. Kennard Classical Junior Academy is the area's only magnet school. South Kingshighway Businessmen's Association supports the Southtown businesses, while Hampton-Chippewa Business Association supports the others. Some small businesses, such as La Tropicana, help keep their residential vicinity clean.

Tilles Park Neighborhood Association by far is the most active community organization in the neighborhood. The group works closely with the Hampton-Chippewa Business Association to find new tenants for vacancies, identifies problem residential properties for Linden Heights Housing Corporation, and plants and maintains the trees and garden in its park. Kingshighway Hills, on the other hand, lacks a landlord association, desperately needed to maintain the rental properties that affect all property values in the area.

A success story, the recent achievements of the Linden Heights Housing Corporation have shown what redevelopment can accomplish. Serving the 23rd Ward, this nonprofit organization has successfully taken the worst homes on a block and created the best homes. By acquiring reduced-cost LRA property or that of absentee owners who desperately want to unload their property, Linden Heights can afford to buy problem properties. Fire-damaged, structurally unsound, and outdated shotbacks are torn down and replaced with gap-financed new three-plus bedroom, two-plus bath homes with two-car garages.

When past owners just rethought their purchase before completing renovation, Linden Heights finishes the job, adding more amenities and space. In both instances, gap-financing and rolled-over profits enable Linden Heights to turn these problem sites into $125,000-plus homes. With its neighborhood parochial school and well-kept park, Tilles Park is highly marketable, especially since these problem properties are the rare ones on the block among numerous owner-occupied, single-family homes.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Northampton is somewhat the tale of two neighborhoods. Wards, neighborhood stabilization, neighborhood associations, parishes, and even business associations are divided evenly between Tilles Park and Kingshighway Hills. The stark difference, though, is owner-occupancy. Tilles Park's apartments are relatively few and those are largely contained in one on-site managed, market-rate complex, Hampton Gardens.

Kingshighway Hills, however, is largely rental property. Most of the flats have problems resulting from their age but are repairable through reinvestment. As a result, rents are very random, depending upon the extent of renovation in a unit. Additionally, one owner of a four-family will not risk reinvestment unless his or her units' marketability can be insulated from the lack of rehabbing undergone by neighboring landlords. Thus, long blocks of four-families are in worse condition than corner apartment buildings. A landlord's association is desperately needed.

Interdependent with the area's rental properties, many of the pedestrian-oriented shops along Kingshighway need façade improvements and pocket parking lots that respect the existing streetscape. Though not technically in Northampton, the adjacent old Southtown Famous-Barr site's continual state as a highly visible, large vacant lot has hurt businesses, especially north of Chippewa as well as in Northampton.

Already built into the neighborhood fabric are multiple walkways that cut long blocks in half, making the area highly walkable. Maintenance of these walkways, clear of debris and well-lit, are crucial to continuing appeal and safety of the neighborhood. Properties along Oleatha, where there is a landscaped median, rent and sell higher than those streets with stretches lacking any trees. Tree-lined streets are a city effort that further encourages private investment into the area's properties.

Kingshighway Hills is distinct from the area in which Linden Heights Housing Corporation has had success. Much of the housing, however, lends itself to potential conversions of two-families into single-families and four-families into two-families. All the new construction sites in Tilles Park were those of outdated frame homes, often demolished for a new site; in some cases, two sites had to be cleared for one new site. Fortunately, in Kingshighway Hills virtually all multifamily units are masonry, leading to smaller costs in renovating and converting units within one structure. It is hoped that lower renovation costs would offset gap-financing, since sales prices may easily be lower than those in Tilles Park. Therefore, a housing corporation should be sought for Kingshighway Hills, or Linden Heights should be expanded to include all of Northampton.