Time is up at this Bradenton trailer park. A storage facility will take its place

Residents of W.T. Mobile Home Park were given 30 days to move out and make way for the construction of a storage facility. While many left the Bradenton property by Monday’s deadline, several others were bracing for the worst.

“I might have to live in a tent somewhere,” said John Landers, one of approximately two dozen people who lived in the park.

Landers gave away his two dogs, Troy and Cleo, removing one barrier to finding a new home, but he was still worried about rent prices, waiting lists and move-in costs. Less than 10 people remained on Monday morning, and most shared the same concerns.

W.T. Mobile Home park served as a haven for low-income residents and people with disabilities, but it was also plagued by faulty air conditioners, pests, mildew and rotting floorboards. For some, the hazards outweighed a life on the streets.

“It’s disgusting,” resident Christine Cundiff said. “The tub don’t even drain. You have to squeegee, otherwise you have stagnant water. It’s insane, but it’s cheap and they take people without deposits.”

Cundiff lived at the park with her chihuahua, Beauty, and her 79-year-old mother. She struggles with a chronic joint disease and limited income, making it hard to find affordable housing on short notice.

The biggest issue thus far, she said, was the income requirement at other communities. When asked about her plan for the coming week, Cundiff had few words.

“I don’t know,” she said, fighting back tears.

Existing residents need donations to help with their moving costs, along with vehicles to move their belongings, resident Shelley Marks said. In some cases, people will need a place to store their property while they live on the streets and search for alternatives.

Marks will soon relocate to Indiana, and her neighbors started the journey to Texas on Monday. She said a lack of affordable housing in Florida is pushing low-income men and women to live in deplorable conditions, move to new states or face homelessness.

“The state has become so commercialized,” she said. “They get the snowbirds’ money. People come down, they have money to spend. They can rent the luxurious condos, you know, the penthouses on the top of skyscrapers. The little places like this are being pushed out.”

She decried the short notice given to residents, but she also commended the project leader for his help over the last month.

Brooks McAllister, the lead superintendent for Mike Carter Construction, said he informed people about local resources, and he offered to help people move if they found a new home in the area.

“I’m just trying to be there for the people,” he said on Monday. “I was raised to treat people good and they treat you better.”

Residents first learned of the park’s upcoming closure on Aug. 30, when they received a letter from Greene Hamrick Quinlan and Schermer P.A., a law firm in Bradenton.

The letter said a new landlord, Manatee MHP LLC, would be re-purposing the land at 3708 Manatee Ave. W.

About one week later, SVN Commercial Advisory Group announced the $1.95 million sale in a news release. The buyer, Horne Development LLC, controls Manatee MHP and several related companies.

While the park served as a haven for some, the sale was a relief to others. Johann Haeussler, a nearby resident, said the park brought foot traffic, litter and regular disturbances to his neighborhood.

“Since they started moving out, we’ve had no issues,” he said. “Before that, every third night we had a first-responder come because somebody was overdosing over there.”

David Holt, another area resident, had mixed feelings about the park’s closure. He worried about the residents, and he was concerned about the possibility of increased traffic from the storage facility.

“We’re just wondering where all of these people are going to go,” he said. “A lot of people in the neighborhood said they’ve had problems with the trailer park. We, personally, really haven’t.”

Holt was comforted by a letter from Mike Carter Construction, dated Aug. 23. The company said it would work Monday through Saturday for approximately 14 months, occasionally shutting down 37th Street West for utility work and deliveries.

“We will do everything possible to be good neighbors and keep any disruption to a minimum,” the letter concluded.

This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 3:51 PM.