Satinique Reddick spent 15 years living in Camden's old Ablett Village, while her children kept asking when they would get a move date. In mid-October, the 37-year-old mother of two moved into a brand-new townhouse just a few hundred feet from where she used to live, part of the first wave of residents settling into the long-awaited redevelopment of the city's oldest public housing community.
A Years-Long Wait Finally Pays Off
Reddick's new home comes with a front-loading washer and dryer, according to TAPinto. That is a sharp upgrade from the old Ablett Village, where units only had washer and dryer hookups and tenants had to supply their own appliances. Reddick told the outlet that her children kept asking when they would finally get a move date, and that her only real gripe with the new place is that the back closet could have been a bit wider.
The new townhouse sits on the same land near River Avenue and State Street where the old Ablett Village stood, per the same account. That older complex was built as defense-worker housing at the start of World War II, and over the decades it came to be defined by narrow streets lined with opposing blocks of brick apartments. The redevelopment effort is replacing some of that aging housing stock: Michaels Organization is replacing 222 of Ablett Village's old apartments with new townhouses, the seed report notes, though a separate account from Multi-Housing News describes the plan as replacing 306 existing units rather than the 425 figure cited elsewhere. The two reports do not reconcile that discrepancy.
A $425-Home Vision, Built in Phases
The broader plan calls for 425 new mixed-income homes along with community amenities and green space, according to The Michaels Organization. All four planned phases are designed to include a mix of incomes, with units set aside for returning Ablett Village residents as well as affordable and middle-income households, the developer says. One of those phases, known as Harrison, opened in 2024 at North 24th Street and Pierce Avenue and includes 55 apartments reserved for residents 62 and older along with a medical clinic.
The project has drawn significant public financing. The Michaels Organization reports that the first on-site phase was awarded more than $1.75 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, and the overall redevelopment has benefited from $35 million in Choice Neighborhood Implementation funding. Michaels announced in March 2025 that it had closed financing for that first on-site phase, which was planned to bring 78 energy-efficient, affordable townhomes across 11 buildings to Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood, and said at the time that construction had commenced.
Costs and Unit Counts Still Don't Fully Add Up
Exactly what the overall redevelopment costs remains unsettled between accounts. TAPinto's report on the new move-ins puts the price tag at $125 million, while Multi-Housing News has described the project as a $145 million effort. Separately, Affordable Housing Finance describes a related piece of the project, Cramer Hill Family, as a $27 million development within what it calls a larger $145 million effort to build 425 homes. That publication reports the Cramer Hill Family phase as the first of four planned phases, delivering 75 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes along with an on-site health clinic operated by Virtua Health, Rutgers University School of Nursing, the County of Camden Health Department, CamCare Health and other partners. None of the available reporting explains why the figures differ.
The redevelopment is a partnership between The Michaels Organization and the Housing Authority of the City of Camden, which Affordable Housing Finance reports helped drive the overhaul of a community it describes as built in the 1940s and long since fallen into disrepair. The Camden Housing Authority now manages the new Ablett Village complex, according to TAPinto.
City and Developer Celebrate the Milestone
Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen said the redevelopment has given families a stronger foundation through improved housing quality, according to TAPinto's report. Nick Cangelosi, regional vice president of development for The Michaels Organization, said the new townhouses were designed to face the street and blend in with the surrounding community rather than stand apart from it.
For Reddick, the changes are immediate and personal. After a decade and a half in the old complex, she and her two children, ages 12 and 6, are now settling into a home with amenities the old Ablett Village never offered.
