Larkway Gardens Apartments
Larkway Gardens Apartments was an apartment complex on Madison Avenue Southwest and Monroe Avenue Southwest, south of Valley Creek in the Oakwood Place neighborhood of Birmingham's West End community. They were most recently owned by Monroe Holdings.
In December 2004 the complex was the scene of an armed robbery of an alleged drug house. Cortez Seay entered the unit carrying a shotgun and opened fire, wounding two and killing Joe Mack Carpenter.
The complex fell into further disrepair in the 2010s and condemnation proceedings began on several of its buildings. At the urging of the Oakwood Place neighborhood president Nell Allen and District 6 councilor Sheila Tyson, the Birmingham City Council declared the property a public nuisance on October 13, 2015 and began demolition on February 17, 2016.
In 2022 the Larkway Gardens site was added to the Arlington-West End Urban Renewal Plan and a proposal by city planner Michael Ward to have the City of Birmingham pursue acquisition and solicit redevelopment proposals was approved by the Birmingham City Council that August.
References
- Bryant, Joseph D. (February 2, 2015) "Abandoned, drug-infested apartment complex should be torn down, councilwoman says." The Birmingham News
- Stein, Kelsey (October 13, 2015) "Birmingham City Council votes to demolish dilapidated West End apartments." The Birmingham News
- Parker, Illyshia (August 17, 2022) "City approves amendment for West End redevelopment plan." Birmingham Business Journal