KeyNews reports from Key West, FL the 44 factory-built homes that comprise the Old Town community may soon be replaced with two and three-bedroom stick-built or modular townhomes. Southernmost Cabana LLC bought the property from the Archdiocese of Miami in 2009 for $2.4 million and has submitted preliminary plans that must be approved by the city’s Historic Architectural Review Commission before submission to the planning board and then to the Key West City Commission. A builder of modular homes in the Florida Keys, Joe Cleghorn says the residents will be offered three months free rent at one of his other properties. Noting the condition of some of the homes, he adds, “Some are really, really old and they’re going to have to go. They’ve been a great place for affordable housing. In Key West, the days of paying $800-$900 a month are about over.” As MHProNews has learned, the new housing will be owned by the residents.

(Photo credit: Rob O’Neal/thecitizen–Key West factory-built community)