A South Irving neighborhood looks very different after crime in the area has dropped up to 80 percent in the past five years.
The city hopes a new housing development in Tudor Lane, a neighborhood near Belt Line and Rock Island roads can attract more law-abiding citizens.
City officials announced the major redevelopment last summer. Buildings that were falling apart were demolished and replaced with new homes.
The construction of 27 houses is in the final stage, and the homes are now for sale.
"They're affordable homes, but they're also very nice homes, so that people can be very proud of this neighborhood and that they can know that it's going to stay looking good for a very, very long time," City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said.
Wayne Craig said he left Tudor Lane 22 years ago because the area was becoming too dangerous.
"It was rough, it was rough-looking, beat up pretty bad," he said. "[There was] traffic up and down the road all night, gunshots and all kinds of stuff up and down here."
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Traditional policing had not worked for decades, so the police department assigned a problem-solving unit to Tudor Lane in November 2007.
"We were having a lot of burglaries," Officer Chad Schroeder said. "There were some robberies going on. There were some prostitution, and a lot of narcotics in this area."
Schroeder said the specialized team directly addressed the issues, and notable changes started to occur after about a year.
Irving police say crime dropped by up to 80 percent after the unit began working in the area.
Craig said he moved back to Tudor Lane a couple of years ago after seeing signs of improvement.
"It makes it feel like I'm in a rich neighborhood," he said. "I'm glad to be a part of this."
Craig thanked the city for making a positive change where it was so desperately needed.
The city expects construction on the housing development to be completed in the next six months.
