Almost nine months after the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) put its plans to raze and replace the Glendale housing project on hold, there's no sign of a break in the standoff between the agency and tenants who want their southeast Minneapolis homes repaired instead.

The tenants plan to rally at 9 a.m. on Wednesday in the City Hall rotunda, then march to the local office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which finances public housing. There, they plan to present petitions opposing demolition.

Resident opposition prompted the Housing Authority in July to stall the project for six months — a timeline that has already passed — so the community could weigh in.

"My way of thinking of it is the six-month hold is still in place," said Cam Gordon, the area's City Council member. He has been trying to mediate between the Housing Authority and residents to see if they could agree on next steps.

"I'm not overly optimistic," Gordon said after a meeting he arranged involving housing agency representatives and residents who call themselves Defend Glendale.

MPHA spokesman Bob Boyd compared the situation to the yearslong debate over replacing projects on the North Side. "MPHA understands that these matters take time, patience and a commitment to do what is best," Boyd said.

Star Tribune file, Star Tribune
Resident opposition to demolishing Glendale Townhomes prompted the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority in July 2015 to stall the project for six months so the community could weigh in.

The Housing Authority board commissioned developer George Sherman to draft scenarios repairing or replacing the Glendale Townhomes complex. The options include a renovation of the 28 buildings holding 184 households that now occupy the site in the Prospect Park neighborhood. Sherman projected that would cost $17.2 million, or almost $94,000 per unit, not including nonconstruction costs. The most expensive replacement option would build 423 new units for $83 million, or $194,682 per unit, creating the same number of new public housing units, while adding others with higher rents.

Residents complained that they weren't notified of the presentation by Sherman. The Housing Authority was poised to schedule meetings for Glendale residents to review those options, but the meetings were postponed.

"We asked that they put that off so we could have the numbers, how much it would cost, and we wanted the numbers for everything," said Ladan Yusuf, one of Defend Glendale's organizers.

Defend Glendale has pushed for the Housing Authority to make repairs and has tried to get city housing inspectors behind tenants' immediate needs, such as bug infestations and insufficient heat. But city inspectors don't have jurisdiction over the semi-independent Housing Authority's units, Gordon said. He has advocated for city inspectors to reinspect a sampling of units inspected by agency inspectors.

The Housing Authority has argued that it can't afford to rehab Glendale, because it has limited federal money for renovating its thousands of public housing units. The agency argues that it's more cost-effective to replace Glendale units as part of a larger development that combines many sources of financing.

That argument didn't persuade the Prospect Park Association. The neighborhood group's board took a stand in October against demolition and for working toward rehabbing the complex. Some residents also are researching the possibility of seeking historic preservation status for the complex as a tactic to thwart demolition.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

Twitter: @brandtmpls