An empty construction trailer now sits on the grounds of the long-vacant Baker School building in Gilpin Court.

The arrival of the trailer that is to serve as construction offices is the first signal that the pending redevelopment of the building at 100 W. Baker St. into 51 senior apartments might soon begin.

Requests for information on when work will begin have gone unanswered for months by Damon Duncan, chief executive officer of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which owns the former elementary school building.

In the works for at least two years, the redevelopment of the school is to be the third phase of a more than six-year effort to relocate tenants from the 200-unit Fay Towers high-rise at 1st and Hill streets.

The first phase involved the overhaul of 77 apartments previously installed in the former Highland Park Elementary School, and the second phase involves moving an additional group of Fay Towers residents into 72 apartments in a Jackson Ward apartment complex being completed at 1st and Duval streets.

The placement of the trailer last week at the former Baker School site came as RRHA disclosed clarifying information on the redevelopment of the Creighton Court public housing community in the East End.

RRHA’s release of information on the project came in response to a Richmond Free Press request filed under the Freedom of Information Act more than two weeks ago.

The information shows that RRHA, as required, included the plan for rede- veloping Creighton Court in its 2018-19 annual plan that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved in 2018. RRHA’s 2019-20 plan, which hasn’t been approved by HUD, didn’t include any information on Creighton Court redevelopment.

Also included in the documents is a copy of the application RRHA submitted to HUD for a “demolition and disposal” permit for Creighton Court. The application is dated Jan. 9, or six days before the RRHA board voted on Jan. 15 to approve the submission.

The plan calls for redeveloping the 503-unit Creighton Court in three phases, but only the first phase has timetables.

The first phase would involve installing 310 new units after clearing 192 exist- ing apartment units. Those existing units are in 32 buildings that sit on 11 acres, or about one-third of the 29 acres in the public housing community. The new units would be developed as part of a mixed-income community that would include some Creighton Court residents.

RRHA’s demolition application seeks permission to clear 27 buildings that face Nine Mile Road and Bunche Place and five that face Creighton Road, the main entry to the community, according to the application.

The application came after the Creighton Court Tenants Association and the umbrella Richmond Tenants Organization turned down RRHA’s offer last August to sell the 32 buildings in the first phase to them for $9 million, the appraised value, the application shows. The price amounted to $46,875 per unit.

As of Jan. 9, the application stated, only 380 of the 503 units in Creighton Court remain occupied, with 91 families living in the first phase area and 289 in the remaining apartment buildings that will be unaffected at this time.

The vacancies have resulted from evic- tions, relocation through the use of vouchers and the move of some residents to newly created apartments in the nearby Armstrong Renaissance in the 1600 block of North 31st Street, the application noted.

In the application, RRHA projects spending up to $150,000 to relocate tenants in the first phase between March and September, with demolition to begin in early 2021 if the plan is approved.