The new owners of the former Whispering Woods Apartment property on U.S. 61 North could soon resume work at the site to convert the former apartment complex into a gated condominium development called Park Avenue Condominiums.

Rockwell Building & Design of Beverly Hills, California, and World Trade & Exchange Holdings of New York in August acquired the property from Eddie Grosse, owner of Whispering Woods LLC, the Delaware-based company with offices in Florida, and the parent company that owned the property.

Rockwell Building & Design began doing some site work on the property in 2017, but soon stopped, raising some concerns about the project, but city community development director Victor Grey-Lewis said a March 6 email from Rockwell owner Greg Nickel indicated the company is still involved in the project.

According to the email, Grey-Lewis said, Nickel said the company had to stop work because of funding problems involving the condominium conversion, but he planned to have financing in place by the end of March. He said Nickel also indicated he wants to annex the four or five buildings on the property that are presently in the county.

The email did not indicate when work would resume, and Julie Patton Johnson with Keller Williams Realty in Vicksburg, who is listed as the spokeswoman for the project, declined to comment on a starting date. However, a press release from Keller Williams indicated model units are expected to be open by late spring.

According to the release, the project will convert the present 1, 2 and three-bedroom units, and include new construction to provide a total of 156 units. It will also include tennis courts and a private indoor movie theatre.

Whispering Woods LLC acquired what was then called the Confederate Ridge Apartments and began making changes to improve the apartment complex, which at the time had a reputation for drug and criminal activity.

But the property again fell into disrepair, and residents complained about problems with mold and leaks.

City officials in early 2016 condemned the apartment complex after the apartment owners failed to pay its water bill, and Entergy later cut off electrical service after the complex was condemned.

A fire in February 2016 destroyed a building, as did subsequent fires in March and May of that year. A fire in November 2016 heavily damaged a building.

When city and county firefighters arrived at the May 4 blaze, they found it fully involved and used what water they had to save two adjoining buildings.

In December 2016, the property was put under the city’s slum clearance ordinance, and the owners had to prepare a plan to either demolish or rehabilitate the apartment complex.

Two plans to rehabilitate the property were presented by the company to the city, but both were rejected because they did not provide cost estimates, a construction schedule or proof of financing for the project.