Proposal to Blight 9th Street from Washington to Federal

Hey guys I'm sure someone knows about this...there is a proposal to blight all of 9th street from Washington to Federal because there's a 3 block section where he wants to build a mixed-use tall building, where apparently "nobody lives" because much of the property isn't owner-occupied. Some folks want to figure out how to buy the property. They are especially interested in learning about land trusts and cooperative owning that wouldn't fall apart if, say, one person were to leave the country. I was wondering if there were any resources/groups/people/models that I could pass on to him, especially local ones and ones that have "worked". It's somewhat urgent. I heard about the Neighborhood Garden Association but think it's just for gardens as per their name :) Thank you so much for any information!