A three-story building in a new Church Hill project will be reserved for independent seniors. Image courtesy of The Community Builders.
Details of the first phase of a major East End development are taking shape.
Hundreds of residential units are being planned as part of the Church Hill North Revitalization project, a massive undertaking in the East End to upgrade low-income neighborhoods. Now, according to developers, 45 of those residences are being designed specifically for senior citizens.
The project is led by the Boston-based nonprofit The Community Builders and the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Its overall plan involves using the vacant 22-acre Armstrong High School site on North 31st Street to build a minimum of 50 single-family homes, 140 stacked townhome units and 110 apartments. The project has already received approval from the city’s Planning Commission.
The Armstrong project is part of the larger undertaking to redevelop the entire Creighton Court neighborhood, revamping the public housing complex there to make room for so-called mixed-income housing. The entire project is likely to cost upwards of $100 million.
The senior living component is a small part of that but will serve a population in need, said Emily Phillips, project manager with The Community Builders.
“There is a definite need for quality, affordable senior housing in the community,” Phillips said. “That need is growing as the population ages.”
The first phase of the project will encompass half of the Armstrong High School property.
Including senior housing, she added, is part of the premise of creating a mixed-income community, as it ensures a mix of ages among residents.
The senior component will rise in a 45,000-square-foot building three stories high along North 31st Street, close to where it meets V Street.
Work on the 45 units should begin in the spring, around the same time that work on 60 units of additional housing begins. Those 60 units will be a mixed-income development and a combination of duplexes, townhomes and single-family homes. The senior housing is reserved for low-income seniors.
The combined 105 units, the first phase of the overall development, will sit on about 11 acres of the Armstrong site, leaving another 9 acres to be developed in the next phase. The 22-acre property will include room for green space, as well, Phillips said.
The RRHA will own the land and should close on its purchase this spring, Phillips said. It is currently divided into two parcels, one owned by the city School Board and the other by the Parks and Recreation Department.
An entity comprised of both RRHA and The Community Builders will own the completed development, and RRHA plans to provide that partnership with a long-term ground lease.
Construction on all 105 units should start soon after the RRHA closes on the land and should wrap up before the end of 2017.
The 45 units of senior housing will be largely one-bedrooms, with some two-bedrooms, mostly coming in at around 700 square feet. The building will also include community space for residents. It is for seniors who can live independently and without assistance.
The developer has not yet selected a general contractor, and Phillips said it is too early to say how much it will cost to build the senior housing building in particular. Maryland-based Torti Gallas and Partners is designing the project.
The stipulations for selecting residents in the senior housing project will be more clearly defined once the developer is close to finalizing the sale of the property, Phillips said.
“Preference will be given to existing Creighton Court residents,” she said.
A three-story building in a new Church Hill project will be reserved for independent seniors. Image courtesy of The Community Builders.
Details of the first phase of a major East End development are taking shape.
Hundreds of residential units are being planned as part of the Church Hill North Revitalization project, a massive undertaking in the East End to upgrade low-income neighborhoods. Now, according to developers, 45 of those residences are being designed specifically for senior citizens.
The project is led by the Boston-based nonprofit The Community Builders and the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Its overall plan involves using the vacant 22-acre Armstrong High School site on North 31st Street to build a minimum of 50 single-family homes, 140 stacked townhome units and 110 apartments. The project has already received approval from the city’s Planning Commission.
The Armstrong project is part of the larger undertaking to redevelop the entire Creighton Court neighborhood, revamping the public housing complex there to make room for so-called mixed-income housing. The entire project is likely to cost upwards of $100 million.
The senior living component is a small part of that but will serve a population in need, said Emily Phillips, project manager with The Community Builders.
“There is a definite need for quality, affordable senior housing in the community,” Phillips said. “That need is growing as the population ages.”
The first phase of the project will encompass half of the Armstrong High School property.
Including senior housing, she added, is part of the premise of creating a mixed-income community, as it ensures a mix of ages among residents.
The senior component will rise in a 45,000-square-foot building three stories high along North 31st Street, close to where it meets V Street.
Work on the 45 units should begin in the spring, around the same time that work on 60 units of additional housing begins. Those 60 units will be a mixed-income development and a combination of duplexes, townhomes and single-family homes. The senior housing is reserved for low-income seniors.
The combined 105 units, the first phase of the overall development, will sit on about 11 acres of the Armstrong site, leaving another 9 acres to be developed in the next phase. The 22-acre property will include room for green space, as well, Phillips said.
The RRHA will own the land and should close on its purchase this spring, Phillips said. It is currently divided into two parcels, one owned by the city School Board and the other by the Parks and Recreation Department.
An entity comprised of both RRHA and The Community Builders will own the completed development, and RRHA plans to provide that partnership with a long-term ground lease.
Construction on all 105 units should start soon after the RRHA closes on the land and should wrap up before the end of 2017.
The 45 units of senior housing will be largely one-bedrooms, with some two-bedrooms, mostly coming in at around 700 square feet. The building will also include community space for residents. It is for seniors who can live independently and without assistance.
The developer has not yet selected a general contractor, and Phillips said it is too early to say how much it will cost to build the senior housing building in particular. Maryland-based Torti Gallas and Partners is designing the project.
The stipulations for selecting residents in the senior housing project will be more clearly defined once the developer is close to finalizing the sale of the property, Phillips said.
“Preference will be given to existing Creighton Court residents,” she said.