Thursday’s ceremony was held at the active construction site along Nine Mile Road, where the first 68 units of the project are taking shape. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
Despite needing more time than anticipated to secure financing, developers and supporters behind the yearslong effort to revitalize Creighton Court celebrated the start of construction at the transforming public housing complex with a ceremony Thursday.
Beside construction crews that kept on working through the ceremony, officials with the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority and co-developer The Community Builders marked the start of the first phase of construction in the replacement of Creighton Court’s 504 units with about 700 mixed-income homes.
Vertical construction started in December on the 68 units in the first phase, and followed the closing of a construction loan from Bank of America, which also is the project’s low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investor.
The construction cost for the first phase is about $17 million, to be covered by the loan and the 4% LIHTC provided by Virginia Housing. The first 68 units are slated for completion next March, while a second phase of 72 units is scheduled to start by this fall and finish late next year.
The Creighton Court site spans 30 acres. (Photo courtesy KBS)
Delivery of the first batch of units had previously been targeted for this summer, but the loan closing took about six months longer than expected, according to officials at Thursday’s event. Site development and initial demolition got underway in mid-2022.
Juan Powell, The Community Builders’ vice president of development for the Mid-Atlantic region, said the timing of subsequent phases would likewise be contingent on the completion of financing arrangements, while cost increases for the mix of housing types would also be a factor.
Juan Powell
“We had an incredible increase in construction costs from 2021 to 2023 with many markets seeing a 30%-plus increase in costs over that time. While costs have stabilized, they have not decreased,” Powell said.
As of now, the entire redevelopment is projected to total $300 million and take up to eight years to complete, Powell said, with a third phase of construction to start in 2026 and finish the following year.
Noting that the new units will consist of both income-based and market-rate rental and for-sale homes, he added, “The level of complexity drives the project duration.”
The income-based units will be available to residents at or below 60 percent of the area’s median income. Twenty-one units will be subsidized voucher units, available to those who have chosen to return to Creighton Court.
The project follows the completion of the massive Armstrong Renaissance redevelopment visible across Nine Mile Road from Creighton Court. The 256-unit mixed-income community, also developed by RRHA and Boston-based Community Builders, is part of the larger revitalization of Creighton Court and the surrounding area.
Construction of the first 68 units got underway in December.
In addition to Bank of America and Virginia Housing, financial support for the first-phase loan closing came from the City of Richmond, RRHA and Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The city’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 includes $5 million for the Creighton Court project.
KBS is the general contractor, and Winks Snowa Architects is designing the units. Timmons Group is the civil engineer. Other firms involved include J&G Workforce Development Services and law firms McGuireWoods and Nixon Peabody.
Speakers at Thursday’s event included Powell, RRHA CEO Steven Nesmith, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, City Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille, Virginia Housing’s Tobi Thomas, DHCD’s Chloe Rote and Creighton Court resident Marilyn Olds.
Redevelopment was needed here but the math still does not add up as pre-demo Creighton Court was 502 units and about 100% extremely low income (ELI) but the set aside in the new development is 183 ELI units. The rest of the residents were forced into the RRHA Housing Choice/Section 8 voucher program but metro RVA already does not have enough voucher units available. Mixed units is good but we need to (through incentives and tax credits) work to get more LMI and ELI units into large developments in downtown, Scott’s Addition, Manchester, and other places across the city.
However many ELI units are set aside at Armstrong Renissance across the street from Creighton Court need to be part of your math. It may still not add up. But it would be the appropriate way to represent the future composition. The recent redevelopment of the vacant Armstrong HS site, across the street from these housing projects, was always viewed as a companion development to the overall Creighton redevelopment.
The Armstrong – Church Hill North included units do take Section 8 vouchers true but its set aside there is about 85 units but 45 are for seniors. Some of the senior units were for aging Creighton residents but even combined (with the seniors) that is about 270 new units are replacing 502 units. Wow, we got to almost 55%. You can imagine what will happen if RRHA does all sites the same way and reduced ELI units by 45%. We are talking the loss of what 2500+ units city wide. The Mayor also promised lots of affordable units would… Read more »