The new deck would rise on a grassy area (in red) behind the Virginia Housing headquarters, pictured left. The new amphitheater is pictured right. (Courtesy SkyShots Photography)
Virginia Housing is looking to provide some extra parking for its employees – and potentially for concertgoers at downtown’s newest music venue.
The public-private affordable housing finance agency is planning to build a four-story parking deck near its headquarters at 601 S. Belvidere St.
In addition to supporting the Virginia Housing workforce during work hours, the 281-space deck would also be open for public use during evenings and on weekends, an arrangement Virginia Housing leadership acknowledged could help provide parking for concertgoers at the Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront that’s nearing completion across the street.
The new deck would rise on a Virginia Housing-owned, 1.3-acre grassy area at 111 Spring St.
About 340 employees work at the Belvidere headquarters, and Steven Mintz, Virginia Housing’s Deputy Chief Counsel, said the organization currently has around 390 parking spaces on-site.
“(The new deck) is designed to be slightly more than we need today,” Mintz said. “It’s meant to accommodate us for the foreseeable future.”
Public use of the deck is also part of the plan. Janet Wiglesworth, Virginia Housing’s Chief Operations Officer, said the deck is being “intentionally designed to be made available to the public during evenings and weekends,” and that it would be available, but not free, for the public to park there.
“The money we receive will help us maintain it, and if it’s wildly popular maybe we’ll get some money to help us defray the cost of construction,” added Mintz. “Of course, the mission of Virginia Housing is statewide affordable housing, so to the extent we can recoup some of the investment, that money will just go back into our main mission.”
Virginia Housing estimates the deck would cost around $15 million to build. Hourigan Construction is the general contractor and CPL, the new, post-acquisition name for Commonwealth Architects, is the designer.
The proposal still needs approval from Virginia Housing’s Board of Commissioners, which is set to vote on it at its April 28-29 meeting. If approved, the new deck could be completed by next summer.
A few years ago Virginia Housing had been mulling another construction project at its Belvidere headquarters in a 100,000-square-foot expansion, but delayed those plans during the pandemic. Wiglesworth said those plans remain on pause.
Virginia Housing, formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA), oversees the administration of federal low-income housing tax credits in the state and provides loans and grants to homebuyers, among other services.
The new deck would rise on a grassy area (in red) behind the Virginia Housing headquarters, pictured left. The new amphitheater is pictured right. (Courtesy SkyShots Photography)
Virginia Housing is looking to provide some extra parking for its employees – and potentially for concertgoers at downtown’s newest music venue.
The public-private affordable housing finance agency is planning to build a four-story parking deck near its headquarters at 601 S. Belvidere St.
In addition to supporting the Virginia Housing workforce during work hours, the 281-space deck would also be open for public use during evenings and on weekends, an arrangement Virginia Housing leadership acknowledged could help provide parking for concertgoers at the Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront that’s nearing completion across the street.
The new deck would rise on a Virginia Housing-owned, 1.3-acre grassy area at 111 Spring St.
About 340 employees work at the Belvidere headquarters, and Steven Mintz, Virginia Housing’s Deputy Chief Counsel, said the organization currently has around 390 parking spaces on-site.
“(The new deck) is designed to be slightly more than we need today,” Mintz said. “It’s meant to accommodate us for the foreseeable future.”
Public use of the deck is also part of the plan. Janet Wiglesworth, Virginia Housing’s Chief Operations Officer, said the deck is being “intentionally designed to be made available to the public during evenings and weekends,” and that it would be available, but not free, for the public to park there.
“The money we receive will help us maintain it, and if it’s wildly popular maybe we’ll get some money to help us defray the cost of construction,” added Mintz. “Of course, the mission of Virginia Housing is statewide affordable housing, so to the extent we can recoup some of the investment, that money will just go back into our main mission.”
Virginia Housing estimates the deck would cost around $15 million to build. Hourigan Construction is the general contractor and CPL, the new, post-acquisition name for Commonwealth Architects, is the designer.
The proposal still needs approval from Virginia Housing’s Board of Commissioners, which is set to vote on it at its April 28-29 meeting. If approved, the new deck could be completed by next summer.
A few years ago Virginia Housing had been mulling another construction project at its Belvidere headquarters in a 100,000-square-foot expansion, but delayed those plans during the pandemic. Wiglesworth said those plans remain on pause.
Virginia Housing, formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA), oversees the administration of federal low-income housing tax credits in the state and provides loans and grants to homebuyers, among other services.
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Why not build some affordable housing?
This isn’t absurd. There’s always room on top!
Love this, thank you for the foresight Virginia Housing
This is needed in the area. At a cost per space of $53,000 the economics of parking garages with lots of concrete and steel are exceedingly difficult.
At over $53,000 per space, it seems a wild amount of money to spend when they currently have sufficient parking. $15 million for parking cars in a city that needs more affordable housing than parking might be the wrong project for an affordable housing related organization. I’m not thinking the fees from concert-goers will offset much of that $25m plus running costs.
That’s what I was thinking
There will be a need for parking for the new amphitheater so glad it’s being addressed now.
great idea. The city needs more central parking districts in many locations. Mass transit is great, but we need to provide space for people driving in from the counties. It’s good for them, but more importantly, it’s good for the city.
Now we need a parking deck in Scott’s Addition
The good news with this new parking deck is there are several close by surface parking lots with in a half a mile that they could sell off for apartments or keep to build new offices.
Land acquisition costs and municipal zoning restrictions are often the gatekeepers for affordable housing. Wouldn’t it make more sense for Virginia Housing to sell the property, and select another area to create affordable housing?
Man – you can always count on a lot of comments where people love to second guess how property owners should use their own property.
This isn’t a “property owner” in the traditional sense of private property, but a state agency. So, yeah, I think everyone is well within their rights to have an opinion about what a state agency does with what is effectively *our* money and *our* property