Highland Park senior apartments groundbreaking today

Seventy-seven apartments being built.

October 14, 2015; 10:43 AM • by Richard Hayes

WHAT: Groundbreaking for Highland Park Senior Apartments (formerly Brookland Park Plaza)
WHEN: Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: 1221 East Brookland Park Blvd., Richmond, VA 23222

Press Release:

Leading Washington, D.C. area not-for-profit real estate developer Community Preservation and Development Corporation (CPDC), joined by Richmond community and housing leaders, will today kick off a strategic revitalization of the Six Points community with the groundbreaking for Highland Park Senior Apartments (formerly Brookland Park Plaza and originally Highland Park Public School).

The project, which will provide 77 new affordable apartments for seniors, is Phase 1 of a 3-phase mixed-income, mixed-use redevelopment project that will add a total of 200 new units of affordable housing and relocate residents of Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s (RRHA) Frederic A. Fay Towers.

CPDC was selected by RRHA to redevelop Fay under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rental Assistance Demonstration, a mixed financing tool allowing public housing authorities to create public-private efforts to replace outdated buildings.

“We’re pleased to be partnering with CPDC as they bring quality affordable housing for seniors to Richmond,” said Valena Dixon, External Relations Director at RRHA. “Highland Park Senior Apartments is just the first phase of this development and we look forward to assisting a seamless transition for Fay residents to their new homes.”

In addition to constructing new apartment homes, the CPDC team—which opened a Richmond office in August—has been working with local political and housing leaders including Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, City of Richmond Economic and Community Development, Virginia Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and more as a community development partner in a broad effort to help revitalize the Six Points community and its commercial corridor.

“We see CPDC’s new Highland Park Senior Apartments as the first step in a broad revitalization of Six Points,” said Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, Richmond City Council – Richmond Gateway 6th Voter District. “When an organization with a reputation for quality housing like CPDC joins forces with local leaders, we anticipate a community development initiative that will bring serious, positive change for the betterment of all of our citizens in Richmond.”

Integral to the Highland Park community development plan is the organization’s recent purchase of the Nehemiah House Community Center, a vacant building directly across from the new Highland Park Apartments. CPDC plans to replace the building with a newly-constructed, mixed-use community-serving project.

With a target completion date of July 2016 and an estimated three-month leasing process, the new Highland Park apartments are expected to be up and running by late next year. Phases 2 and 3, to be located in historic Jackson Ward, will include 48 units at the Baker School (also an adaptive reuse of a historic school structure) and 75 newly-constructed units to be part of a larger 175-unit mixed-income, mixed-use development.

The Highland Park Senior Apartments financing structure consists of nine percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits awarded by Virginia Housing Development Agency with equity from Hudson Housing Capital; federal and state historic tax credits; a permanent mortgage loan of $3,000,000 from Capital One; and a $900,000 commitment from the City of Richmond–$650,000 as a Section 108 loan and $250,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds.

Highland Park is the first piece of the organization’s planned contributions to a broader neighborhood development effort to revitalize the Highland Park commercial corridor and connect senior residents to available—but often untapped—local resources.