Plans take shape for Choice Neighborhood
Final preparations are underway for the first construction in the Newport News’ Choice Neighborhood Initiative area, in the Southeast Community, and redevelopment plans in the Ridley Place neighborhood are also coming together.
As the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority is making final preparations for the first construction in the city’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative area, it’s also eyeing the first redevelopment in the Ridley Place neighborhood.
Karen Wilds, director of the redevelopment and housing authority, said a pair of apartment buildings between 27th and 29th streets and along Jefferson Avenue are slated to begin construction at the start of 2021. Then, the authority will focus obtaining low-income tax credits to finance new housing in Ridley Place, about 10 blocks to the south.
Saturday, the authority held an open house that about 40 residents of the Choice Neighborhood Area attended, Wilds said. They spoke with architects and provided input on general designs for the first phase of new Ridley housing. The architects will use that input, along with results of online surveys, to guide design of the neighborhood, Wilds said.
The redevelopment and housing authority and the city received a $30 million federal Choice Neighborhood Initiative grant to transform the Marshall-Ridley part of the Southeast Community. One of the most
significant elements is tearing down the aged Ridley Place neighborhood and building new housing that includes apartments, townhouses and single-family homes.
Wilds said the ideas are preliminary, but the first phase is expected to include
business and retail space, along with apartments and townhouses. Early designs show buildings along Jefferson Avenue in Ridley, with the first floors being store fronts and upper floors for residents. More living units would be built behind the buildings, closer to Ivy
Avenue.
Along with businesses, Wilds said there’s an idea for a Hampton Roads Community Action Program childcare unit in the building. She said there was a suggestion for apartments to be reserved for seniors and perhaps having a program in which seniors volunteer at the child care
Wilds said many people have shown interest in the green spaces that will go in the neighborhood, along with walking trails and other outdoor features. A survey sent to all neighborhood residents also asked which design, recreation and art features would fit best in the neighborhood and with surrounding homes.
Agencies are in the process of moving residents from Ridley ahead of the destruction of the 259 apartment units. Federal Choice Neighborhood rules require that all residents who want to return to the neighborhood once new housing is built have that option. Plans call for more than 500 new apartments, town houses and single-family houses in the Choice Neighborhood area.
Construction of the new neighborhood is planned to take place over two phases.
To review elements of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative plan, go to bit.ly/ 34hUWzz.