RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The construction of an apartment complex in Richmond’s Manchester neighborhood has officially gotten the go ahead from City council.
During a meeting on the evening of Monday, March 25, Richmond City Council unanimously voted to approve an ordinance which will authorize the demolition of two buildings, located at 1401 and 1407 Hull Street, and construction of a new mixed-use apartment building.
The vacant buildings sit across the street from the Hull Street branch of Richmond Public Library. The owners of the buildings want to replace them with a five-story apartment complex with businesses on the ground floor and 60 apartments upstairs, as well as a 27-space parking garage.
The vote comes after City Council previously voted to continue the conversation over the effort to replace two properties in February. Many have been speaking out against this project for the last couple of weeks, voicing their concerns directly to the council.
“Some concerns are parking. Some concerns are that, if you’ve see an image of the building that’s coming up, it’s five stories, it’s going to stick out like a sore thumb,” Richmond resident Kenny Reid said. “My fear is that in five years, this building will be torn down and then this building will be torn down, then this building, and then you’re going to drive through here and you don’t even recognize it.”
A spokesperson for the developers told 8News the next steps, now that the Special Use Permit has been granted, are to develop construction drawings. From there, they could break ground in the next six months to a year.
They also said that the goal is for the apartments to become affordable housing, but since they are still early in the financing process, this is not set in stone.
However, that spokesperson said that bringing more housing to the area in general would help the current housing crisis in Richmond. This concept is also something some residents support.
“Just having new housing in general in this neighborhood, it will allow more filtering, it will absorb some of the shock of having new wealthier renters move into the neighborhood and allows more filtering and lease negotiation kind of all down the market,” Richmond resident William Wilson said.
The issue of affordable housing in the Richmond area is complex. 8News reached out to the City of Richmond, Henrico County and Chesterfield County for more information on how they are addressing it. Their responses can be found below:
City of Richmond
“[Wednesday], Mayor Stoney delivered the FY 2025 Budget message. Included in his message are the following items that look to address affordable housing and homelessness:
- $10 million in FY24 for Affordable Housing
- $5.0 for Creighton Court redevelopment
- $4.2 million serving those who are unhoused
- $1.0 million for Eviction Diversion
- $500,000 for legal counsel for families facing eviction
- $200,000 for a centralized Office of Homeless Services Resource Center
In addition to these investments, last year the city committed $50 million to affordable housing projects over five years. Coupled with the city’s commitment, LISC is matching the investment with another $50 million which means Richmond has a total of $100 million over five years to address the housing crisis. This is the most funding ever dedicated to affordable housing in Richmond’s history.
The Affordable Housing Trust Fund has approved the city’s recommended awards through the most recent NOFA for affordable housing projects in FY24. The partnership means the creation and preservation of over 1,000 affordable units.
The City of Richmond remains committed to changing the landscape and closing the gap in affordable housing for all residents.”
Henrico County
“The county’s approach is multipronged; over the past five years, Henrico has directed more than $18 million to a broad range of housing initiatives and support services (slide 5). In lieu of a statement we’d like to provide a few resources that detail some of the approaches Henrico is taking to tackle the issue of affordable housing.”
Chesterfield County
“Aside from several state and federal block grants Chesterfield receives to combat homelessness and housing insecurity, the county also allocates money to several community organizations to further help vulnerable populations in the county that include the YWCA, CARITAS and Feed More.”
