Planners of a long-awaited affordable housing development for seniors broke ground Tuesday on Burton Station Road in Virginia Beach.
Construction of Tranquility at the Lakes, a 40-unit elderly housing housing project at 5827 Burton Station Road, will begin in May. The city’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation is allocating $280,000 to support the housing, and 20 project-based vouchers with an estimated contract amount of $2,620,800 over a 15-year contract term, according to the city’s website.
“Virginia Beach City Council has had a goal from the beginning to maintain and increase the supply of affordable housing,” Vice Mayor Louis Jones said at Tuesday’s ceremony.
The 34,000-square-foot building will have three floors with 40 apartments and a community room. It will target residents aged 62 years or older and people with disabilities.
“The key word here is affordable,” said Angela Whitehead, CEO of Seniors Unlimited Lifestyles Inc., a nonprofit that provides affordable housing for low-income seniors in Hampton Roads.
Whitehead brought the project idea to the city more than five years ago and worked with Jones and other city representatives to find a location. The site is between Northampton Boulevard and Norfolk International Airport, near the Norfolk city line.
“In Virginia Beach, we don’t trade off quality for affordability,” said Andy Friedman, director of the city’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation. “We believe everyone deserves a quality place to live, and this is going to show that.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Virginia Housing Development Authority and the Virginia Community Development Corporation are involved in the project. Community Housing Partners will begin construction soon and hopes to complete the development by Dec. 31, according to Friedman.
“I am excited that Tranquility at the Lakes is the start of something great for Burton Station, and may even attract some of the old residents back to the roots in their community,” said Alethea Morris, a Burton Station resident.
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