NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — More affordable housing is on its way to the Mermaid City.
It’s called the Newport Gardens Apartments and it will be located on 36th Street in the Park Place neighborhood.
There will be 37 one-bedroom and 13 two-bedroom apartments, in addition to eight units supported by project-based rental assistance.
The Hansen Company is behind the project.
President Kelvin Hansen told 10 On Your Side who they’re looking to house.
“Our target market is going to be teachers, police officers, emergency service responders,” he said, “and we’ve been working with the Park Place business association for seven years to bring the project to fruition.”
The project has funding from many companies, such as LISC of Hampton Roads, who provided a $450,000 loan.
Executive Director Jay Grant said they’ve been involved since the early stages, helping to acquire the land where the apartments will be.
“Often times, it’s more difficult to obtain that type of financing from traditional lending entities so we’re happy to help in that regard,” he said.
Hansen said the housing can help close the wealth gap.
“It also provides job opportunities because local businesses tend to hire people from the area,” he said.
He went on to say this is a two-goal project, to house the workforce of Norfolk and revitalize what he and many others call Black Wall Street.
“What Black Wall Street means is the business owners are from the area and are business owners of color,” Hansen said, and it creates kind of a zone that will allow them to market their goods and services in a centralized place where people from all over, all races coming to Norfolk will want to this destination on 35th street and make it a destination center because it’s so unique. “
He said they expect to begin taking applications in late fall 2024.
