NORFOLK
The South Carolina developers who plan to renovate the 100-year-old Union Mission into a 90-unit apartment building say they also want to transform four other historic buildings into affordable rental housing.
Converting historic structures into about 1,500 apartments downtown would cost about $100 million and take place over 10 years, the developers said.
Their plans, local preservationists say, would protect downtown's historic character by reversing a trend in recent years that saw multiple century-old buildings in Norfolk demolished.
Six historic structures have been razed since 2006. Four were torn down by the city, one by a private company and another by a church.
Five of the sites remain vacant.
On Wednesday, Mayor Paul Fraim announced US Development's plans to spend
$17 million to purchase and renovate the Union Mission. Protecting that building could mark a shift when it comes to saving the city's past, said Mark Perreault, a member of the Norfolk Preservation Alliance.
David Bryant and Jeff Prioreschi of US Development, who joined Fraim at the announcement, specialize in renovating historic structures. The developers have renovated more than a dozen historic buildings in downtown Columbia, S.C.
"Today was a home run for historic preservation," Perreault said. "The Union Mission has been No. 1 on our list of endangered buildings. We were very concerned that somebody would tear it down and build an office tower."
Prioreschi said his company is interested in four properties in addition to the Union Mission:
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US Development is negotiating with developer Bobby Wright to purchase the 104-year-old Bankers Trust Building. The eight -story building, at 157 Granby St. at the corner of City Hall Avenue, has been vacant for years and is structurally deficient. It tilts slightly toward City Hall Avenue.
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It hopes to buy a vacant warehouse Wright owns at 519 Front St. in Fort Norfolk just west of downtown. Bryant said US Development might renovate the facility into an independent-living facility for the elderly. It is blocks away from Harbor's Edge, a retirement facility.
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The company has had preliminary talks with the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority about purchasing the organization's 12-story headquarters building, at 201 Granby St. across City Hall Avenue from the Bankers Trust Building.
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The NRHA board has discussed selling its headquarters but has not made a decision. Fraim and other City Council members have urged the board to sell.
Jim Gehman, chief development officer for the NRHA, said Bryant and Prioreschi toured the building, but so far there have not been any negotiations.
The company has expressed an interest to Landmark Media Enterprises about purchasing the former Trader Publishing building, once known as Plume Center West, at 100 W. Plume St. Landmark, which owns The Virginian-Pilot, announced earlier this year that it wants to sell the building.
The Bankers Trust Building, which opened in 1905, is the oldest of the four, said Mary Miller of the Downtown Norfolk Council. The nonprofit group promotes business downtown.
The Plume Street building opened a year later, and the NRHA building, once home to the Royster fertilizer company, opened in 1912.
Wright said his warehouse opened around 1918. The warehouse is assessed by the city at $739,600, while the city values the Bankers Trust Building at $799,300.
NRHA's headquarters is assessed at $6.1 million and the Landmark building at $5.2 million, according to city records.
Wright said he hopes to reach an agreement with the developers.
US Development officials say all of the apartments they would develop would be marketed toward middle-income renters. Downtown has plenty of upscale condominiums and some apartments but few places that workers making $45,000 or less can afford, city officials said.
"That's a market that's not being served downtown," Fraim said.
Sture Sigfred, who owns several downtown restaurants, said that, if successful,
US Development will change the nature of downtown.
"For the young office worker at Dominion Enterprises or someone working in a restaurant in Granby Street, there are almost no options for living downtown," he said. "They can't afford to live here, so they get in their cars and leave when they're done with work.
"To have them downtown 24 hours, living, shopping and working, will bring a new vibrancy."
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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Maybe They'll actually complete a project
Hopefully this co. has the ability and desire to actually complete these projects and not leave holes in the ground and vacant shells.
downtown
This city may be moving actually backward without its inhabitants -
After seeing pictures of the largest cities in the US, it appears to be yet another idea for a housing bubble of some/any kind.
"Also some of us will never,
"Also some of us will never, ever want to become a VA resident again but if I was to rent here I would rather be downtown where I can walk to a restaurant or to get my groceries with Ghent close by and a ferry ride to Old Town. You can have your fun at yard work while I relax on my weekends"
This joker must not have been to Ghent lately. People that live in Ghent have yards,some bigger than the yard I have in the suburbs. Not only that,very few people that live in Ghent DON'T drive a car to the grocery store.
Extend light rail to ODU and NS Norfolk
I think there'd be a lot more sailors (single, and married w/out kids) and single college students who'd look at living downtown if they did that.....
Nothing wrong with renters
I was once a homeowner living in Va Beach but my marriage ending freed me from that horror. I now rent in the Fells in Baltimore at a cost of $2000 a month in a house that the owner could not sell at $380,000. The next question is at that cost why not buy? My work takes me away so much that I find it easier to have a landlord to deal with any major issues and there are some people that right now wish they hadn't bought a house here in the last few years. Also some of us will never, ever want to become a VA resident again but if I was to rent here I would rather be downtown where I can walk to a restaurant or to get my groceries with Ghent close by and a ferry ride to Old Town. You can have your fun at yard work while I relax on my weekends.
Noble idea
It's a noble idea and one that is needed if downtown Norfolk is to survive. The city finally realized there has to be affordable housing for middle class workers that do all the support work for the bankers and attorneys that have chosen to live there. The real question is: can this be done without massive subsidies from the government?
17 Million to purchase and
17 Million to purchase and renovate and they end up with 90 units. That looks like around 190,000 per unit if it costs what they estimate to do the renovations. If you have ever worked on a old building we know how likely that is. A closer estimate would be 225,000 per unit and that's optimistic. I don't see your average restaurant worker living there.
Realistic Numbers
Your numbers look good to me. If the developer's cost is $225K per unit, they will have to charge about $2,000 per month...maybe more. That ain't restaurant worker rent...that's Yuppy rent.
Give it another try....
The grand downtown experiment, furnished with my tax money, is failing. Norfolk is giving up on trying to bring home/condo owners downtown. The writing is on the wall. No new units, no new customers.
Now all the city folk have left is to try and bring in renters. RENTALS! Don't we already have thousands of those in the Norfolk? Guess we know what kind of people that will bring in.
I'll bet those who bought downtown recently now wished they had bought in OV!
Too late.
think before speaking
And exactly what kind of renters will be brought in. Are you saying people that rent are less than people that buy? Some people choose not to rent who has the money and ability to buy. So your comment should be heavily weighted before putting it out in the open. Norfolk city already has a reputation of only considering those on make lots of money as though other incomes don't exist in its very own city, who are also consumers/tax payers. I've been in Norfolk for at least seven years and its pitiful how they look down on everyone except their own (the higher income earners).
Can't have it both ways
In all the comments about the housing bubble bursting, everyone complains people bought houses that cost too much for them. But if we build affordable rental or lower cost housing, we complain about "the kind of people that brings in." You either build expensive nice housing to "make the area look nice", which requires bigger loans because there aren't that many independently wealthy people, or you build rentals for people with steady but lower incomes (military), or you build smaller affordable places that only are realistic for couples or singles or again, steady lower incomes. But then "you know what kind of people that brings in."
Renters pay the same
Renters pay the same property tax to the city that "home owners" do. Home owner is a funny term, if you don't have a title you're renting from the bank. That's a different discussion though.
Generally all property is owned by someone, and that someone pays taxes on it, unless it's the gov't.
renters vs. homeowners
Thank you for your comment...I totally agree..at any point the true sole owner can come and tell the renter/homebuyer that they have to move.
A snazzy name
Gee Mr. Wizard, there are hundreds of condo units downtown, all producing tax revenue. Is there something wrong with folks that rent? With rents starting at $800; those people would be like you and me; hard-working and honest Americans!
Mr. Wizard is not like you and me
He was born with a silver spoon or slipped on one when he was younger. What he says doesn't make any sense. That's why I don't care to stay down there because of some folks thinking just like him.
Perceptive
You're right jayd69390, I am not like you. I have no silver spoon. I worked all my life for what I have been blessed with. Are you prejudiced against wealthy people?
I do remember having to call you out on your wrong assertions recently.
Here's today's correction.
"That's why I don't care to stay down there because of some folks thinking just like him."
I reside "down there" in Ocean View. I would rather live next to a homeowner than a renter.
If you had a property you put money into, would you rather live next to someone who takes pride in their neighborhood, or a family who acts like it's just another place to trash?
Again Mr. Wizard
Ocean View does not make you wealthy because I'm a Norfolk native and there are prostitutes and drug heads right around the corner. Ocean View is not Berverly Hills so don't get it confused. We are talking about downtown in an area where there are no homes. The closes thing to it is Brownstones but not homes. There is nothing to take care of on the outside of the building. Please name any downtown area that does not have renters. People just post anything just to be heard and Mr. Wizard is one of those individuals.
All because you own
All because you own a piece of property doesn't mean that you are going to keep it up. That goes for renting or owning a home. I own a home and have a lazy neighbor that doesn't want to cut the grass to show for it. Oh, but he is in church every Sunday.
I've seen it both ways
People who own property and since they own it, they don't care: they go ahead and trash it. Just drive around Hampton Roads and you can find many places like this. Renters: some take good care of the property because it isn't theirs, while others trash the places - forgetting that now days, rental companies do contact previous places where you've rented to see what kind of renter you were.
My father owns a couple of apartment buildings out west in a college town: there are very few students who dare trash places or even play their music too loud: word gets around how bad a renter they are and they're stuck moving back into the dorms. Both property owners and renters can be good about how they take care of property or be bad about it, just like there are good and bad people.
Renters
"Is there something wrong with folks that rent?"
Renters tend to be transient. Lack of stability is not good for neighborhoods.
I rented for years before I bought. I have more at stake now that I have laid out hundreds of thousand of dollars for a HOME. Renters don't have that commitment.
It shows in many areas too.
Thanks for your perspective though. Most renters are hard working honest Americans like you say. The few that are not can bring the whole block down.