The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
With rents proposed to average about $1,400, a $26 million luxury apartment complex planned for Tidewater Drive near Norview is the kind of upscale development the city covets.
Lakewood Manor Apartments would house about 300 residents in a waterfront complex that would have a swimming pool and a clubhouse.
But with 187 apartments on just 5 acres, the proposal has drawn fire from neighborhood leaders who say it would put too many people on too little land.
Because of that opposition, a public hearing and City Council vote scheduled for tonight likely will be postponed indefinitely, according to Norfolk attorney Vincent J. Mastracco Jr., who represents the Bonaventure Realty Group of Arlington.
Mastracco said he will ask the council to refer the project back to the Planning Commission and try to negotiate a compromise with neighborhood groups.
"We're going to try to redo some substantive things with the project that the neighbors consider important to see if we can get them comfortable with it," Mastracco said.
The debate harkens back to a controversy in the Highland Park neighborhood near Old Dominion University, where the council rezoned land for an apartment building last year but had to reverse its decision because of a petition drive.
Opposition to the Lakewood project, on the west side of Tidewater Drive near the intersection of Norview Avenue, has come from nearby Roland Park and Sunshine Homes. Roland Park leaders say they fear that apartments would alter the nature of their neighborhood.
The Roland Park Civic League voted 72-7 against the project, according to civic league official Clayton Lory II.
Mastracco said he was surprised by residents' concerns. Much of the site is occupied by a vacant nursing home. The complex would provide a significant income boost to the neighborhood, he said.
But Lory said that mixing apartments and houses has not worked in Ocean View, Wards Corner or East Little Creek Road.
Mayor Paul Fraim suggested
that reducing the number of apartments and increasing open space might make the proposal acceptable.
Lory said he can't comment on what would help him support the development.
"We're a single-family neighborhood. We want to keep it that way."
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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R-13 is more than dense enough
I don't live in Roland Park, but nearby in another of Norfolk's few nice, safe, middle-class neighborhoods. I'd love to see something done about the run-down former nursing home on this site, but changing the zoning to accomodate the proposed project doesn't seem like the right answer. It's simply too many homes in too small a space. The current 2-story structure has 23 spaces in its parking lots. Shoehorning 187 apartments and even more parking spaces into the same space just doesn't make sense. The current zoning (R-13 at 24 units/acre, 45' max height) is really already too dense and out of character with the neighborhood. R-15 zoning would remove both limits.
Unless they put light rail along the nearby railroad right-of-way (which is probably a smarter plan to get it to the Naval Base than using the 64/Mil Hwy corridor) neither the site nor the neighborhood are appropriate for proposed development.
Heres how it works the
Heres how it works the developers get a commerical loan because thats all banks are giving out these days Yhey build luxuary apartments were ever they can pocket 3-6 million of the constrution funds as draws then when finished they sell it to a wall street REIT for more money paying off the bank and they all get richer who cares if its fully rented or makes cash flow thats the next person problem and as for the neiborhood its built in owell can you think what PIT&I PAYMENT IS ON 26 MILLION DOLLARS let alone the water&sewage bills mataince up keep enployes to run the show wheres the monry made in renting???????
Things nobody else seems to care about
As a resident who lives in Roland Park and also paddles in the water here I have to point out something nobody else has brought up or seems to care about.
First – the location that Lakewood Manor is to be built on is a physical eyesore. When I say the word “eyesore” I mean it is really dirty and ugly. It is especially ugly when you are canoeing in the river and looking at the land. The developer wants to clean that up and make it beautiful again. I can’t say enough about that I really can’t. When you are driving on Tidewater Dr towards Ocean View and come up on Norview Avenue you can see just how ugly the property looks. I say let the developer clean up and beautify the marsh there because it needs it badly.
It isn’t just the marsh that needs cleaning up – Roland Park needs cleaning up because the vast majority of homes here are not so well maintained at least on the outside. The apartments that the developer wants to build will leave Roland Park “prettier” than it was before they got here. In fact a new complex might even raise my property value.
Lastly; the developer can help Norfolk provide civil services with the tax revenue generated from the propose
No More..
No, we don't have a need for more 'upscale' apartments in Norfolk. If we need apartments (which is debatable) then what is needed is middle income housing. But the developers want the big bucks and will keep building until we are drowning under half empty / half full high-rises that will end up being torn down in less than 20 years to build something else.
More about the land
The other big issue isn't that they want to build luxury apartments, it's that once the land is zoned for high density population then any type of apartments can be built there moving forward. The Va Pilot posts this as developers from Arlington, but what they don't expose is that some of the local partners of these developers from Arlington currently own many properties in the area that are not even kept up to code. Just take a look at Riverview Theater, 35th Street Theater, etc. So if that person doesn't care about a property that has been sitting there for 20+ years run down; what kind of promises can you expect them to keep here?
This is the same issue that Riverview Civic League has been fighting for years and I applaud them and Roland Park Civic League on their efforts!
apples and oranges
You can't compare two seperate property owners and your comments are slanderous to the developer in question. Clearly you have not visited one of their other properties either in VB or in Northern VA because if you had you would know this paticular developer not only keeps his properties up to code, but also spends money updating, upgrading, and anticipating the future needs of tenants. Please get off your rear end and go LOOK at his beach property before you classify his company as something it is not.
RE: apples and oranges
Yes, I've looked at the properties. Of course the beach property is nice...its Va Beach..yes I've seen all of the properties. How come none of the properties in Norfolk are kept up? there are locals and the arlington developers which the Pilot fails to report on.
As someone stated; it doesn't matter what the citizens think. The developers have already started pulling political moves by sending the APPROVED plan back to the Planning Committee (funny how it was already approved) so it will have to wait a minimum of 4 months to get back in front of city council. How convenient that City Council elections will have taken place then and a new City Council will be in office; whom I'm sure they have some connections with.
Again; why not make condos there instead of a apartment complex? That will definitely raise your property value. and seriously; I doubt something on Tidewater drive is really effecting your property value that much; probably the surrounding houses in the neighborhood
Hey Roland park Civic League....
...please realize that the city has no concern for your views...you are NOT part of the Downtown circle...you have NO tourist/ convention potenial,...AND NOONE on council still lives there. They will make it look like they care about you...but ultimately Mr developer will get his way...and you too will be left on the back burner...or even out in the cold!!!...your job as non-downtown citizens...is to quietly pay your taxes to support the Downtown machine!!!...This is what we do in Wards Corner...at least until ELECTION TIME!!!!
The Roland Park Civic league
should concentrate on fixing up the derelict houses and dumps in their neigborhood before trying to tell someone else what to do with their land. Also how many people live in Roland PArk? 79 can represent only 40 homes.
Roland Park Civic League
In reply to your comment; there are over 480 homes in Roland Park and for them needing to be "fixed up" that is what people are trying to do. No one is going to want to live in a "luxury apartment" complex when they could buy a house. If you do a comparison; $1400 a month in rent is close to what a mortgage payment is in the area. If the houses aren't selling I doubt the apartments will rent. Just look at all those empty apartments on the other side of the Granby St. Bridge and on 21st street.
On another note, I lived in Arlington/DC area for 3 years and I grew up in Roland Park. You can get $1400/month in DC, but not in Norfolk...maybe downtown or a really nice place in Ghent. One of the big problems was the amount of land; there wasn't enough for parking, but the Developer stated that most of the young professionals in the area take the buses...what a bunch of crap. I am a young professional and I don't know anyone in my age range (within in 10 years make that) that takes the buses anywhere in Hampton Roads. The bottom line is this would work if it were closer to downtown, but luxury apartments that are located no where close to any large corporations WILL NOT work.