50-unit affordable housing development for seniors is third and final phase of RAD project from Enterprise Community Development enabling Fay Towers residents to move into new, modern homes
Enterprise Community Development (Enterprise), today, celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting of Baker Senior Apartments in Richmond’s North Jackson Ward neighborhood with key project partners Virginia Housing, Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority (RRHA), and city and state community and business leaders including Commonwealth of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and City of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney. The event celebrated the completion of 50 new, modern apartment homes for seniors as well as the end of a three-phase redevelopment project to rehouse 200 elderly residents of the aging Fay Towers, built in 1976.
“Today, we are celebrating what this project does for the community at large. Making sure that everyone has access to safe, affordable housing has been a priority throughout our administration. In our time in office, we have made historic investments in affordable housing. The pandemic has put an even greater spotlight on the issue. In a health crisis, ‘staying safe and healthy at home’ means you need to have a home to go to,” said Gov. Northam during his remarks. “It has been clear these past 19 months that housing and health are intertwined for individuals, yes, but also, for communities. A community is healthier when its housing is safe and when it’s affordable. This community is better off with this project.”
“The completion of the Baker Senior Apartments represents positive progress toward our goals of improving the quality of life for all of our residents,” said Mayor Levar M. Stoney. “Our seniors deserve affordable, modern and dignified housing for with access to services that allow them to age in place, and today I’m proud to say we are delivering on that promise.”
Enterprise’s $15.8M adaptive reuse of the former Baker School, originally constructed in 1939 to replace the City of Richmond’s first school for African American students and later shuttered and transferred to the RRHA, relied on a creative public-private partnership. Enterprise worked with RRHA to acquire the property and leveraged Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, state and federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits, tax credit equity provided by Enterprise Housing Community Investments and Sugar Creek Capital, and other state, local and private resources, to turn the vacant building into Baker Senior Apartments. The building incorporates a combination of high-end finishes like quartz countertops and beautiful hardwood floors and amenities including on-site parking, business and fitness centers and onsite resident services alongside historic features like the enormous windows, original chalkboards and coat closets. Renovations also included the addition of five UFAS accessible units, ensuring all units meet Universal Design standards to facilitate aging in place and the repurposing of the school’s gymnasium-auditorium into a large multi-purpose room, including a small catering kitchen for large community events.
“We are so honored at Enterprise to be a part of this work. We deeply believe in what this neighborhood is about. Jackson Ward is one of three Black Wall Streets in America, and then the highway was built and cut the community in half, and what was a place of pride where freed slaves and Northern Black solders settled to create a life and a home for themselves changed. Today is not a moment to look behind us; it’s a moment to look ahead. We have a new history we need to continue to write. It’s a history that speaks about pride and is grounded in the notion of neighborhood, as a steppingstone for growth, for life. This is the mission of Enterprise and what we do. I love that we get to write this story together,” said Brian McLaughlin, president, Enterprise Community Development, during today’s event.
Baker Senior Apartments is the bookend of a three-phase project – one of the first in the country to transfer HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program to an offsite location, which allowed residents to move into new housing and closer to amenities and services – that includes the adaptive reuse of the former Highland Park Public School into 77 units for seniors in 2016, and the 2020 completion of the award-winning mixed-income and mixed-use infill development in the National Historic Landmark neighborhood of Jackson Ward known as The Rosa, which features 72 homes for low-income seniors. Enterprise and RRHA’s investment in The Rosa also leveraged the development of the Van de Vyver Apartment Homes, featuring 82 mixed-income apartments, including 36 affordable units designated for workforce housing, and nearly 6,000 square feet of much-needed retail space.
“It is an honor to have been a part of transforming this historic building into 50 new, modern affordable homes for Richmond-area seniors. I am extremely proud of the nearly $12 million in tax credit equity and other financial support that we were able to provide for this project. This is an inspiring example of how partnerships and a shared vision are driving to provide affordable housing options for critical-needs populations throughout the Commonwealth,” said Susan Dewey, CEO, Virginia Housing.
“Baker School has been a part of this community for more than 80 years. Its renovation has served to eliminate blight while simultaneously preserving the rich history of the building and the Jackson Ward community in which it resides,” said Stacey Daniels-Fayson, interim CEO, Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority. “RRHA is delighted to be a part of this effort to provide affordable housing to those in our senior community. It is one of our proudest accomplishments.”
The architect for Baker Senior Apartments was Commonwealth Architects. The general contractor was Hamel Builders.
Enterprise Community Development is the top nonprofit owner and developer of affordable homes in the Mid-Atlantic. Formed from two Mid-Atlantic affordable housing powerhouses, Enterprise Homes, Inc. and Community Preservation and Development Corporation, Enterprise specializes in high-impact residential development, proper-ty management and resident supportive services. With 60 years of collective experience, Enterprise’s $1 billion portfolio includes 16,000 well-designed homes in over 110 communities to support over 22,000 residents. Enterprise has offices in Baltimore, Washington, DC and Richmond and is part of the Enterprise Community Partners’ family of companies. For more information, visit www.enterprisecommunitydevelopment.org.
