Planning has officially begun for the redevelopment of two more public housing neighborhoods near Norfolk’s downtown.
Young Terrace and Calvert Square comprise 55 acres of land next to downtown. The two neighborhoods of 1950s-era housing are currently home to more than 2,000 across 1,056 apartment units.
Redevelopment plans call for tearing down the barracks-style brick apartments over the next decade, giving way to modern mixed-income housing and commercial spaces similar to what’s happening in the former Tidewater Gardens neighborhood a block away.
Nathan Simms, the head of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, told WHRO if the plan leans into density, there could be twice as many housing units once the mixed-use redevelopment is complete.
What exactly the plan will look like has to be hashed out over the next several months, and Simms said it will be shaped by input from residents and community members.
“Folks feel like it’s time,” Simms said.
Dirt could start moving in the twin neighborhoods as soon as next year.
“Angst” around “displacement”
Tidewater Gardens, Calvert Square and Young Terrace collectively make up the St. Paul’s area and their proximity to the city’s downtown made them a target for redevelopment for decades.
“I think there's a big opportunity in terms of resources and things to connect to,” Simms said. “It's not for the weak of heart, but it's definitely worth the cost.”
But the housing authority leader also said the agency is coming at the next redevelopment a bit differently after learning lessons from the Tidewater Gardens effort.
“We’re approaching this with a ‘build-first’ ... so building offsite within the St. Paul’s footprint, which to me makes a lot of sense in terms of the lessons learned. People don’t have to be moved while we’re using that time to build that first development,” said Simms, who’s led the NRHA since the end of 2023.
The project will be phased, with the initial build starting at roughly the same time as already-vacant units are demolished. That could start as soon as 2026 and Simms said the entire project would take about a decade.
“It takes the angst around what would be perceived as displacement away,” he said.
The redevelopment of Tidewater Gardens was rife with that angst from the outset. When Norfolk’s City Council gave the go-ahead to redevelop all three of the St. Paul’s Area communities in 2018, officials acknowledged a simmering distrust from the community. Many pointed to NRHA’s handling of things like the clearance of Ghent, which displaced Black residents in the 1960s and created long-held resentments.
As the redevelopment plan progressed in Tidewater Gardens, many residents grew more confused and concerned as move-outs happened in fits and starts. Residents were fully moved out and the existing apartments were demolished years before the first new building opened in 2024.
Residents and advocates sued, arguing the NRHA had failed to find them appropriate replacement housing. They alleged the residents, nearly all Black, were relocated to areas that perpetuated patterns of racial segregation in the city.
A settlement in 2021 ensured former residents could return to the rebuilt neighborhood. The settlement also gave the plaintiffs the right to review plans to redevelop Calvert and Young to ensure those efforts are avoiding discriminatory effects.
Simms said that review is built into the planning timeline NRHA rolled out this month for Young Terrace and Calvert Square and that he knows the agency needs to work to forge and maintain trust.
“I do feel like people should be able to believe in the institutions that are set to help them and, granted, often, some institutions may fail them over time. But I think some of the best institutions may fall, but they get back up, they learn from their lessons and they make an impact. And I think that's what we have an opportunity to do,” Simms said.
To that end, Simms said the NRHA is going to be more proactive about getting residents connected to services and resources right out of the gate. NRHA officials have previously acknowledged that residents weren’t “properly prepared” when the Tidewater Gardens project kicked off.
The timeline shared this month starts with resident-only meetings in Young and Calvert, followed by a community-wide meeting at the Scope on Saturday to gather input on the early plans.
NRHA will host several more community meetings throughout the spring and release a resident survey.
The authority plans to select a master developer by June, when it’ll host a public meeting for people to weigh in on the designs to that point.
The final design concept would be released to the public in September. NRHA would then apply for federal approval for phased demolition at the end of the year, an application that typically takes around two months.
The city’s timeline notes the first building phase could start in 2027 and wrap by 2029.
VISION PLANS
Simms is careful to say that nothing in the redevelopment plan is set in stone. The planning process has only just begun and the NRHA is going to factor in a lot of feedback from residents, community members, city leaders, businesses and more.
But he does have some aims in mind that would make the finished product look different than what’s planned for Tidewater Gardens.
For one, Simms said it’s possible to expand the number of available housing options on the site, a big deal for a region increasingly defined by its housing shortages.
“You have a downtown site that connects to so many different parts of the city, you want to definitely make sure that it is a mixed-income, mixed-use community and it lends itself to that in terms of the use of the density and being able to serve the current needs of residents, as well as expanded needs of the constituents and the citizens of Norfolk,” Simms said.
He said the new development could double the existing number of housing units in the neighborhoods, though how high that number climbs will ultimately be decided during the planning phase and informed by what the community says it wants.
NRHA will also be looking to bring in a developer who can make larger commercial spaces viable. In Tidewater Gardens, commercial space is smaller.
The authority wants to bring in banks, healthcare and maybe some office space to support the expected thousands of new and returning residents.
But the biggest focus is something downtown residents have been clamoring for for years.
“Having a grocery store in this area is at the top of everyone's list, not just our NRHA board or our staff, but I think in the St. Paul's Quadrant, period. Every agency that's involved would like to see that. Every resident, I think, would like to see that,” Simms said.
“Providing the right economic conditions for that to be achieved is one of our top goals.”
Editor’s Note: WHRO holds a contract with Barbara Hamm Lee, a spokesperson with the St. Paul’s revitalization project. Hamm Lee is not involved with editorial decisions related to coverage of the St. Paul’s neighborhood.
