New housing development in Newport News aims to bring the Southeast community home
Newport News leaders cut the ribbon Thursday to celebrate the completion of the city's latest housing development in its effort to revitalize the Marshall-Ridley community.
The 18-acre Legacy Landing will replace the former Ridley Place with 155 mixed-income units, including one, two and three-bedroom apartments. The project is a long-standing collaborative effort between the city and the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority since breaking ground three years ago.
This first phase includes 71 new apartments. The namesake building holds 41 of those with ground-floor retail and community amenity space, along with several townhouses. Construction has already begun on Legacy Landing's second phase, which will bring the total to 155 new homes, along with child care opportunities and a wellness trail for residents.
Marshall-Ridley, in addition to private partners, is funded by a $35 million federal investment, including a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Choice Neighborhoods program. This first phase of redevelopment at Legacy Landing includes more than $6 million of grant funding alone to build, according to Patrick Stewart, Regional Vice President of Pennrose, the developer behind the project.
'It's literally an entire new neighborhood,' Stewart said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The Choice Neighborhoods program focuses on transforming local communities creating more affordable housing opportunities and improving access to services. HUD awarded Newport News a $500,000 grant in 2016 to create transformation plans, and awarded the city the $30 million implementation grant in 2019 for Marshall-Ridley.
Marshall-Ridley, which sits near 39th Street and I-64, is a historically Black neighborhood that at the time of planning saw a declining population with more than half of its 2,000 households subsidized. Ridley Place itself was a decades-old complex. The neighborhood's poverty rate and unemployment rate were more than triple citywide rates, with the median household income around $20,000, according to census data.
Ridley Place residents were given Section 8 housing vouchers when their former home was torn down six years ago. According to city Chief Strategist Officer Eoghan 'Owen' Miller, many of them moved out of the city and have yet to return.
The first two phases of the project created The Lift and Rise on Jefferson, two buildings containing 81 mixed-use apartments and opened in December 2022. Former Ridley Place residents were given the option to return. However, Miller said most families wanted to return to the building that replaced their former home.
'This is where they originally left from,' Miller said. 'So, we're anticipating that a larger amount of families coming back here. They're given the first right to return.'
Stewart added Legacy Landing is already nearly at full occupancy, largely consisting of former Ridley Place residents.
Vice Mayor Curtis Bethany said Legacy Landing is a commitment from Newport News to its Southeast community to provide sustainable housing opportunities for its residents.
'Legacy Landing is not only a collection of new buildings, it is the transformation of the former Ridley Place into a vibrant, modern, mixed-income community,' Bethany said. 'We are rebuilding a community, fostering economic growth and strengthening connections that will continue to shape the Southeast community.'
The city expects construction on Legacy Landing's second phase to be completed by the end of the year.
Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virginiamedia.com
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