Cityscape: Slices of life and scenes in Richmond
1/18/2019, 6 a.m.
Workers are moving forward to create a $33 million apartment complex on a 2½-acre block in Jackson Ward, despite recent weather challenges. This view from 2nd and Duval streets shows the wooden framework of the 146 new apartments under construction on the site. Snead Construction and other African-American contractors are participating in the development that the nonprofit Community Preservation and Development Corp. is undertaking in a partnership with the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The brick building in the background is a former convent that is to be renovated into eight additional apartments, bringing the total number of units in the project to 154. The convent is all that remains of the complex that once included St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, the denomination’s first Southern church for black worshippers, and Van de Vyver parochial trade school. When complete later this year, the development is to include 72 apartments for current residents of nearby Fay Towers, which RRHA is vacating, plus 82 that will be rented to others in the community. The project is to include three new, four-story buildings, along with parking and retail space.
