Westbury, a good-looking Hope VI project, has

Westbury, a good-looking Hope VI project, has begun construction in Portsmouth, Virginia. Hope VI is the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s nationwide program to redevelop failed public housing projects into mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods. Designed by Urban Design Associates (UDA), Westbury has about 20 homes complete or under construction. Houses feature fiber-cement siding, raised brick foundations, front porches, and nice eave details and proportions. Construction costs were about $65/square foot, according to Robert Freedman, project manager with UDA. The entire 41-acre project will include 365 units with a full range of housing, civic buildings, and parks on an interconnected street network amid existing neighborhoods. The project will include market rate, subsidized, and public housing units. Westbury was funded by a $24.8 million HUD grant, which razed Ida Barbour Homes — the housing project formerly on the site — provided self-sufficiency classes for residents, and paid for the development of the new community.