A 90-acre beachfront area was redeveloped into a mixed-use traditional neighborhood development. Developer LeylandAlliance worked with the City of Norfolk and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority to build a 700-unit seaside neighborhood with a variety of housing types including 20 percent rental apartments and accessory dwelling units, a public beach, and a range of public spaces.
The pre-existing housing on the site was built by the federal government in 1960 and was in bad condition by the early 1990s. The city demolished the existing housing and relocated residents (facing considerable criticism), and decided to use the expanding tax base of a redevelopment to pursue a goal of assisting low-income residents find better housing.
DPZ CoDesign planned the new neighborhood in a 1994 public charrette. The irregular layout of the development allows for the preservation of existing trees on the site.
Similar Projects
Civano New Town #thisisCNU
Tucson, Arizona
Beautiful to look at, culturally sensitive, and measurably sustainable, Civano New Town in Tucson, Arizona, was ahead of its time.
Hunters View #thisisCNU
San Francisco, California
By any measure, San Francisco ranks among the world’s most beautiful cities. Yet for years, in a sector that tourists never see, 50 barracks-style buildings constructed in 1943 housed 264 families in poverty and fear.
Heart of Lake
Xiamen, China
Slated to have its eight phases of construction complete in 2018, Heart of Lake is a New Urbanist community being built from the ground-up in the temperate coastal city of Xiamen, China.