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
Aldershot
Aldershot, United Kingdom
One of the largest brownfield developments in the United Kingdom has produced a sustainable town extension that meets the local community’s most urgent needs.
Baldwin Park #thisisCNU
Orlando, Florida
In the mid-1990s, the City of Orlando faced the closure of the 1,100-acre Naval Training Center, two miles from downtown. The easiest reuse option for the land would have included big box stores, an office park, and/or suburban housing pods.
South Main #thisisCNU
Buena Vista, Colorado
Outside Buena Vista, Colorado, on the site of a former garbage dump, forty acres of riverfront land sat vacant for years. It took two nature-loving developers—risk-takers with a background as competitive kayakers—to see what it could become.