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RRHA residents starting to relocate into Jackson Ward, East End developments

Jeremy M. Lazarus | 12/27/2019, 6 a.m.
Public housing residents are beginning to move into new apartment complexes in Church Hill and Jackson Ward that were developed …

Public housing residents are beginning to move into new apartment complexes in Church Hill and Jackson Ward that were developed in partnership with the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Already, 13 residents have moved into units in Armstrong Renaissance, the new name for the Church Hill North complex of apartments created by The Community Builders of Boston on the site of the old Armstrong High School on North 31st Street, RRHA spokeswoman Angela Fountain noted.

She stated 13 residents have moved in since Nov. 18 and “another 14 are scheduled to move in.”

A large majority of new residents are supposed to be coming from the Creighton Court public housing units located about a block away across Nine Mile Road, RRHA officials previously said. Armstrong Renaissance was designed to take on Creighton residents so the existing public housing units could be renovated or replaced.

“Residents have first priority until the units are filled,” Ms. Fountain stated.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, residents from Fay Towers in Gilpin Court are starting to fill new units in the Rosa, the new name of the Jackson Ward apartments being built in the block between 1st, 2nd, Duval and Jackson streets, Ms. Fountain said.

She said residents began moving in Dec. 2. They are the first of 72 households that will move into the complex that also will feature an additional 72 units that are available to the public.

RRHA is seeking to empty the 200-unit Fay Towers, and the Community Preservation and Development Corp. of Washington has undertaken this development.

Another 77 residents from Fay Towers previously moved into apartments CPDC developed in a former school building in Highland Park.

The final 51 units to replace Fay Towers are to be developed in the former Baker Elementary School building in Gilpin Court that Richmond Public Schools closed several years ago. That development has not started.