Neglected Highland Park church may soon see new life
Jeremy M. Lazarus | 7/7/2022, 6 p.m.
It’s taken four years but plans to convert a derelict church in the 1200 block of Brookland Park Blvd. in North Side into 66 affordable apartments are moving closer to reality.
City Council cleared the way for the development at a special meeting Monday with the passage of a resolution authorizing the Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority to provide $15 million in bonds to support the development.
The new apartments will replace the former Mizpah Presby- terian Church and the Nehemiah House Community Center near the Six Points intersection in Highland Park.
The nonprofit Enterprise Community Development company, based in Silver Spring, Md., was approved to develop the project. In the past, the company developed more than 220 apartments in Highland Park, Jackson Ward and Gilpin Court to replace units in the now vacant Fay Towers senior high-rise complex in Gilpin.
Enterprise projects the total project will top $16 million, with an average investment of more than $243,000 per unit.
Enterprise previously invested $11.4 million to renovate and restore 77 apartments in the former Highland Park Elementary School.
