RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Plans are in the works to demolish several old buildings in Richmond’s Creighton Court community and replace them with new single and multi-family units.
The plan also includes tearing down the nearby vacant Armstrong High School.
David Seibert has been renovating homes for twelve years and selling homes for eight years in the communities near Creighton Court. He said the plans could benefit the neighborhood.
“Anytime you make a neighborhood look better, it’s going to feel safer and healthier,” Seibert said. “It’s going to be a better place to live if people are happier with where they live and are enjoying their lives, that’s always going to be good for business.”.
But Seibert added the plan must be done properly, and the housing must be priced just right for the proposal to be successful.
“It’s very much needed, it’s very much needed,” Seibert said. “Affordable housing is huge; the gap is growing in the amount of people that need it versus what is currently offered.”
Longtime Creighton Court resident Marilyn Olds has her concerns about the proposed plan. Olds worries for the existing residents who won’t be able to afford to move into the newer homes.
“If you’re going to take this place and make it a wonderful place for residents and transform it for people’s lives and not the property and stop worrying about the property value and value lives, I might change my emotions, but usually money has more power,” Olds said.
The longtime resident fears city leaders will focus more on the valuable property instead of people.
“There’s a big question mark in my heart and my mind as to what’s going to really happen to us as a people, and how we’re going to fit in this wonderful plan,” Olds said. “So I just pray on the situation and trust that God will not let us go homeless, but as far as God won’t see us homeless but is man going to see us homeless?”
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