Norfolk, VA (July 25, 2025) – Officials from Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA), Gilbane Development Company (GDC) and their consultant associates, presented an initial master plan draft for the approximately $1 billion planned redevelopment of the Young Terrace and Calvert Square neighborhoods. The charrette, or design workshop, occurred at The Murray Center, July 14-17, and was attended by dozens of community members and residents.
“I’ve been coming all week and seeing what (officials) were talking about,” said Young Terrace Resident Annette Taylor. “I like the designs and how they’re making it safe for the kids to come out and play in the playgrounds.”
Residents and stakeholders were able to view different, overhead vision plan schematics of the two neighborhoods and mock-up renderings of transformed residential streets, park areas and greenspaces. A multitude of designers and architects prepared the drawings and made changes on the fly during the interactive workshop, that included residents’ suggestions from as far back as February when NRHA started hosting resident engagement meetings.
“We asked for more space and that’s what they designed for us,” said Ebony Burnham, president of the Young Terrace Tenant Management Council (TMC). “To have space and safety to walk – we’ll be able to enjoy our community, including the kids and the seniors.”
The design workshop is the latest step in the public transformation process to redevelop the decades-old neighborhoods located in the St. Paul’s area of downtown Norfolk. Photos of some of the adjacent downtown area, which now houses the Kindred properties, were used as examples for future construction. Implementation goals for the workshop included increasing pedestrian and vehicular accessibility, redesign of the Olney Road-and-Church Street intersection, commercial spaces for restaurants and a grocer, as well as a concrete plan to alleviate flooding.
“We’ve been here the past four days receiving community feedback and look forward to continuing to receive feedback,” said Bobvala Tengen, a senior development manager with GDC, adding that his firm has extensive prior experience in developing public, mixed-income and affordable housing. “Please don’t look at this (design workshop) as the last opportunity to give feedback on this project. We’ll continue to be in the community engaging with residents.”
The presentation following the four-day design workshop displays the working plan, but work will continue allowing residents’ input to be an integral part of the process. The initial master plan draft was presented on the final workshop day.
“We started this effort back in February,” said Troy McGhee, principal at Torti Gallas + Partners (TGP), an architecture and urban planning consulting firm to GDC. “We were having our meetings, gathering information and building our relationship with one another and we’re going to continue to do that – this is a continual process to create a great neighborhood.”
NRHA, city officials and GDC’s development team will continue to review and implement design changes to the master plan while revealing progress during future community meetings in August and September. The master plan will be tentatively finalized in October. Residents are continually encouraged to voice their feedback through the Authority’s needs assessment survey here.
“They did a really good job,” Burnham said of the initial drafts and mockups. “They made it livable and comfortable. Everything doesn’t look exactly the same – every house isn’t going to look the same, so it makes it feel like it’s yours.”
For more information about this story contact dcuenca@nrha.us.
About Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority: Founded in 1940, Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) is Virginia’s largest redevelopment and housing authority and a nationwide leader in real estate development and property management. With its annual capital and operating budget, NRHA continually works with Norfolk residents to renew and revitalize the city. For the latest information about NRHA, visit our website at https://nrha.us.