NORFOLK, Va. — A new neighborhood replacing the former Tidewater Gardens public housing in Norfolk continues to grow. City leaders and residents cut the ribbon on Unity Place at Kindred Friday morning.
Kindred is the name of the overall development replacing the 70-year-old Tidewater Gardens housing units which were torn down a few years ago.
The redevelopment is part of the larger transformation of the St. Paul's neighborhood, which also includes public housing in Young Terrace and Calvert Square. Adjacent to Downtown, the area has become known for poverty and crime over the decades.
Unity Place includes 140 mixed-income units, nearly 50 of which the city says have been reserved for former residents of Tidewater Gardens. Susan Perry, Director of Housing and Community Development for the city of Norfolk, says more than 100 former residents have returned to Kindred overall.
"It was very difficult for them to be able to see the vision and understand that they would be able to come back," said Perry of the planning process before the redevelopment started. "Seeing that now actually happening, I think, is the most amazing piece of this."
Ahead of the ribbon cutting, two residents joined several speakers including Norfolk City Council member John "JP" Paige and Carlos Clanton.
"I do think that this will be a very positive for the former Tidewater Gardens and the redevelopment," said one resident who moved into Unity Place earlier this year.
The development is anchored by McDonald's, which is returning to the area a few years after it was torn down as part of the build.
Perry says the next phase, Kinship at Kindred, is slated to finish at the end of the year, with single-family home-style housing eventually returning to the area as well.
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