PETERSBURG, Va. — After months of delays and a growing outcry of frustration from neighbors, the work to rehab the Virginia Avenue School site in Petersburg has begun.
That work started this week with workers repairing the fence around the old school building soon to become a construction zone.
"Our goal today is to secure the perimeter, get all the holes filled, get it bolted back together, and get the site secure," Randy McElroy, with Davis Brothers Construction, said. "Then we will start on removal of the graffiti, which will happen this week."
When developer Avram Fechter bought the property two years ago, he said he planned to convert the empty school building into affordable apartments while also building 50 new homes on the streets surrounding the old school.
Earlier this fall, he appeared before Petersburg City Council to explain why the project was delayed. He said state bond funding ran out in 2022 and a previous general contractor dropped out.
“I know it has been frustrating for you, the neighborhood. This has taken longer than any of us thought it would and we do greatly apologize for that. We feel horrible about it,” Fechter said.
He said construction would not begin until Thanksgiving 2023, but before then pledged to clean up the area.
Once the graffiti is removed, McElroy said abatement work should begin.
"This building is old and it has asbestos and lead paint. So that’ll be the next step and that will probably be in the next two to three weeks," he said.
In addition to transforming the school building into affordable housing, the $25 million project also includes several dozen new homes being built around the neighborhood.
"This house is built in Philadelphia and transferred and moved to Petersburg," Petersburg City Councilman Howard Myers said outside a home on Halifax Street. "So it comes in two equal parts and they put them together and build the foundation and they sit it down and put the pieces together like a puzzle."
While the modular home is about a month away from being move-in ready, Myers said it's already been sold.
The project remains well behind its original schedule, but once it's completed, city leaders estimated the project will bring in more than $100,000 in tax revenue each year.
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