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Navy selects Hunt Military Communities for downtown Newport News unaccompanied housing; city seeks $40 million relief
Summary
The Navy and Newport News staff outlined a $350–$400 million downtown unaccompanied-housing project with Hunt Military Communities as developer. The plan includes about 752 units (about 1,500 beds), support space, and a requested $5.5 million local appropriation tied to a $40 million Commonwealth loan.
Florence Kingston, a city staff presenter, told the Newport News City Council at an Aug. 12 work session that the Department of the Navy has designated downtown Newport News as a priority site for investments tied to its nationwide “quality of service” initiative.
Kingston said Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command and the Navy selected Hunt Military Communities to implement a major unaccompanied-housing project downtown. “This is the same group that manages the existing Homeport Hampton Roads project downtown,” Kingston said.
City staff described the unaccompanied-housing component as a $350 million to $400 million investment. Kingston outlined project elements that include roughly 752 bedroom apartment units (about 1,500 beds), approximately a 50-space parking garage, about 30,000 square feet of space for Navy services and about 10,000 square feet of retail intended to serve both Navy personnel and the general public.
The presenters identified project parcels including the Huntington Hall site (owned by Newport News Shipbuilding), the Julius Kahn Gym block (city-owned) and an EDA parcel at 2901 Wharton Boulevard. Kingston said Huntington Hall will be demolished and redeveloped in phased construction; two larger towers are shown in early plans at 17 stories each.
Kingston advised council that closing and construction commencement are expected in 2026 and that the EDA will assemble public property and enter into a development agreement with Hunt. She also described a city request on the council’s main session agenda to convey the Julius Kahn property to the EDA as part of the project mechanics.
The presentation included a funding overview: staff requested an appropriation of $5,500,000 to support downtown initiatives including renovation of 2295 Harbor Road and redevelopment work related to a Greek church; Kingston said that appropriation would serve as local match for a $40,000,000 treasury loan the Commonwealth of Virginia has committed to the project. Mayor Jones told the council he hopes to ask the General Assembly in October to have the $40 million structured as a forgiven loan or capital expenditure rather than conventional debt.
Why it matters: City officials framed the development as a large-scale public-private partnership that could reshape downtown and provide housing and services intended to support Navy readiness while also furthering downtown revitalization. Kingston said staff is working on a memorandum of understanding with the Commonwealth to align funding and timing.
Next steps: City staff listed the conveyance and development-agreement items on the council’s main session agenda for action and said they would proceed with pre-design reviews and planned submissions with Hunt and NAVFAC. The council did not take a final vote on the project at the work session; action items were scheduled for the main meeting.
