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Developers lay out 180‑unit all‑affordable plan for 10th & Wertland; BAR raises design, massing and streetscape concerns
Summary
A development team selected by the UVA Foundation presented a six‑story, 180‑unit all‑affordable housing plan for a two‑acre site at 10th & Wertland. Board members praised the program goals but pressed the team on massing, garage visibility, landscape species, and whether the proposed façade modulation adequately breaks down the building at pedestrian scale.
A development team including the National Housing Trust, Preservation of Affordable Housing and Wickliffe Development Consulting, chosen by the UVA Foundation, presented a continuing pre‑application for an all‑affordable apartment building at the 10th & Wertland site. JT Engelhart said the team plans to seek low‑income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and needs site plan approval ahead of a March 20, 2025 LIHTC submittal; the proposal is for a six‑story, 180‑unit building proposed to be built under wood‑frame construction in order to meet tax credit cost caps.
Architect Liz Chapman (Grama Parker Architects) described a 6‑story massing that would step back the top floors and provide ground‑floor retail or amenity space (including an early childhood center). The team said materials will be limited by LIHTC requirements to brick and fiber cement; parking will be largely below or partially below grade and the ground floor along 10th Street is proposed with retail bays to activate the street.
Board members and staff offered detailed feedback: several members asked the team to further break the long Wortland elevation into smaller elements (one board member suggested making the façade read as two buildings instead of one long wall), urged more canopy trees in the street design rather than only columnar specimens, and questioned the ‘doughnut’‑shaped courtyard feeling and whether openings could provide visual access from the street into the courtyard. Staff enumerated a list of required materials for a complete application: elevations with dimensions, typical wall sections, brick selection and coursing, joint detail, cut sheets for doors and windows, rooftop screening details, existing site plan, and a detailed landscaping plan that addresses utilities and soil/root conditions.
The team said they are studying utilities constraints and working with the city urban forester on species selection; they emphasized the financing constraint that forces a predominantly wood‑frame structure rather than concrete or steel, which affects allowable height and the cost of providing deeper stepbacks or larger spans. Board members encouraged the team to provide more pedestrian‑level perspectives and sections that show the building’s relationship to adjacent residential blocks and to demonstrate how the building will be perceived at street level, not only in distant renderings.
What happens next: the applicants will return with a fuller submittal that complies with staff’s itemized list; board members signaled support for affordability goals but requested additional modeling to show pedestrian perspectives, material detailing and a stronger strategy for breaking down the Wortland façade.
