A project that will bring 69 apartments to downtown Martinsville has received another financial boost from the state.
A $2.8 million grant from the Industrial Revitalization Fund, announced Friday by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, will help pay for planned renovations at the One Ellsworth development, a construction project that will turn a former BB&T bank building into affordable housing. The city served as both applicant and grant administrator.
The project had previously received $168,000 in state funding to help pay for asbestos remediation.
“This grant is a wonderful step in our city’s economic development efforts,” City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides said in a news release in the hours following the grant’s announcement.
“The former BB&T building will serve as a catalyst for future growth in our city. We are deeply honored to have been selected by the Governor and DHCD for the much-needed support to complete this amazing project in our downtown. Housing has been a top priority for our mayor, LC Jones, and the city council, and the completion of the project will be the first in many more to come.”
The $2.8 million funding package is part of a larger statewide initiative that provided $10 million for six other projects, according to a news release from the governor’s office. The grant program is targeted toward vacant buildings whose poor condition creates blight in their surrounding areas, according to the release.
The One Ellsworth project, when completed, is expected to create an additional 69 housing units in Martinsville’s downtown area. Developer JRS Realty is currently working to remove asbestos from the building, which was constructed in 1974.
The $189,000 grant, which also was administered by the city, was earmarked to prepare the former bank building for housing remodeling. The housing units will be classified as workforce housing, meant to keep Martinsville workers in Martinsville.
One Ellsworth is the most recent in a series of regional housing projects undertaken by Roanoke-based JRS Realty developers John Garland and Jim Cherney. The developers have already completed projects in Collinsville and Fieldale.
They are currently working on renovating the old Winn-Dixie building on Martinsville’s Fayette Street. Under the current timetable, those renovations will be completed sometime this spring, at around the time the developers expect to finish asbestos remediation on One Ellsworth.
Remediation has to be completed before the developers can move forward with planned renovations, according to Garland.
“We’ve known about the asbestos all along,” Cherney said. “You have to eliminate it; it’s a cancer-causing element. It has to be removed. You can’t get a building permit without showing it has been removed.”
According to Cherney, One Ellsworth has more asbestos than usual, having been constructed during a time when use of the material was more commonplace. Due to the building’s age, developers are also trying to get it registered as a historic landmark.
“It’s an iconic building,” Garland said.
The developers have completed numerous projects in Roanoke, including the Railwalk Apartments and Electra Lofts.
“We wanted to save buildings in Roanoke … and now that’s just getting started in Martinsville,” Garland said.