The Five Points neighborhood, a 10-home development meant to bolster the city’s housing catalog, has reached its final stretch as city officials approved $50,000 to complete the last few projects.
The city will cover the $50,000 from its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds account. The money is earmarked for a number of finishing touch projects, including curb construction and the installation of ramps.
The Harvest Foundation served as administrator for a $250,000 grant from Virginia’s Housing Community Impact Initiative and was part of a public-private partnership on the project, along with Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation, United Way and several other agencies.
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Original plans for the neighborhood called for the construction of 27 single-family homes. The pandemic and associated building supply costs forced developers to reduce the neighborhood to 10 homes. To date, the construction costs have totaled $1.8 million for the entire project.
Although construction isn’t finished on the neighborhood, at least five homes have sold with an additional two under contract. The remaining homes are listed at just over $155,000.
The project is the most complete of the major housing efforts currently underway in Martinsville. With the city, county and surrounding areas facing a housing shortage, there are a handful of ongoing projects meant to bolster the housing outlook.
Early last month, the project at One Ellsworth Drive in Martinsville received a $2.8 million grant from the state’s Industrial Revitalization Fund, to help cover construction costs for a planned apartment complex.
Weeks prior to this, the project had also received a grant totaling $189,000 to cover pre-construction projects, like asbestos removal and other remediation work.
JRS Realty is the developer spearheading the revitalization of One Ellsworth and another known as the Fayette Street Lofts. Located at 62 Fayette St., the apartment complex was once a Winn-Dixie grocery store but will, in the coming weeks, open as housing.
The projects are part of a larger initiative to bring housing to Martinsville and Henry County. Last year, JRS Realty unveiled the apartment complex at the former John Redd Smith School in Collinsville and another complex at the former Fieldale High School.
All four JRS Realty projects were designed to provide housing for people who work in the area.
One of the few affordable housing initiatives currently in the works is a project by the West Piedmont Planning District Commission, which has proposed to Martinsville officials to build affordable housing on unused tracts of land.
It came after a study in which the commission sought solutions to what it described as a housing problem.
“The study was prompted just as a way to look at the general needs of housing in the west Piedmont region,” Sean Campbell, the commission’s housing programs director, told Martinsville City Council members. “The focus of the study was to get the most current information we could on housing conditions and housing needs.”
The study identified 40 empty lots that can be used for housing. Of those 40 lots, the commission is currently looking to start with a 1.6-acre tract at the corner of Fayette and Baker streets.
