NORFOLK, Va. — Looking at Park Place Baptist Church in Norfolk, you can tell it’s seen better days.
“It’s a pretty historic church," said Benjamin McElveen.
WATCH: Images of the Park Place Baptist Church as it stands April 9
McElveen was raised in the Park Place neighborhood and has memories of the church.
“I actually did some plumbing work in the church before when they were starting to have Sunday school down in the bottom of it," McElveen recalled.
The Hanson Company, a development company in Richmond, has purchased the building to potentially turn it into affordable housing for seniors.
“I think that’d be a good idea, for senior citizens to move in here," McElveen said.
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A 2023 Harvard University study about housing for older Americans says the number of people 65 and older in the U.S. is "increasing at historic rates.”
It also says that in 2021, an all-time high of 11.2 million older adults were cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority recently adopted a resolution to allow the authority to participate in the development project.
“We’re not going to be investing financially directly into the project," NRHA Chief Community Development Officer Steve Morales said. "We’ll be there more in a supportive nature for the developer to help them through the processes.”
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A housing study by the city of Norfolk released in 2023 found there are roughly 6,700 fewer available rental homes affordable to people making less than $35,000 a year than there needs to be.
The redevelopment of the church is not guaranteed, though.
“It’s, really, over the next six to nine months putting together the whole plan," Morales said.
Morales said, that as of April 9, the development company still had to come up with a plan and figure out how much the work will cost before making a decision.
News 3 made multiple attempts over multiple days to get an interview with the development company but was unsuccessful.
A similar project was underway as of April 9 at another church in the same neighborhood about a block away, but Morales was unsure of the status of that project.
