DANVILLE, Va. (WDBJ) – The City of Danville held a ribbon-cutting Thursday to celebrate the opening of a large apartment complex that it said will help address its housing shortage. The View at Franklin brings 135 market-rate apartments to the city.
“This is something that Danville has never seen before. A place where people can walk their dogs, where they have a pool, where they have grilling. We have a lot of young professionals who are moving into our community, and those young professionals have a lot of needs. They want to go into a place where they can walk their dog, where they can be in one place, a one-stop shop, and this is one of those places,” said Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones.
Mayor Jones said as Danville’s population has continued to grow, so has its need for housing. The city said The View at Franklin addresses its need for higher-end housing.
“135 families can move into these apartments, and that is a big deal with all of these people in our community, either looking to move up in housing type or downsize to retire,” said Danville Director of Housing and Development Susan McCulloch.
One-bedroom apartments at The View rent for $1555 a month, two-bedroom apartments rent for $1795 a month, and three-bedroom apartments rent for $2395 a month. Those moving in so far are people within the community who are moving up in housing type or downsizing in retirement.
“When they move here, then their home becomes available, and so on. So that ripple effect is affecting everybody down the line, which is what we hoped would happen. So we’re really happy that is happening,” said McCulloch.
The developer of the View at Franklin said the project was three years in the making. He said this is just the beginning, and a second phase of the project will expand the complex in the future.
“135 to either 243 in total or 270 in total, and we’ll add some more amenities. There will be parking garages for the residents to use in the back, a parking garage, and a rear entrance,” said developer Colin Wolfe. “A lot of these things are financially-driven, so we need to be able to stabilize Phase 1 and get it to 90% occupancy.”
Wolfe said he is proud of the project and is excited for its future.
“What we have here is a great finished product. It’s something that’s very high-end that the community has never seen before here in Danville, so I was very proud and happy to do it,” he said.
The City of Danville estimates it needs around 760 more apartments and 606 single-family homes. It estimates it will need an additional 1563 apartments and 234 single-family homes in the coming years.
“These units are symbolic of much more because other developers are looking at this development. Colin is experimenting with a new project, and they’re seeing how it works for him. So this, in turn, may encourage other developers to move forward on their projects and that could be workforce housing, up to middle pricing, to high pricing, to very high pricing. So it’s a wonderful test case, and he’s succeeding,” said McCulloch.
The city said there will be more projects breaking ground in the city in the near future.
“The pipeline is going well, and there will be a lot more coming online. People will begin to see a few projects break ground and start developing soon, and I think that will help them feel better that we’re really tackling the housing need beyond paper. There is a lot happening right now behind the scenes,” said McCulloch.
Colin Wolfe said he hopes to begin work on Phase 2 of The View at Franklin by the beginning of next year. That will add 4 to 5 buildings and over 100 apartment units.
Copyright 2025 WDBJ. All rights reserved.
link