An old prison turned the apartment building

From 1910 to 2001, Lorton Reformatore (Lorton), Washington, DC prisoners were Lorton, Virginia prison

Many suffragles were known as the site after many suffering after the pizzers of the white house firefighters. And according to Congress libraryNovember 14, 1917 is known as the “Terror Night” because suffering prisoners were abused in prison.

In 2001, the property of 2,324 hectares included a farmhouse, turned off in 2001. The following year, Fairfax County bought a $ 4.2 million area. Under the county property, the park and the old reason Park became the golf course, three schools and art centers.

In 2008, the County began working with Alexander, the history of historical conservation and historical conservation with the Wisconsin developer. The developer turned the campus to 165 apartments.

“Lorton reform building was a good set of buildings, because the reform-era was prison” David Vos, Alexander Company has recounted CNBCK management project manager.

“So unlike most prisons that are usually large buildings, they tend to have a wide variety of windows, they had plenty of light and had a little character, so they came very well with apartments.”

Liberty Crest apartments have 165 units – of which 44 cheap income, named low income housing. There are 84 bedrooms and two bedroom apartments and a monthly rental range from $ 1,372 to $ 2,700. Each apartment has a unit washer and a dryer.

The upgrade took almost two years and approximately $ 64 million to complete.

The majority of the project funding was credits of historical taxes, bond funding and low-income housing tax credits. Virginia housing The first mortgage for the project and payments is about $ 125,000.

Open Apartments opened in June 2017 and Vos say all available units were rented within a few months. Since the complex has been full occupation.

“The community reaction was quite changed. Many people seemed very important to care for this story. However, when the prisoners were abused, there were people in prison in later years,” he noted.

“But from our point of view, we think it’s really important to preserve history to learn from the past, not to make these mistakes in the future.”

Some of the remains of the old prison are signs of how to play visitors and prisoners.

“It reminds you while walking on the campuses that remind you, that is, when it reminds you that it was a reformer or prison,” says Vos.

The Liberty Crest Apartments is a tribute to the history of the name: “The reason we choose freedom, we really felt that we released these buildings from the dark past.”

The old prison cafe became a resident community space. Other amenities There are yoga studio, gym, community pool and two playgrounds.

The prisoners themselves also have the original grandmother’s area of ​​brick. It is currently used for residents used in space.

Liberty Crest also has preschool, dental office, restaurant and retail stores.

The apartments have now been almost nine years now and is mostly building property. The Vos and Alexander company is currently focused on making a central center located on the site. There are also forms of transforming former guards to the former protection.

“The community has embraced the freedom project very warmly. Everyone is very proud of what we did here and were very happy with the result,” says Vos.

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