Yorkville Cooperative

The Yorkville Cooperative is a 237-unit affordable housing community in Fairfax.

Construction on what was then known as Beech Park Gardens, originally planned as 300 units of federally subsidized low and moderate income housing, began in 1973, but stopped in 1975 when the federally insured loan ran out and the general contractor stopped work.[1][2][3]

The nine unfinished buildings then sat for four years until the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority hatched a scheme to complete the complex at a reduced scale for $7.9 million, renaming it the Yorkville Cooperative.[2] The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved this scheme on January 29, 1979.[4]

Incidents

On June 19, 1988, 9-year-old Unmi Chung drowned in the swimming pool at the complex, where her family had moved in the day before. Chung was taken to the Fairfax Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Beck, Jody. "Two-Year Old Unfinished Units in Beech Park May Become Condos"Evening Star, 11 Nov. 1978, One Star SATURDAY MORNING MARYLAND, p. 27. NewsBank, . Accessed 6 Jan. 2018.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Holt, Brad. "Abandoned Beech Park Gets New Life as Co-Op" Evening Star, 12 Jan. 1979, Two Star HOME FINAL, p. 53. NewsBank. Accessed 6 Jan. 2018.
  3. ↑ "Correction" Evening Star, 9 Feb. 1979, Two Star HOME FINAL, p. 55. NewsBank. Accessed 6 Jan. 2018.
  4. ↑ "Project Becomes Cooperative"Evening Star, 30 Jan. 1979, Two Star HOME FINAL, p. 43. NewsBank. Accessed 6 Jan. 2018.
  5. ↑ "Fairfax Girl, 9, found at Bottom of Pool Dies." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext): d07. Jun 20 1988. ProQuest. Web. 6 Jan. 2018.