Would you choose to live in a prison? You might — if it had been converted into a community of well-designed apartments with a club house, swimming pool, green spaces, restaurants, retail shops and even a preschool.
That’s exactly what was done to an old prison in Lorton, Virginia.
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“We really felt that we were liberating these buildings from its dark past, and for that reason we thought Liberty was a good name for the project,” David Vos, a development project manager with real estate developer The Alexander Company, told CNBC Make It.
From abandoned prison to designer apartments
The Lorton Reformatory prison complex, originally commissioned by Theodore Roosevelt, was built in 1910 and shuttered in 2001. In 2002, Fairfax County bought the 2,324-acre campus for $4.2 million.
In 2008, The Alexander Company — which specializes in urban infill development and historic preservation — partnered with the county and Elm Street Development to help convert the campus, with renovations taking place from 2015 to 2017.
The company spent $64 million converting 207,000 square feet into the Liberty Crest Apartments. Rent for the 165 apartments ranges from $1,372 and $2,700 per month. For comparison, the average rent for all property types in Virginia is $1,700 per month.
Forty-four of the units are set aside for people earning 50% of the median household income of $136,719 for Lorton, according to CNBC Make It. These units were fully leased within a couple of months and have been at full occupancy since.
The Lorton Reformatory was a Progressive Era prison, so it’s architecturally interesting and laid out well for apartments, with plenty of windows providing lots of natural light and ventilation.
The original dining room has been turned into a club house with a pool table and shuffleboard table, while the prison ball field has been converted to a central green for residents. There’s also a fitness center, yoga room, swimming pool and two playground areas, along with retail shops and restaurants.
Plus, there’s still room for development. A few penitentiary buildings on the complex are slated to become commercial spaces and the power plant is being converted into 10 additional apartments.