After more than a decade, the redevelopment of Ballston’s Central United Methodist Church site is about to conclude.
The reopening of Kinhaven School in Ballston on Tuesday will represent “the last piece of the puzzle,” the Rev. Sarah Harrison-McQueen said during an Aug. 27 online program sponsored by the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA).
“We are thrilled,” Harrison-McQueen said of the school’s return to a space custom-built for its needs.
The preschool had been located in the former church building, which was razed to make way for the mixed-use Unity Homes project on N. Fairfax Drive.
While the 144 units of affordable housing and the new church space opened in the spring of 2024, the school’s return was delayed until the start of the 2025-26 school year.
For the past few years, Kinhaven has been housed at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Ashton Heights.
The facility serves children up to 5 years old. While the school had sought approval to serve 110 students, County Board members last year capped the total at 100 — still more than before the site’s redevelopment.
At the NVAHA program last week, Unity Place was one of three projects held up as an example of the creativity, and perseverance, of affordable-housing advocates.
After several false starts, in 2020 Central United Methodist Church signed an agreement with True Ground Housing Partners, then known as the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, to work on the proposal.
Groundbreaking ceremonies on the $84 million project happened in December 2021, with the building complete just over two years later.
“It was very tricky,” True Ground senior project manager Ryan Nash said of the development process. He pointed to the urban environment, Metro tunnels directly underneath the site and concerns about impacts on a historic cemetery at the site.
Jill Norcross, NVAHA’s executive director, said the Ballston project and the other two highlighted on Aug. 27 represented triumphs in difficult environments.
“Each of these projects had their own challenges,” she said. “We’re really excited to highlight the innovation of each of them.”
In addition to the Arlington project, spotlighted developments included a duplex completed by Habitat for Humanity of Loudoun County and the One Fairfax University project adjacent to George Mason University’s campus in Fairfax.
