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A tombstone lies on a table inside the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street in Winchester Wednesday.
Winchester City Manager Dan Hoffman walks on the roof of the ZeroPak building in Winchester during a tour for city officials Wednesday. Below him is North Kent Street.
Winchester City Council member Corey Sullivan uses a flashlight to explore the dark interior of the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street during a tour with other city officials Wednesday.
City officials gather at the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street for a tour led by new owner John Willingham, a former Winchester City Council member. Willingham plans to turn the building into affordable apartments.
Developer John Willingham (right) leads Winchester officials on a tour Wednesday of the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street he recently purchased and plans to turn into affordable apartments.
Winchester City Council member Phil Milstead uses a flashlight to explore the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street during a tour Wednesday.
Winchester City Council Vice President Kim Herbstritt walks through a painted doorway as she tours the inside of the ZeroPak building.
Winchester City Council member Madelyn Rodriguez tours the interior of the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street with other city officials Wednesday.
Winchester City Council member Corey Sullivan steps over a pipe as he tours inside the ZeroPak building with other city officials Wednesday.
A tombstone lies on a table inside the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street in Winchester Wednesday.
Winchester City Manager Dan Hoffman walks on the roof of the ZeroPak building in Winchester during a tour for city officials Wednesday. Below him is North Kent Street.
Winchester City Council member Corey Sullivan uses a flashlight to explore the dark interior of the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street during a tour with other city officials Wednesday.
City officials gather at the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street for a tour led by new owner John Willingham, a former Winchester City Council member. Willingham plans to turn the building into affordable apartments.
Developer John Willingham (right) leads Winchester officials on a tour Wednesday of the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street he recently purchased and plans to turn into affordable apartments.
Winchester City Council member Phil Milstead uses a flashlight to explore the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street during a tour Wednesday.
Winchester City Council Vice President Kim Herbstritt walks through a painted doorway as she tours the inside of the ZeroPak building.
Winchester City Council member Madelyn Rodriguez tours the interior of the ZeroPak building on North Cameron Street with other city officials Wednesday.
Winchester City Council member Corey Sullivan steps over a pipe as he tours inside the ZeroPak building with other city officials Wednesday.
WINCHESTER — In five years, the city's North End could look remarkably different. An extensive affordable-housing apartment complex is in the works, zoning is in place for additional residential development and a new community center is under consideration.
All those changes have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is ZeroPak — a long-vacant building at 536-580 N. Cameron St.
This somewhat derelict-looking property is where Winchester developer John Willingham wants to build The ZeroPak, an apartment complex with reduced rents for people who earn 50% to 60% of the area's average median income, which is currently $81,400 per year for a family of four.
On Wednesday, Willingham led seven of City Council's nine members on a tour of the ZeroPak building. Mayor David Smith and councilors Kim Herbstritt, Mady Rodriguez, Corey Sullivan, Phillip Milstead, Richard Bell and John Hill, along with City Manager Dan Hoffman and a half-dozen people who are working with Willingham on the project, were accompanied by a police escort as they walked through the 120-year-old building where a Winchester Police Department officer said trespassers have to be chased away several times a week.
"This is obviously a significant project," Willingham said. "I would be remiss in this process if I didn't let you see where we were starting from."
Willingham said there is a lot of work to do to prepare the site for nearly 200 affordable apartments, and that statement was borne out as visitors toured the heavily damaged building that has been mostly vacant since ZeroPak's apple processing and storage business closed in 1997.
The 288,500-square-foot structure is strewn with broken glass and debris, some of it charred and blackened from a 2014 fire that swept through a portion of the industrial facility. Graffiti covers the walls, trash is strewn everywhere and there are indications — a pillow in one room, a mattress in another — that people have been staying there illegally. There's even a stolen headstone for a gentleman named Sylvester A. Miller, an Army corporal from West Virginia who died in 1952.
Taylor Davis of Morgan-Keller Construction in Frederick, Maryland, said there are environmental hazards as well — lead-based paint, asbestos and toxic PCBs — that will have to be addressed before the building can be occupied.
But if you look beyond the mess, you can see the ZeroPak structure still has good bones and most of the concrete and masonry is in excellent shape.
"This will be a cool apartment when it's cleaned up," Willingham said as he pointed to an exposed brick wall that he intends to preserve and incorporate into the renovated apartment building.
The ZeroPak building is located on a 3.74-acre tract of land that is one of three parcels comprising the entire 6.6-acre site. Willingham bought the building last week for $875,000 and hopes to purchase the remaining two parcels located across the street. If that plan comes to fruition, he said a steel Quonset building at 567 N. Cameron St. could make an ideal community center for residents of the North End.
"We'd love to have a conversation with the city about this sometime," Willingham said, and Hoffman readily agreed.
The south end of the ZeroPak building will most likely be used for administrative offices for the apartment complex, Willingham said, and two concrete additions on the north end of the building are expected to be reconfigured to provide covered parking for residents.
A loading dock on the east side of the building that is adjacent to a set of railroad tracks will be demolished, Willingham said, because it's doubtful anyone would want an apartment with a freight train directly outside the window.
Speaking of windows, the building's primary elevation on its west side — the one facing North Cameron Street — is expected to include windows protected by a covering that, on the outside, will perfectly match the existing brick wall. People who live in the apartments will have a clear view of North Cameron, while people on the street won't even realize they're looking at a window.
The true jewel of the ZeroPak building is atop its six-story roof, where you can see the entire city, portions of Frederick County and the mountains beyond.
"Truly the best view in the city," Sullivan said.
Willingham said he hopes to install a patio or common area on the roof so residents of the apartments can savor the sights.
While a view like that could be a selling point for high-priced luxury apartments, Willingham said he is sticking to his plan to use state and federal historic tax credits to build 134 affordable units in the ZeroPak building during the first phase of the project. Phase Two would add a newly constructed building with 50 to 60 age-restricted apartments for people 55 and older with low incomes.
Willingham released his anticipated monthly rental rates for the apartments and compared them to the city's current average rents:
To make The ZeroPak financially feasible, Willingham is seeking historic tax credits from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the National Park Service, which oversees the National Register of Historic Places. The 120-year-old building was recently added to the state's Virginia Landmarks Register and is being considered for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Willingham said he hopes to have all the paperwork in place for the tax-credit applications by this fall and, if the credits are approved, financing for the project would be sought from Virginia Housing early next year.
Once financing is in place, construction is expected to take 15 to 18 months. That means the apartments built during Phase One could be ready for occupancy by mid to late 2024. No start date for Phase Two has been announced.
In addition to Willingham and his Winchester-based real estate firm, Stoneridge Cos., the ZeroPak project is being overseen by Erik Wishneff and Mark Letenzi of Brian Wishneff and Associates in Arlington and Rick Slagle of Aspen Grove Housing Partners in Colorado. Additional partners include Morgan-Keller Construction, Pennoni Associates Inc., Kramer and Marks Architects, Grove and Dall'Olio Architects and EHT Traceries Inc.
— Contact Brian Brehm at bbrehm@winchesterstar.com
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