RICHMOND, Va. -- When Marilyn Olds looked out at the new home popping up in Richmond's Creighton Court community, she said she felt "elated."
"I'm happy," Olds said. "I'm grateful."
But she didn't always feel that way.
The longtime resident and Tenet Council President of Creighton Court watched her home of about 70 years come tumbling down about two years ago, so that construction for a new mixed-income community, could start.
About 192 public housing units were demolished. She lived in one of them.
"What I saw, it was like, punches in my stomach. It was my home," Olds said. "So that's what I saw. And it hurt, but I couldn't stop it."
CBS 6 spoke with residents in 2022 shortly after the demolition who had heard that new housing would come that would include them, but they weren't getting their hopes up.
"When I saw the bulldozer, I believed it was because they've been saying it for years," Tonya Williams, whose mother lived there, said in an August 2022 interview with CBS 6's Elizabeth Holmes. "It finally done happened. It's in progress."
Now, less than two years later, the bare bones of new homes shine in the April sun.
In total, about 140 new units, including some homes and duplexes, will replace the 192 demolished units.
"This will not be a 1:1 replacement, but it will provide opportunities for everyone to come in," said Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority CEO Steven Nesmith.
"We try to get 30% of them to be market rate, and 30% of them to be affordable, based on the city's affordability standards. Then the last 30 will be what we what we call 60% of AMI, and that's for our public housing residents. So that's the split that we try to make in all of our developments," he said.
Of the roughly 208 residents who were relocated for the demolition, Nesmith said only about 20-25 former residents will return and live in the new units.
"Some residents expressed that they didn't want to come back, they want to take their voucher, and they want to go to another part of the city," Nesmith said. "We leave it up to the residents to decide whether or not they want to come back. And that is embedded in what's called the Resident Bill of Rights."
Nesmith said the new mixed-income development will ultimately change the view of Richmond's public housing communities, saying similar projects will come to Mosby and Gilpin Courts in the future.
"When you decentralize, and not centralize poverty, the data shows, that if I'm in a neighborhood that shows other people who are successful, then I want to be like them," Nesmith said.
According to RRHA's project schedule, the first phase of the new development will be move-in ready around spring of 2025. The second phase is expected to be move-in ready around summer 2025.
Olds is one of the residents returning, saying she hopes RRHA continues to communicate with residents about the next steps, as well as if construction is delayed.
"I'm ready to get the key, open up the door, have peace in my spirit, and continue to fight for those who are still on the other side," Olds said, referencing the remaining public housing units in Creighton Court. "Don't forget about that. Don't forget there's another half, okay?"
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