Lynchburg City Council votes 'yes' to change Seven Hill School into apartments

Renovations to begin this summer, project could cost about $2.6 million

LYNCHBURG, Va. – After four long hours, Lynchburg’s City Council put an end to a divide in one community. 

In a five to two vote, council members said "yes" to have the old Seven Hill School building transformed into apartments.

As we’ve reported earlier this month, the historic Rivermont Avenue building was originally built as a home in the 1900s and changed into an all-girls school in the 1960s.

The property owner, Anna Chytla, will construct 20 upscale apartment units for elderly and young people. 

The decision was not easy for City Council.

They listened to about 30 people give their opinion on the development.

Neighbors who were opposed had concerns about crime and traffic.

Lynchburg police were there to offer crime stats, saying only 1 percent of the city’s crime comes from that part of Rivermont Avenue.

After much deliberation, the council believes the apartments will be beneficial to the area.

“Well we’re very pleased with the results and know that City Council thought about it, deliberated hard and came to the right result,” Hank Creasy, Anna Chytla’s lawyer, said.

“I will certainly say just because we applied enough pressure to put those constraints and make her put those proffers on there; so now she’s held to 20 units. So we’ll certainly take that (as) a partial victory,” Bobbie Chester, from opposing group, said.

The developer said renovations will begin this summer and the project would cost about $2.6 million.