Here’s what 250 new flood-protected downtown Norfolk apartments could look like

Norfolk — An elevated design will aim to keep a proposed 250-unit downtown apartment complex clear of flooding from neighboring “Lake Olney.”

Renderings of Fusion @ NEON, another project from developer Frank “Buddy” Gadams, detail a five-story complex with a ground-level parking garage, walk-up townhouse-style apartments and coworking space on the first floor and more apartments above.

The building’s location, on land near the Neon District at the intersection of Olney Road and Boush Street, makes commercial use on the first floor “tricky,” Gadams’ Marathon Development Group wrote in an application to the city. That’s in part because the building’s first floor will have to be anywhere from six to nine feet above the existing ground level to protect against flooding.

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The housing project is one of two Gadams is developing downtown from the ground up. The other, a six-story luxury apartment building at 400 Waterside Dr., is called Gravity 400. Gadams has said previously that each project is expected to cost around $50 million to build.

Most of the Fusion project’s apartments will be 1-bedrooms — 154 in all. The other 96 units will be studios and two- and three-bedroom apartments. A total of 240 parking spots are planned in a garage with an entrance off Grace Street.

The city’s Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on the proposal Aug. 27.

Sara Gregory, 757-469-7484, sara.gregory@pilotonline.com