What's Being Built at West Mosby Road in Harrisonburg: Searles Foundation

If you have driven past West Mosby Road lately, you have probably noticed activity. Here is what the city’s records show.

Searles Foundation

The City of Harrisonburg’s development tracker lists this project as Searles Foundation, at West Mosby Road, tax map 007 C 2. Its current status is Under Construction, with the status date shown as August 13, 2026.

It moved from Plan Approved to Under Construction, which is why you are seeing a change on the site.

It is a residential project of 164 units (164 multi-family).

The land

The tracker ties the project to tax map parcel 007 C 2, about 15.71 acres, with Appalachian Service Providers LLC listed as owner of record. The 2023 rezoning covered about 12 acres at 210, 280, and 290 West Mosby Road, so the parcel lines have shifted since then.

Zoning, and whether there was a hearing

There was. The parcel is zoned R-5C, and the C stands for conditional: the zoning came with conditions the applicant offered. The Beverley J. Searles Foundation, a Georgia-based developer, asked the city to rezone three parcels from R-2, R-2C, and B-2C to R-5C and to grant two special use permits. The Planning Commission held its public hearing on August 9, 2023, and City Council approved the rezoning and both permits unanimously on September 12, 2023. The conditions included a cap of three bedrooms per unit, at least 10,000 square feet of rooftop solar panels, an easement for a bus shelter, and at least 15,000 square feet of resident amenity space.

The project was presented as affordable housing, with the units aimed at working households whose income runs below the cost of living in the area. That November, the Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority took up issuing tax-exempt revenue bonds for the project through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The authority’s director said no city or authority money is attached and the bonds are repaid from project revenue. At the time, construction was not expected before 2026, which matches what the tracker now shows.

Where this sits in the pipeline

Citywide, when we checked in September, the tracker showed 49 projects under construction (873 housing units), 29 with plans approved (755 units), and 11 under site plan review (927 units). Those stages are not equivalent. Units under construction are the ones that will actually reach the market in the near term. Site plan review is years earlier, and some of those projects never get built at all, so treat the early-stage number as a ceiling rather than a forecast.

Source

City of Harrisonburg development project tracker and Real Estate and Ownership GIS, read directly from the city’s published data; Daily News-Record, September 13, 2023 (City Council rezoning vote); WHSV, November 27, 2023 (Housing Authority revenue bonds). Project names come from the city’s record and are not confirmations from the company or developer named. Status can change.

Seeing something go up near you and wondering what it is? Send us the cross streets and we will look it up in the records.