Washington County workforce housing project launches

A residential subdivision composed largely of housing intended for the local workforce is coming to Washington County.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Ardent Development Group owner Jerome Malinay and others attended an Oct. 21, 2025, groundbreaking for the roughly 325-home Sunny Valley subdivision.

“Housing’s very much needed … to facilitate and promote the future job growth, the economic growth and the capital investment for Washington County,” says Malinay, who grew up in the county.

The project is expected to cost nearly $160 million, including infrastructure upgrades and home construction. Located on about 84 acres of former cattle grazing land east of Bristol at 13282 King Mill Pike, Sunny Valley will have about 258 income-restricted three-bedroom houses priced between $250,000 and $375,000. The remainder of the houses will be on slightly larger lots and likely priced in the $400,000 to $450,000 range, Malinay says.

Ardent is building the subdivision in four sections, with construction on the 77-home first section underway and expected to be completed from June 2026 to January 2027.

Malinay expects delivering the entire subdivision to take about five years.

As the recipient of a $3 million grant, which the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission will administer as a revolving loan fund, the Sunny Valley project is one of the first grantees of the five-year, $75 million Virginia Workforce Housing Investment Program announced in November 2024.

Part of what made Sunny Valley an attractive applicant, says Virginia Housing Strategic Housing Officer Chris McNamara, was support from area employers, including Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol and electrical equipment manufacturer Electro-Mechanical.

“They had a lot of letters of support from local employers just stressing the need for additional housing to support their workforce and to support the community as a whole,” McNamara says. Additionally, some employers are planning to offer homeowner education courses.

Other private and public investment, including Washington County’s roughly $30 million sewer upgrade, also contributed to the applicant’s appeal. For Malinay, collaboration was key. “I’m hoping that this is the first of many of these type projects for not just Washington County, Virginia, but for the entire commonwealth of Virginia,” he says. “I think this is a model for further development to provide affordable housing within the commonwealth, and certainly I’m already looking at other pieces of property in Washington County and neighboring counties.”