WVEC has a article and video on their site about the proposed Collins apartments.
NORFOLK — Controversy is brewing in the Talbot Park section of Ward’s Corner, where residents are protesting a proposed new apartment complex.
The residents say that the proposed project is not the right fit for the neighborhood.
Collins Enterprises purchased the 23 acres with plans of building condominiums, but in the struggling economy, the proposal has changed to a 189 unit apartment complex.
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 
The 400-or-so potential renters that will be living there will require all of the same city services that condo owners would require, more teachers, more classroom space, more firefighters, more rescue personnel, more road usuage, and so on. On the income side of the ledger these rentals will generate probably less than half of the real estate taxes that a condominium project would.
The developers have opted for apartment classification in order to reduce their real estate expense for this project until such time that the sales market bounces back yet the city is being asked to foot all of the needed services at reduced tax levels.
It seems to me that in order to get something you got to give something.