On a recent afternoon, sunshine and sawdust filled the
hard-hat-only second wing of the St. Rose of Lima Priests’
Retirement Villa in Annandale. Although a busy construction
zone, the addition is on track to be finished by August – and
possibly welcome Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde when the
Vatican accepts his resignation and announces his successor.
The wing will conclude phase 2 of the building, which opened
its doors to its first residents, Msgr. Frank Mahler and
Father Francisco Mendez de Dios, in 2010. The addition is a
mirror image of the first wing and will add around 9,300
square feet.
Completing the horseshoe shape of the lodge-type structure,
the new wing will have seven rooms – four on the second floor
and three on the first, including a larger suite for the
bishop. The more spacious suite will have an interior wall
that can be removed to create two separate residences.
The original building consists of eight apartments, each with
a bedroom, kitchenette, living room and storage space. The
villa also has a gym, kitchen, guest suite, community room,
dining room and chapel. It is completely wheelchair
accessible.
As with phase 1, the work was funded by the Rooted in Faith –
Forward in Hope capital campaign. Chamberlain Construction
Corp. is overseeing construction of the second wing and
started on the addition in January.
Currently, six priests reside at the villa, and other than
the bishop, no one is slated to move in soon, according to
Sister Kathryn Mullarkey, St. Rose of Lima residential
manager.
Even with some humming of saws and pounding of hammers in the
new wing, Sister Kathryn said the construction hasn’t been
too disruptive. “The priests haven’t mentioned being bothered
by the noise,” she said.
