A request that could bring 147 single-family homes and a block of commercial land to the corner of Pruden Boulevard and Lake Prince Drive in Suffolk goes to a public hearing before the city's Planning Commission at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17 (via WTKR News 3). John Napolitano of Napolitano Homes is asking the city to rezone farmland there from rural estate to a mix of residential and commercial zoning.
City staff summaries for the case, RZN2026-002, lay out the details. The property is about 79 acres at 3840 Pruden Boulevard and the east side of Lake Prince Drive, owned by Lake Prince Associates. About 65.7 acres would go to Residential Medium Density and about 13.5 acres at the corner would go to General Commercial, both with conditions attached. No commercial tenants have been identified, and the applicant has offered to rule out some of the more intensive uses the commercial district would normally allow.
The 147-home figure is a voluntary cap. Wetlands cut through the northern part of the site, leaving about 52 acres that can actually be built on, and staff note that the residential zoning alone could allow about 228 units on that ground. The applicant's narrative describes the plan as roughly three units per acre, below the 4 to 10 units per acre that it says the city's 2045 Comprehensive Plan calls for, and argues that hitting that range would mean attached housing and clearing more woods.
The concept plan shows interior lots of about 6,600 square feet and perimeter lots of about 10,000 square feet, with connected streets, open space, parks, trails and buffers around the edges. Most of the land is crop fields today, with woods along the east and south sides. A Chesapeake Bay Resource Protection Area buffer runs along part of the eastern line, and the site sits in flood zone X, the minimal-risk category.
Traffic is the neighbors' first worry. "If you're down on this road between 6:30 and 8, it's probably cars waiting in line to get out of Suffolk," Edgar Weaver, who lives across from the property, told WTKR. A traffic impact analysis filed with the application looks at nearby roads and recommends improvements, and the staff summaries note the applicant would dedicate right-of-way for future work on both Pruden Boulevard and Lake Prince Drive. Napolitano told the station the goal is single-family homes that fit the area, not maximum density.
Schools are the other pressure point. According to WTKR, Napolitano is offering money to help Elephants Fork Elementary School and Kings Fork High School absorb more students. The dollar amounts weren't in the staff summaries available online, and a supplemental staff report posted for the case couldn't be opened when checked.
This isn't the first try at this property. An earlier application, RZN2024-017, was withdrawn before the Planning Commission took it up. The new request was presented to the Planning Commission on Oct. 20 and City Council on Oct. 21 as a significant land use item, a staff briefing ahead of any hearing, and the council staff summary lists Dec. 16 as a tentative public hearing date.
Napolitano Homes, a Hampton Roads builder dating to 1977, was acquired in March 2025 by Charlotte-based Eastwood Homes and now operates as Eastwood's Hampton Roads division.
Why it matters for Contractors
If this gets through both votes, 147 detached homes is a multi-year pipeline in the Pruden corridor, along with whatever road work comes out of the traffic study and eventual commercial pads at the corner. That's a lot of framing, roofing, concrete and site work for Western Tidewater crews.
It's still early, though. Nothing is approved, the school and road commitments may change before council, and the builder is part of a large regional company with its own trade base. Small subs who want in should watch the Nov. 17 outcome and the Dec. 16 date, and start the vendor conversation with Eastwood's Suffolk office before lots are ready, not after.