Sea level rise is projected to eventually swamp the roughly one-acre spot of land along Knitting Mill Creek in Norfolk where the Elizabeth River Project chose to build its brand new headquarters.

Over the next six decades, waters will encroach until the shoreline has moved right up to the nonprofit’s $8 million new building.

Rather than fight that future, the environmental organization is embracing it. In fact, it’s why officials bought the land, previously home to an American Legion, in the first place.

“We thought, let’s go to one of the worst problems” with flooding, said Marjorie Mayfield Jackson, Elizabeth River Project’s executive director. “And let’s demonstrate, how do you take care of the Elizabeth River, as well as the people, as sea levels rise.”