Richmond's Suburban Developments

[Brent]

This is such awesome news. Souther Season is a fantastic store, a destination store. The Ikea of food...

I visited the one outside of Raliegh several years ago and have fanticised about one in Richmond since then.

[540_804]

Staples Mill Center is back on track with a new grocery store from NC and even a three story library....maybe

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2013/02/01/season-changes-for-80-acre-development/

 

At one point, there were plans for two 12-15 story buildings; I wonder if those are still in the plans.

 

 

They say this is a decade-long, multi-phased project, so I would say it's possible.

[eandslee]

At one point, there were plans for two 12-15 story buildings; I wonder if those are still in the plans.

 

 

They say this is a decade-long, multi-phased project, so I would say it's possible.

 

I'd say it's possible, but unlikely that these structures will be built.  It would be nice to see, though.  Thanks for digging these up - it's been a while and I forgot all about them.  An unlikely boom in the housing/apartment/condo market will drive something like this; however, I think the developer is just glad to get started with something at this point.

[burt]

SOUTHERN SEASON isn't Balducci's or Dean & Deluca, but its similar.

 

High end customers won't go there seeking produce, fish mongers, fine cut meats or kitchen supplies, but they will find many gourmet food items as well as a full service restaurant called Weathervane.

 

SOUTHERN SEASON, based in Chapel Hill, will begin  its expansion in Charleston.  Other markets slated for stores are:

 

Northern Virginia; Atlanta; Charlotte; Birmingham; Nashville; Naples; Palm Beach, and RICHMOND.

 

Locally, the site will be Staples Mill Center near the I-64 exit in northwestern Henrico County.

 

A Southern Season spokesperson  says "Richmond has a well-educated demographic and lots of professionals...we look for customers who support restaurants and also have a high regard for the importance of food and entertaining at home."

 

From today's RTD:    

 

http://www.timesdispatch.com/business/real-estate/southern-season-coming-to-henrico-county/article_5424dd43-34e1-5e16-8d67-83aaeaad27dc.html

Edited February 1, 2013 by burt

[540_804]

I'd say it's possible, but unlikely that these structures will be built.  It would be nice to see, though.  Thanks for digging these up - it's been a while and I forgot all about them.  An unlikely boom in the housing/apartment/condo market will drive something like this; however, I think the developer is just glad to get started with something at this point.

 

 

Yeah, it may be unlikely.

 

If the developer does ever decide to go for something 15-stories, I'd hope it goes through a re-design. I'm not the biggest fan of those two.

[Mball]

Anybody know anything about the plans/timeline for the buildout of Hancock Village Shopping Center on 360 West in the Woodlake area? There's a space between the (huge) Wal-Mart and Dick's/Hobby Lobby for several more, smaller retailers, and a large parcel on the right-hand (west) end of the strip for what was originally supposed to be a new "stand-alone" JCPenney. Penney's pulled out when the economy went south, but I heard they're still interested. For now it's a graded patch of dirt. There are also several outparcels available, one of which (at the corner of Ashbrook and Hull) was supposed to be an Applebee's. (A personal email to their corporate HQ a couple of years ago confirmed this.) There was also talk of a new Olive Garden on one of the three or four outparcels that are left. The center is owned and leased by Taylor Long Properties. Here's a link to their flyer with a building plan:

 

http://www.taylorlongproperties.com/pdfs/Hancock-Village.pdf

 

What's there now was completed more than a year ago, and it just seems to be stagnating in its half-built condition. Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

 

While I have the floor so to speak, I'll ask the braintrust about another property, owned by Thalhimer: it's right across the street from Chattanooga Plaza, which is the name of the shopping center with a Wal-Mart and Home Depot on the northeast corner of the intersection of Hull and Route 288. This property, just east and across Lonas Parkway from the new Haley Toyota, has been slated for a medium-sized shopping center for quite a few years. It's just wooded land right now. Anybody know anything about this one?

 

http://thal.reapplications.com/filecabinet/Property/029564/360CapitalSquare(1).pdf

Edited February 1, 2013 by Mball

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Not sure about the Haley Toyota/Walmart that one.... but

 

I guess that Hancock Village thing was a little overlooked, the economy tanked and down went a majority of shopping centers. I think it was just last year that Hobby Lobby opened up shop there.. Walmart being the main tenant. I however, did not know Olive Garden was looking as a potential prospect at Hancock Village. A new location opened up here in Short Pump at the Corner, that development with the Kroger on corner of Broad/Lauderdale, and I know its been a big hit since, it opened last year.

 

An Olive Garden there would help maybe boost the center's overall clientele, and would draw more tenants maybe?

 

I guess the note about the graded patches of dirt could also be made about Westchester Commons, that awful little sprawl development over off Midlothian and 288. It was supposed to be new-urbanism like WBV, however it is just sprawling strip malls and big box stores, much like, I guess, say, White Oak Village. That is a pattern I've seen. Each of these three (White Oak, Westchester and Hancock Village) have like a nice entry with like a little strip center with nice tenants, two buildings with parking on the sides, and then in the back are huge big box stores.... don't really like it though, it puts up a false ad for people, it doesn't really encourage "walk to the other shops" like it is supposed to.....

 

Oh well....at least it's being used (all 3 developments have proved to be massively popular, even with outparcels and land still remaining to be built)

[burt]

On the heels of a news story quoting the convention bureau chief Jack Berry claiming the hotel industry in Metro Richmond is robust, stories coming out of the far west end indicate otherwise.

 

Several major and not-so-major hostelries have problems.

 

One that bit the dust after years of success under names like Hyatt and Sheraton has been demolished.

 

Others that are in financial trouble in Henrico are Embassy Suites, the Days Inn on Dickenson Road and The Marriott at Innsbrook.

 

Another large hotel which began back in the '70's as a high-end Holiday Inn west of Horsepen Road off of Broad  became the Crown Plaza (there is another downtown.)  In recent days it has turned over again and is known as Magnuson Grand Hotel and Convention Center.

 

From Richmond Biz Sense:

 

 

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/

[Icetera]

On the heels of a news story quoting the convention bureau chief Jack Berry claiming the hotel industry in Metro Richmond is robust, stories coming out of the far west end indicate otherwise.

 

Several major and not-so-major hostelries have problems.

 

One that bit the dust after years of success under names like Hyatt and Sheraton has been demolished.

 

Others that are in financial trouble in Henrico are Embassy Suites, the Days Inn on Dickenson Road and The Marriott at Innsbrook.

 

Another large hotel which began back in the '70's as a high-end Holiday Inn west of Horsepen Road off of Broad  became the Crown Plaza (there is another downtown.)  In recent days it has turned over again and is known as Magnuson Grand Hotel and Convention Center.

 

From Richmond Biz Sense:

 

 

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/

 

 

The problem with most of these hotels is that the suburbs moved away from them taking business with them.  Thankfully, city centers are not quite at the same risk as inner suburbs.

[burt]

Hancock village across from Swift Creek Reservoir on Hull Street Road in western Chesterfield County is 100% leased.  Nonetheless, it faces foreclosure.

 

Among the stores is a huge and nice looking WalMart that does fantastic business.  It purchased the land on which it is located and is not subject to the foreclosure action.

 

From today's Richmond Biz Sense:

 

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2013/02/12/major-shopping-center-faces-foreclosure/

[Mball]

Hancock village across from Swift Creek Reservoir on Hull Street Road in western Chesterfield County is 100% leased.

 

Ah, this must be some definition of "leased" with which I am unfamiliar.

 

Taylor Long Properties' own flyer on the development (http://www.taylorlongproperties.com/pdfs/Hancock-Village-Short.pdf), updated today (Feb. 13), currently lists four buildings totaling 54,408 square feet -- which do not exist at this point -- as "pre-leasing," It also lists three outparcels which currently exist only as grass lots as "available," and 12 small shops -- only one of which actually exists right now -- as either "available," "pending" or "pre-leasing." And it completely omits any mention of the remaining Wal-Mart-sized anchor space at the far end of the anchor row, only noting its location on the plat as "future development."

 

One visit to the shopping center reveals the enormity of build-out that's still left to do. There's an enormous gap between Wal-Mart and Five Below that's supposed to be occupied by four major anchors -- that space is nothing but graded earth right now. And then there's that other, approximately 150,000-square-foot graded pad down past Hobby Lobby; it originally was going to be a JCPenney store. As if that isn't enough, the glaring absence of more than half of the property's outparcels along Hull Street is readily apparent. How anyone can say the property is "100% leased" is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who has two eyes and can read.

 

Today, when you drive in the "main entrance" to Hancock Village, there are pads for two more rows of "neighborhood shops" that don't exist -- and you pass by those eyesores before you arrive at the ones that are occupied. Keep going and the entrance road terminates facing an empty, graded pad. You have to turn left to go to Wal-Mart or right, and past three more vacant pads, to get to Five Below, Dick's and Hobby Lobby. The property as it exists at present may be mostly (but not 100%) leased in terms of available boxes, but the shopping center itself is currently only a scattering of buildings -- the rest of the property is littered with rusting roofing trusses, piles of weathered streetlight poles and a graveyard of precast box culverts and concrete pipes. (And acres upon acres of paved, striped and lighted parking lot that are completely useless and unused right now.) There hasn't been any new construction activity since Hobby Lobby opened a year and a half ago.

 

Sorry for all of the specifics, but I've been following this shopping center's progress since it's close to my home and I lovingly remember it as Clover Hill Farm. I guess I'll summarize by saying that what Ed Nunnally calls "one of the strongest performing properties in the area" is a half-built eyesore at this point.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

The THIRD Kroger Marketplace will be an expanded Rutland kroger in Mechanicsville.

 

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2013/03/08/with-10-million-kroger-says-supersize-it/

[Shakman]

I recently noticed the former Ramada Plaza former Sheraton next to Genworth Financial has been demoed. It is now a large grass lot. When and why did this happen?

[blake_p]

The hotel closed, Genworth bought it. They used it for fire department traing for a while, then tore it down. Genworth has no immediate plans for it - more of a strategic purchase.

Edited April 29, 2013 by blake_p

[Shakman]

Wow. Thanks for the info. Due to the size of the hotel, it must have been some serious training.

[Cadeho]

http://www.timesdispatch.com/business/former-ramada-to-be-demolished-hotel-items-go-to-help/article_43e256d6-8038-56b7-86ec-575abfad6fb6.html

 

 

We had our Christmas party there and it was wonderful! Now they have it in a barn which stinks... even though it was my favorite historic building as a kid...

 

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Nothing particularly new about the development, but it looks like what was known as Staples Mill Centre is now known as "Libbie Mill".

Nothing has changed other than the name, and the article from the RTD reiterates Gumenick Properties intentions to build out 80 acres for thousands of residential units as well as retail and office, including Southern Season, a grocer who looks to start construction and finish in 2014, and Henrico County, who wants to build a new, multi story library to replace the current Dumbarton library branch.

Build out, as the article says, is expected to take around a decade....which to me puts in perspective how long build out at Innsbrook will take....

http://www.timesdispatch.com/business/real-estate/article_7d00b1bf-d1ca-53d0-a53b-04b35c2857fa.html

[540_804]

Permits have been filed for the new Wal-Mart at Reynolds Crossing. It looks like construction should start soon. 

 

DATE: 12-Jun
PROJECT: Wal-Mart, 6920 Forest Avenue
OWNER: Reynolds Holdings, LLC
CONTRACTOR/BLDR: MLB Construction Services
ESTIMATED COST: $6,305,895
DESCRIPTION: New commercial building

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

HCA will construct a new freestanding emergency center in Hanover County, much similar in concept to the new West Creek emergency center over in Goochland. It will be built near Rutland Commons, the shopping center where the expanded Kroger will become the area's third Kroger Marketplace.

 

http://www.virginiabusiness.com/index.php/news/article/hca-health-services-of-virginia-to-build-a-new-emergency-center-in-hanover-/324299/

 

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/education/college/hca-virginia-health-system-to-build-free-standing-emergency-center/article_b9130dc2-b93f-501c-bec5-24aca0202d7b.html

 

The Rutland area of Mechanicsville is booming with activity.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Although associated with VCU, it is happening in the suburbs.

 

VCU plans on building a new children's psychiatric facility and keep their current Children's Hospital at VCU that's next to the planned site open.

 

From the Times-Dispatch:

 

http://www.timesdispatch.com/business/health/vcu-to-build-new-children-s-psychiatric-facility/article_2b3ecf8f-d45a-587f-b2e7-759fda65c537.html

[Downtowner]

I know this is in the city but its not in the urban part of the city. But I found this article about apartments being built near stony point fashion park.

 

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2013/11/26/city-vote-is-victory-for-stony-point-project/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

More updates on the "Notch" at West Creek development:

 

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2014/01/13/230-acre-development-notches-another-win/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

More sprawl....

 

"GreenGate" hopes to have around 300 units (75 of them detached single family, the rest townhouses), with a potential "main street" concept with retail that runs parallel to Broad St., much like West Broad Village. It is on current farmland now owned by NAI Eagle, one of the last developable parcels of land on Broad Street in Henrico County.

 

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2014/02/07/firm-set-to-open-gate-for-new-development/

 

http://www.naieagle.com/pdf/GreenGate_Jan2014.pdf

 

And here's another flyer for another development right across the street, under the tentative name West Broad Marketplace:

 

http://my.thalhimer.com/filecabinet/Property/054988/West%20Broad%20Marketplace.pdf

Edited February 8, 2014 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

An RTD article on the ever expanding Short Pump retail corridor:

 

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/henrico/short-pump-reigns-supreme/article_d55eb35e-36f0-5fe3-bed2-786d9167b974.html

 

Here's an excerpt:

 

 

 

But there are no signs the red-hot retail strip anchored by Short Pump Town Center mall will cool anytime soon. The area offers plenty of infill sites, and the density of development will increase, including when two already-approved office towers are built in West Broad Village.

 

Huh?

[eandslee]

Yeah, those were approved a long time ago, but at the time didn't have tenants (and still don't). If I'm not mistaken those two tower sites sit on the east side of West Broad Village (near I-64) and are planned to be between 10 - 15 stories (I think they put a limit on the height, but in don't recall it being taller than 15 stories, possibly even less...13 stories?).

I was interested in finding more about Broad Hill Centre, which mentioned medical office towers. I couldn't find anything on Google, but if anyone has any info, please post it here! Are they really talking about towers or medical buildings that are 5 stories or less? Sometimes people misuse the word tower...sort of like people calling the buildings downtown skyscrapers. That's not entirely accurate...they are more like high rises. Thanks for posting!