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Libbie Mill / Westwood


Spider03

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This office building turned out very nice too.  It’s great to see something so fresh (it is a very clean, airy building)  in this area.  The area hasn’t been relevant since Circuit City and the Price Club were located there. 

 

Edited by Brent114
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  • Icetera changed the title to Libbie Mill / Westwood
1 hour ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

Ok, this is awesome news. The Libbie Mill and Willow Lawn areas should be popping with these sorts of things. It’s a convenient location filled with outdated buildings and parking lots.

Fully agreed. Glad to see more density coming to that area. Even though it's not right up against the Broad Street corridor, it might be close enough to give a boost regarding the PULSE line. The density of Libbie Mill - plus other projects now popping up nearby and by Willow Lawn is very impressive.

I like the building -- and with it at 10 stories, I wouldn't mind seeing this kind of building rise in Manchester or Scott's or even in Monroe Ward as a stair-step to taller construction in the ward.

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10 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Fully agreed. Glad to see more density coming to that area. Even though it's not right up against the Broad Street corridor, it might be close enough to give a boost regarding the PULSE line. The density of Libbie Mill - plus other projects now popping up nearby and by Willow Lawn is very impressive.

These kinds of things can get closer to Broad - there’s stretches on both the east and west sides of Staples Mill - but not TOO much closer realistically without disrupting a lot. Anthem has a big complex on the east side, and the Crossroads art gallery/Bremo Pharmacy shopping center is nestled behind some longstanding local businesses like Bill Crumpton Tire & Pedal Power bicycles.

At any rate, these developments may tie into the neighboring Staples Mill Transportation Corridor, which ends at 64 or so.  I watched the virtual presentation about it a few weeks ago, and one of the presenters did allude to “dedicated travel lanes” on Staples Mill, albeit not part of the Pulse line.

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6 hours ago, RVA-Is-The-Best said:

My only gripe is I lowkey wish this was closer to the Staples Mill/Broad corridor so that it strengthens Broad into that high-intensity corridor the city/Henrico desire it to be, and for that general Willow Lawn area to really solidify itself as a node for high-density development. But I get that they're doing this here, Libbie Mill is booming with their mid-rises as well.

 

I do like that it will likely have visibility from I-64.  Imagine this density around Libby Mill combined with Reynolds area and the Genworth complex filled out more (especially with Pulse expansion) and this stretch will have a decent impact when approaching Richmond from the West.

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We've had this project on here before - but now there's some movement. According to today's Richmond BizSense, Spy Rock has plunked down $5 M to purchase the site at 2001 Dabney Road where a five-story 245 apartment building has been in the works for a while. Spy Rock already had received a provisional-use permit for the project earlier this year. No timetable has been announced yet as to when work will begin, however a demolition permit to take down the existing buildings was filed in late August.

Good to see this is starting to move forward. Westwood is about to go nuclear with development, given all the projects in the pipeline that could end up rising  at more-or-less the same time.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/10/11/spy-rock-drops-5m-for-2-acre-dabney-road-site/

 

SpyRock1.jpg

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Edited by I miss RVA
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17 hours ago, Wahoo 07 said:

The transformation of that part of town is mind blowing.  

100% agreed! It is amazing to me that this was once a classic, 1950s Richmond inner suburb - and now it's becoming a new urban-core inner suburb. Just amazing to see how all of this is progressing. Jesus - imagine the NIMBY screaming and yelling if this method of development was sweeping through ANY defunct section of a neighborhood inside the city limits. Holy moly...

 

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Love Libbie Mill. The library is excellent, we just went to Shagbark again for our anniversary, and, just to prove our Libbie Mill bona fides, we were among the 8 or so people who actually went to Southern Season when it was there. One of the few downsides so far, and this may shake out better over time, is it's not particularly well-integrated into Staples Mill and Bethlehem Roads. It's sort of an island to itself (a large island) with a couple stoplights shared with Staples Mill and a pretty janky intersection at Bethlehem. I'm not sure how to improve this other than Gumenick just buying lots more land, but, if you're not headed there, you just kind of see it and pass by if you're on Staples Mill. Doesn't make a huge impression.

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If the 10 floor apartment building across Staples Mill Rd is built (haven’t heard about it in a while) it would go a long way to make Libbie Mill feel more integrated, at least with Staples Mill. 
 

I’d love to see a hole blown through the shopping center between it and Broad (the one that is getting a “mystery” grocery store (yawn).  It should be a no-brainer to connect it to Broad.  It could come out to the Target traffic light. 

Edited by Brent114
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6 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221216005223/en/Kinsale-Capital-Group-Announces-Acquisition-of-Real-Estate-in-Richmond-Virginia
 

Looks like Kinsale has acquired the Anthem campus  at Broad and Staples Mill which is right next to their new headquarters in Westwood area. Hopefully they plan to make it denser like they did with their building and the adjacent structures parking and multi family project. 

This includes everything - including the huge surface parking, yes?

I wonder if they might redevelop the entire property into something really big - perhaps tear down the office building(s) and build ((several) new multi-family apartment buildings from scratch with some mixed-use components? This looks like a TREMENDOUS opportunity in a very hot part of town, given all that's going on in Westwood.

 

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13 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

I hope they don’t tear it down.  The addition from 15 years or so ago is the most handsome building built in Richmond maybe ever :) 

Is it reasonably convertible (particularly from a cost standpoint)?  I would tend to think that with that vast ocean of surface parking, there could (and should) be a LOT of new construction. This property has a ton of potential if done up right - lots of residential density plus the prospect for mixed use components. It could be a real gem in the Westwood crown, chocked full of good stuff that will add to Westwood's population and offer some neat amenities just a sand-wedge away from the W. Broad Street (and PULSE line) corridor.

I'm guessing only a very small portion of this property is actually within the city limits (part of the south parking lot) - I wonder how TOD-1 zoning might impact any future development? Is there enough space on the northern side of W. Broad to the city/county boundary to consider something of significant size/height here?

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I would think it includes the parking deck and little warehouse building too. The press release said the tenant would be staying, meaning Anthem would stick around in at least part of it. I would be surprised to see the bldg go away. Hopefully it means that Kinsale will add more office density folks residential too. 

On the zoning, Henrico really wants density in this area too and would encourage height. I imagine this could get rezoned to one of their urban mixed use categories. 

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