Monroe Ward / Oregon Hill

[I miss RVA]

Just to keep fresh in everyone's mind what the Pinecrest building will look like once built (also, this is for newer folks who might not have seen this stuff when it first came out, I think late last year)... a few renderings of this gorgeous building that totally fits the urban vibe and feel of Monroe Ward. That is will be built right behind the Berkeley (on Franklin Street) makes the impact even pronounced from the standpoint of the overall feel of turning Monroe Ward into a dense, urban, residential district.

I hope we see a LOT more buildings like this - of this size AND larger (PLEASE!!!) ... I've long held that if Monroe Ward was transformed from a sea of parking lots into a forest of high rise residential buildings, it would have a vibe of being akin to RVA's (miniature) version of the Upper East Side if it's really done right. How amazing would THAT be!!

AND - imagine this beauty and the Admiral up in JW (2nd and E. Marshall) rising at more-or-less the same time. 

Okay - herewith renderings of the Pinecrest - 321 W. Grace

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by I miss RVA

[123fakestreet]

Monroe Ward is a desert of investment, I think once one decent sized development goes in there and other investors see how successful it is, the dam will break and it will almost completely fill in - there's a good amount of but still very finite space there.

[whw53]

Older building catty corner from police headquarters exploring a renovation to multi-family housing. Had at one time been an assisted living facility but not sure how long it's been - it's always seemed abandoned to me. I really like this structure, includes some old storefronts along Grace which would be great to see brought back as well. definitely an opportunity with all these new towers slated for Grace to extend commercial activity west - right now it's definitely scattered but cuts off noticeably at Foushee. 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/0616ebbe-06bf-4fa0-897f-9291ccb01ab8

Commercial space greater than 5000sf. Existing use: Healthcare/assisted living facility. Proposed use: Multifamily housing (21 beds).

 

[Icetera]

41 minutes ago, whw53 said:

Older building catty corner from police headquarters exploring a renovation to multi-family housing. Had at one time been an assisted living facility but not sure how long it's been - it's always seemed abandoned to me. I really like this structure, includes some old storefronts along Grace which would be great to see brought back as well. definitely an opportunity with all these new towers slated for Grace to extend commercial activity west - right now it's definitely scattered but cuts off noticeably at Foushee. 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/0616ebbe-06bf-4fa0-897f-9291ccb01ab8

Commercial space greater than 5000sf. Existing use: Healthcare/assisted living facility. Proposed use: Multifamily housing (21 beds).

 

It is definitely currently active with residents milling about on the steps.  In fact, there was a homicide there a couple months ago so the switch is not terribly surprising.

[rjp212]

Glad they will be renovating the building. I have friends that work for RBHA and many of their clients live there.   They've told me the current owners have taken horrible care of the building and it's residents.

Edited November 24, 2021 by rjp212

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, whw53 said:

Older building catty corner from police headquarters exploring a renovation to multi-family housing. Had at one time been an assisted living facility but not sure how long it's been - it's always seemed abandoned to me. I really like this structure, includes some old storefronts along Grace which would be great to see brought back as well. definitely an opportunity with all these new towers slated for Grace to extend commercial activity west - right now it's definitely scattered but cuts off noticeably at Foushee. 

 

 

@whw53-- wait, tower(S)? More than one? Have I missed something here? The only tower I'm aware of is the Pinecrest at 321 W. Grace. Are others actively in the pipeline for this stretch of Monroe Ward?

[whw53]

3 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

@whw53-- wait, tower(S)? More than one? Have I missed something here? The only tower I'm aware of is the Pinecrest at 321 W. Grace. Are others actively in the pipeline for this stretch of Monroe Ward?

I'd say it's looking that way, don't you think?  Here's a quick markup I did of Grace St of 'active property owners' which i think will move on redevelopment.

 

Green - Thalhimer - they moved last year to decouple zoning imposed parking regs that these lots were being used to meet. That allowed them to sell off the 321 lot to Pinecrest for their project and positions the 109 property directly adjacent to this building for the same. 

Yellow - Jim's Family Parking - all these lots have recently been sold to ParkWay Corp whose pattern it is to park for awhile and then go vertical. They alluded to just that in a recent BizSense article. 

Magenta\purple - YMCA controlled lots, from yesterday's BizSense we know development is coming to these -something tells me with Tom Papa involved they will go tall on the Grace St side. 

Blue - city controlled lots - from the Pulse plan we know city is looking to offload these and see development here. 

 

 

In addition (red dashes)

18 w Grace lot - didn't Salvation Army pack up and leave - that used to be their parking lot for Richmond Area HQ - i notice they are still the property owner - could see them selling this. 

201 W Grace - that Goodwyn Bros entity which i think owned the land now being developed for Foushee Mews. I bet you they'd look to develop this as well. 

 

Edit - I forgot to mark it but at top of snip on other side of police station is our 221-225 west Broad site controlled by Bank Street Advisors. That is where that beautiful 23 story tower will hopefully  rise.

 

So no, no tower as afar along as PineCrest but so many moving pieces i think we will get a couple large scale developments along this stretch. Next up will be YMCA.

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by whw53

[I miss RVA]

30 minutes ago, whw53 said:

I'd say it's looking that way, don't you think?  Here's a quick markup I did of Grace St of 'active property owners' which i think will move on redevelopment.

 

Green - Thalhimer - they moved last year to decouple zoning imposed parking regs that these lots were being used to meet. That allowed them to sell off the 321 lot to Pinecrest for their project and positions the 109 property directly adjacent to this building for the same. 

Yellow - Jim's Family Parking - all these lots have recently been sold to ParkWay Corp whose pattern it is to park for awhile and then go vertical. They alluded to just that in a recent BizSense article. 

Magenta\purple - YMCA controlled lots, from yesterday's BizSense we know development is coming to these -something tells me with Tom Papa involved they will go tall on the Grace St side. 

Blue - city controlled lots - from the Pulse plan we know city is looking to offload these and see development here. 

 

 

In addition (red dashes)

18 w Grace lot - didn't Salvation Army pack up and leave - that used to be their parking lot for Richmond Area HQ - i notice they are still the property owner - could see them selling this. 

201 W Grace - that Goodwyn Bros entity which i think owned the land now being developed for Foushee Mews. I bet you they'd look to develop this as well. 

 

Edit - I forgot to mark it but at top of snip on other side of police station is our 221-225 west Broad site controlled by Bank Street Advisors. That is where that beautiful 23 story tower will hopefully  rise.

 

So no, no tower as afar along as PineCrest but so many moving pieces i think we will get a couple large scale developments along this stretch. Next up will be YMCA.

 

Lordy, I hope and pray you're reading the tea leaves correctly! That could net us (if each site were developed individually and went vertial) something like 11 towers rising in this part of Monroe Ward/the Arts District. And a lot of this area is zoned B-4, yes? (and what isn't - outside the strip of a few blocks directly along Franklin - is TOD-1, right?)

Wow - if this came to pass - that would be a LOT of density and verticality - and even then, would only put a small dent into the sea of surface parking that could be converted into our forest of high rise residential.

Wouldn't it be something if in, say 10 years, just as Manchester is being described as "Richmond's version of Brooklyn" - that perhaps Monroe Ward might begin drawing similar comparisons, being described as "Richmond's version of the Upper East Side" ?! Let's hope!

[whw53]

as a follow-up - According to this Bizsense article - Salvation Army plans to sell off their properties in Monroe Ward after and renovation and relocation to a new site off Chamberlayne. So the entire block fronting w grace b\w foushee and adams could be on the market sometime soon.

"The Salvation Army plans to sell the West Grace Street facility, as well as the parking lot next door, which the nonprofit also owns, Sanders said. The two properties total about an acre and most recently were assessed by the city at a combined $2.57 million."

https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/04/09/salvation-army-pays-1-8m-for-site-for-new-hq/

Edited November 24, 2021 by whw53

[I miss RVA]

20 minutes ago, whw53 said:

as a follow-up - According to this Bizsense article - Salvation Army plans to sell off their properties in Monroe Ward after and renovation and relocation to a new site off Chamberlayne. So the entire block fronting w grace b\w foushee and adams could be on the market sometime soon.

"The Salvation Army plans to sell the West Grace Street facility, as well as the parking lot next door, which the nonprofit also owns, Sanders said. The two properties total about an acre and most recently were assessed by the city at a combined $2.57 million."

https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/04/09/salvation-army-pays-1-8m-for-site-for-new-hq/

So essentially, the likelihood is that Salvation Army will package the parking lot and the building site as one big parcel on Grace from Foushee to Adams - and a developer could come in and really go to town on it. Which ,if it were just about any other city, I'd find really exciting - but for some reason (construction costs?) it seems like when there's that large of a potential footprint, what ends up getting built is wider than it is tall. I fear that instead of seeing something 15-20 stories tall rise, we'll be limited to something like eight or so stories, because the developer will go with fewer, but larger floorplates - rather than more, but smaller floorplates. Seems to be the way it goes in RVA. Probably would be too much to ask for a project with at least two (or even multiple) buildings taking up that entire block of Grace.

I know - don't put the cart before the horse - let's get the property sold to a developer and see what happens... 

I'm just sayin...

Edited November 24, 2021 by I miss RVA

[majors2410]

Everytime I see an aerial of this area. Its just unbelievable how many ugly surface parking lots there are and some still complain about losing parking everytime a new project is announced. Healthy cbds dont have surface parking like this.

[I miss RVA]

5 hours ago, majors2410 said:

Everytime I see an aerial of this area. Its just unbelievable how many ugly surface parking lots there are and some still complain about losing parking everytime a new project is announced. Healthy cbds dont have surface parking like this.

@majors2410-- I agree 100% - it really is remarkable just how much wasteful surface parking exists downtown. You're spot on - healthy CBDs don't have this level of widespread surface parking. Downtown RVA has had a desolate feel to it for decades - and this only contributes to it. It may have been earlier in this thread, but someone posted a great quote from the legendary Bette Midler upon visiting RVA a few decades ago. She's quote as saying (paraphrasing) - "You have such a gorgeous city, but what's with all the holes? Fill in the parking lots." Considering that she's from New York, where oceans of surface parking in the central city simply don't exist, her observation makes so much sense.

That said - I'd like to offer that this sea of surface parking presents an amazing opportunity for RVA to grow and essentially "re-build" downtown. Perhaps over the next 10 or 20 years, we'll see this ocean of parking lots converted by developers into a forest of high rise residential, mixed use, business development - all high density, all with ample verticality, all coming together to bring together a new, potent, dynamic urban streetscape filled with people living, working, playing downtown 24-7.  I've long since held that Monroe Ward could become Richmond's version of the Upper East Side - jam-packed with high rise residential buildings that will help swell downtown's residential population to a level that will make viable all the other things we want to see happening downtown: robust retail, entertainment, venues for public gathering, restaurants, a wide-variety of businesses, all amid a bustling urban footprint that will be alive and vibrant with activity. And - the huge boost it could/would give to the downtown skyline.

Much as all this surface parking is just flat ugly and makes downtown look and feel so extremely desolate - it's fertile ground to plant the seeds of what will eventually be a new, bigger, better, more robust downtown. I think the future is bright.

 

[Icetera]

Walked by the Pinecrest site last night and they definitely have it fenced off with equipment that appears to be ready to rip up the asphalt.  I am not sure what is up with the large concrete boxes (utilities?) or how they will manage with the fence right up to the parking lot on Grace St, but this certainly looks like it is getting ready to move.

[I miss RVA]

5 hours ago, Icetera said:

Walked by the Pinecrest site last night and they definitely have it fenced off with equipment that appears to be ready to rip up the asphalt.  I am not sure what is up with the large concrete boxes (utilities?) or how they will manage with the fence right up to the parking lot on Grace St, but this certainly looks like it is getting ready to move.

This is very good news indeed. Seems like it wasn't but just a few weeks ago that we saw this very progression of events over in Manchester with the Tidewater. I get the feeling it won't be long now before excavators are on-site - and then - at some point... TOWER CRANE!!   

[whw53]

Ok this had me confused this morning - looks like BizSense updated. Article had mentioned a ZCL issuesd in October for applicant Dobrin.. The other one i saw go through last week had different unit counts and different contact info - indeed it is a different entity that has this property under contract and performing due diligence.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2021/12/01/developer-plans-to-shift-downtown-assisted-living-facility-to-mixed-uses/

Edited December 1, 2021 by whw53

[wrldcoupe4]

Are they flipping it to another buyer?

[whw53]

I think both developers began due diligence (applied for ZCL) but seller went with the out of town entity. 

Dobrin ZCL - https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/bc4bb274-1cf2-48bf-95bc-bb8283ad1dfe

Grossberg Yochelson Fox & BEyda LLP - zcl  https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/0616ebbe-06bf-4fa0-897f-9291ccb01ab8?tab=contacts

[eandslee]

I just want to see what they are actually planning for that site.  Will it just be a rehab or will they add to the existing structure?  Mixed use could be almost anything, with any sort of height.   Would love to see them maximize this plot of land.

[wrldcoupe4]

Sounds like renovation of existing.

[Icetera]

14 minutes ago, eandslee said:

I just want to see what they are actually planning for that site.  Will it just be a rehab or will they add to the existing structure?  Mixed use could be almost anything, with any sort of height.   Would love to see them maximize this plot of land.

 

5 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Sounds like renovation of existing.

There is a commercial space on the Grace St. side, so that is likely why they are referring to the project as being mixed-use without need to new construction or significant modifications.

While this project may not be terribly exciting, it does likely make that area a bit more attractive for other developments.

[Brent114]

It’s a great looking building and the vicinity will certainly be more desirable when it is renovated.  I for one hope they don’t change the building too much.  There are plenty of ugly buildings and vacant lots that can be used for new shinny projects but we’re never going to get back this style or quality once it’s gone. 

I’ve been waiting for this  building to take on a new life.  Of course I’m sad for those that have to relocate (apparently some residents have been there since the 80’s). 

[Hike]

24 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

It’s a great looking building and the vicinity will certainly be more desirable when it is renovated.  I for one hope they don’t change the building too much.  There are plenty of ugly buildings and vacant lots that can be used for new shinny projects but we’re never going to get back this style or quality once it’s gone. 

I’ve been waiting for this  building to take on a new life.  Of course I’m sad for those that have to relocate (apparently some residents have been there since the 80’s). 

Lived in Lexington Tower on Franklin, right across from The Jefferson, sounds better than it was. Think it's called something else now. I had no car, walked everywhere, mostly avoided the walk on Grace, strange happenings in and around the assisted living discussed and developed here, so just walked down Franklin. Good times really, miss some of grungy RVA. 

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, Brent114 said:

It’s a great looking building and the vicinity will certainly be more desirable when it is renovated.  I for one hope they don’t change the building too much.  There are plenty of ugly buildings and vacant lots that can be used for new shinny projects but we’re never going to get back this style or quality once it’s gone. 

I’ve been waiting for this  building to take on a new life.  Of course I’m sad for those that have to relocate (apparently some residents have been there since the 80’s). 

Fully agreed. This is a really nice old building and  is a good anchor on that corner. Indeed, lots of vacant lots and ugly ready-for-the-wreckingball buildings that can -- and SHOULD -- be converted into gleaming new high density, high rise residential and/or mixed used buildings. It will look even better when it's not sitting there as a structural island - but rather is surrounded by much larger, much taller residential buildings.  I can't wait to see this old beauty polished up and fully renovated.

Side note: I'm also very sad for the residents there. I hope and pray there are viable options for them that does not impose undue hardship upon them, particularly those who suffer from mental illnesses. I pray this works out okay for them.

8 hours ago, Icetera said:

 

There is a commercial space on the Grace St. side, so that is likely why they are referring to the project as being mixed-use without need to new construction or significant modifications.

While this project may not be terribly exciting, it does likely make that area a bit more attractive for other developments.

Given all the vacant lots immediately all around this building, I agree with you. Fixing this old guy up will just add a little more to the incentive mix for developers to come in and hopefully significantly build up this entire area with plenty of high-density high rise buildings.

Edited December 2, 2021 by I miss RVA

[ancientcarpenter]

This is Dobrin properties and they are known to buy a house (mostly Jackson Ward and Carver) and cram as many VCU students in as possible. They are paying lip service to getting better but we will see what they do - lots of trash and beat up buildings not being maintained properly especially in historic areas. 

Dobrin is also building houses but from what I can see they never go above 2 stories. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if almost all work on this building is inside and minor updating on the outside. They are not in the business of developing. 

 

edit: An update was made and it's not Dobrin now. 

Edited December 2, 2021 by ancientcarpenter

[wrldcoupe4]

Story was updated. It's not them.