Center Creek Homes is among those preparing to build residences along West Cary Street. (Mike Platania photos)
A wave of new development is in the works for one of the Fan’s main thoroughfares that’ll bring dozens of new townhomes, duplexes, apartments and more to the neighborhood.
Construction has recently begun on a handful of infill projects along West Cary Street, including at 1700 W. Cary St., where a quartet of three-story duplexes will rise.
That development is from the Telfian brothers, owners of the painting company Creative Contracting that for decades has been based up the street at 1621 W. Cary St.
In recent years the Telfians, including brothers Mark, John and William, with the help of One South Commercial brokers Justin Sledd, Tom Rosman and Ken Campbell, began buying up land near their company headquarters and gradually filling in those lots with from-scratch residential properties.
The Telfians bought the 0.15-acre parcel at 1700 W. Cary St. in 2021 for $825,000, city records show. It’s unclear whether the new duplexes would be for rent or for sale. The Telfians did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
A vacant lot at 1700 W. Cary St. has been fenced off ahead of construction of four duplexes.
On the next block, more new construction is inbound to a grassy area next to The Fancy Biscuit at 1823-1827 W. Cary St.
That’s where Center Creek Homes, the local homebuilding arm of D.C.-based private equity firm Center Creek Capital Group, is planning to build eight townhomes.
Since arriving in Richmond a few years ago, Center Creek has pursued a steady streak of for-sale residential infill projects throughout the city, from Arthur Ashe Boulevard to the East End.
Center Creek bought the quarter-acre Cary Street site two years ago for $850,000 and received city approval last winter to build the townhomes. Each would total around 1,800 square feet, and reach three stories with a rooftop terrace.
Greg Shron, Center Creek’s chief operating officer, said site work will begin this month and he hopes foundations will be poured in May.
Some adaptive reuse projects are also underway along the 1500 block of West Cary.
A group led by local real estate agent Jordan Scroggins is renovating an old retail storefront at 1501-1503 W. Cary St. into a new development that’ll house a corner store and six apartments.
Further down the block, Eliot Clark of local contracting firm Stonewall Construction is converting a former taxi depot and paint stripping facility at 1523 W. Cary St. into a 12-unit residential development. The units will be split between nine one-bedroom apartments and three short-term rental units.
1523 W. Cary St. had formerly been a paint stripping facility and taxi depot.
The roughly 5,600-square-foot building dates to the 1970s and Clark bought it for $650,000 in late 2021. Work has been underway for months and Clark said he’s hoping it’ll be complete in July.
At 1220 W. Cary St., another dozen units are in the planning process on a vacant lot owned by local wealth management firm Kinloch Capital, which also dabbles in real estate.
The firm is seeking a special-use permit to build a three-story, 12-unit apartment development on the site.
The building would rise near a forthcoming book- and coffee shop and would be targeted at serving college students, Kinloch Capital’s Peter Walls said. Each unit would have three bedrooms and two baths across about 1,000 square feet. 510 Architects is the project designer and Baker Development Resources is representing Kinloch in the SUP process, which Walls said is ongoing.
A conceptual rendering of Kinloch’s planned development at 1220 W. Cary St. (City documents)
A mystery developer also has a project in the works for the neighborhood.
According to city documents, Concerto LLC is planning to build two duplexes at 1619 W. Cary St. The entity had a special-use permit for the development approved a year ago, but the team behind it is relatively unknown.
Concerto is tied to Elaine and Adam Habig, who hail from a town of 3,000 people called Sheridan just north of Indianapolis. The Habigs, who could not be reached, bought the parcel in 2021 for $195,000 and knocked down a one-story house that had been on the lot. Work on the new duplexes has yet to begin.
It’s not just residences en route to that stretch of West Cary Street.
At 1904 W. Cary St., Shyndigz owners Nicole and Bryon Jessee are planning a 19-room boutique hotel that’s set to rise adjacent to Shyndigz’s new market and bakery.
The Jessees received city approval for the four-story hotel earlier this year and Bryon said the hope is to break ground either in late 2024 or early 2025.
The new Fire Station #12 is taking shape at 2223 W. Cary St.
Lastly, the City of Richmond is also busy building along West Cary. The new Fire Station #12 at 2223 W. Cary St. has topped out and has its façade being put in place.
Located at the corner of Cary and South Addison streets, the $13.3 million firehouse is replacing the city’s oldest-active fire station, which was razed last year. Hopewell-based general contractor J.W. Enochs is handling the build-out and Moseley Architects is the designer.
The developments being taken on by Telfians, Shyndigz and Center Creek are rising on lots once owned by the Eck family, whose late patriarch Edgar Eck Jr. redeveloped much of West Main and Cary streets near VCU throughout the 1980s. The Ecks got out of the real estate business in 2022 when they sold their 158-property portfolio for nearly $50 million.
Great to see these happening it’s good for the city to have more housing built in the Fan
I like the conceptual designs of the 1220 W. Cary development. It’s nice to see architecture that fits the neighborhood.
This infill growth is what we were all hoping would happen when the Eck portfolio was sold. The properties needed new blood. “There are no bad properties, just good or bad ownership”, the mantra from Kit Tyler, downtown real estate sage. The Ecks managed their properties well and paid their bills and taxes, but were not developers.
Great story Mike. It’s nice to see someone pull together the threads of a half-dozen smaller stories to provide greater context.
I know at one point, there was a vision to see Carytown extend all the way down to VCU. I don’t think any of these projects will do that, but it will be interesting to see how residential the street feels when all of this work is complete.
Multiple nice projects here from several really good developers. That area on Cary is really transforming for the better.
and feel good, but I was gonna comment, especially when you call at the main Thoroughfare. Cary Street does not go through the Fan. The Fan ends on the alley between Main and Cary. Even though I think the branding is gone, especially with exit of Eck ownerships of their buildings but this area is called Uptown and by the city and it’s civic maps.
whatever it used to be called, it should now be called the Fan. Richmond is unnecessarily particular about utterly meaningless neighborhood distinctions. Frankly the distinction between the Fan and the Museum District is pretty pointless, and treated as such by most of the inhabitants of the MSA. Let alone the idea the Fan doesn’t go south of Cary.
The City’s official neighborhood map has the boundaries of the Fan as Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Broad Street, Harrison Street, and the expressway.
Which I think everyone would agree are the commonly percieved boundaries