Updated elevations of the four-story townhomes planned at Pouncey Tract Road and Liesfeld Farm Drive. (Images courtesy Bob Babcock)
Shifts in market demands have brought about a change in plan for an undeveloped site at the eastern entrance to the Bacova community in Short Pump.
Developers Robert Babcock and Lawrence Liesfeld have filed plans for 32 four-story townhomes at 4600 Pouncey Tract Road, a 3.6-acre parcel northwest of Pouncey Tract’s intersection with Liesfeld Farm Drive north of Interstate 64.
The townhomes are a change from an earlier plan that called for an office development on that site, which is across Liesfeld Farm Drive from Colonial Trail Elementary School and adjacent to Babcock’s Short Pump Manor subdivision. The site is a gateway for Bacova and across Pouncey Tract from Twin Hickory, another master-planned community developed by HHHunt.
Across Pouncey Tract, HHHunt is currently developing The Pointe at Twin Hickory, a 90-unit condo development that’s planned to include a small office building fronting the intersection. The development, previously called The Corner at Twin Hickory, was approved by Henrico in 2020.
Robert Babcock
Babcock said he and Liesfeld had originally envisioned their site for a medical office development, but he said shifts in market demand since the pandemic caused them to change course toward residential. He said they initially proposed 72 residential units in three larger buildings, but reduced the density and amount of on-site parking in response to concerns from the community.
“We think we’ve made a lot of really good changes to what we’re presenting,” Babcock said. “The concept was to have a medical office facility there, but all that’s gravitated towards Broad Street now. The bottom line is we didn’t feel like we could achieve a marketable product there, and the townhomes really cut back on the traffic dramatically.”
County planning staff is supportive of the latest plan, stating in a report that, “While the subject property was originally intended for office use in support of the Bacova subdivision, the proposed transition to residential use could be deemed appropriate considering changes in the market that led to a reduced need for office development in the area.”
Babcock and Liesfeld are seeking a rezoning for the site from office to residential use, with local attorney Andy Condlin with Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin providing representation. The rezoning request is scheduled to go before the Henrico Planning Commission at its June 13 meeting.
The townhomes would feature varying facades with fourth-level verandas and rear-loading garages.
The developers are working on the project with Goochland-based Boone Homes, which supplied conceptual elevations and floorplans for the townhomes that are included in the rezoning application. Boone previously developed 25 single-family lots at Bacova that make up the Hawksgate at Bacova subdivision.
Plans show the townhomes would be at least 2,250 square feet in size and include fourth-story verandas. Boone President Mitchell Bode said the units would include elevators and likely start in the $800,000 range.
While four-story buildings for multifamily units often indicate two-over-two condos these days, Bode said Liesfeld and Babcock approached Boone specifically because they wanted something different than a two-level unit stacked on top of another.
“They didn’t really want to do the two-over-two there,” Bode said. “I think they were looking for someone to do a larger square-footage footprint and something more on the high-end scale there.”
Working with Virginia Beach architect Art Ross Designs, Bode added, “We developed the four-story product from scratch specifically for this site, thinking it would fit well within that demographic there and be a little bit different from what’s been offered on that side of Short Pump.”
The plans show the units would have rear-loading two-car garages on the ground floor, with living spaces above. Bode said a primary suite and additional bedroom would fill the third floor, and he said the units could accommodate up to four bedrooms total with room to spare for the top-floor rear verandas.
A site plan shows the units in clusters with access off Liesfeld Farm Drive. Upgraded fencing is planned along the site’s northern side that borders Short Pump Manor. (County documents)
The townhomes would be grouped in buildings of seven units or fewer, and elevations for the units would vary in appearance. Liesfeld said the elevations have been redesigned based on feedback received at a recent community meeting.
Youngblood, Tyler & Associates is handling engineering for the project, which Bode said could be at least a year out in terms of construction, pending county approvals and site development. Babcock said a best-case scenario would see development start in mid-2025.
Babcock put the development cost at about $2 million. He and Liesfeld acquired the parcel through an LLC last year for $1.75 million, Henrico property records show. The county has assessed the land at just over $715,000.
Babcock said the townhomes would finish out development of the original land assemblage for Bacova, a collection of residential neighborhoods on more than 165 acres between Pouncey Tract and Gayton Road north of the interstate. The years-in-the-making development was originally planned for as many as 400 homes and has since grown through additional land acquisitions to house nearly 700 residents, Babcock said.
Farther north along Pouncey Tract, Markel | Eagle Partners is seeking zoning approval for an 80-home subdivision on a 46-acre site southwest of Pouncey Tract and Wyndham West Drive. That request has been deferred multiple times since last summer and had been scheduled for county supervisors’ June 11 meeting, but was deferred again to the board’s Aug. 13 meeting.