StyleCraft gets green light for scaled-down Rockwood Grove project in Chesterfield

A rendering of townhomes that would be built at the proposed Rockwood Grove project. The Board of Supervisors this week approved the rezoning request tied to the 260-unit project. (Images courtesy Chesterfield)

A local homebuilder’s scaled-down residential project in the Rockwood area of Chesterfield is anticipated to break ground in late 2025, after it secured zoning approval from county supervisors this week.

StyleCraft Homes’ approved Rockwood Grove development plan envisions up to 260 for-sale townhomes to rise on a 35-acre site on Hull Street Road next to Oxbridge Square Shopping Center and near Rockwood Park.

The Henrico-based builder trimmed the unit count from a previous version of the project that called for up to 420 units, split between 240 apartments and 180 townhouses.

Apartments were removed from the project based on feedback gathered in community meetings, said Jeff Geiger, the Hirschler attorney who guided the project through Chesterfield’s zoning process.

“It was clear from our first two community meetings that apartments were a no-go, hard stop, not going to happen from the community’s perspective,” he told the Board of Supervisors at the meeting Wednesday where the board OK’d the project’s zoning request.

The final layout of Rockwood Grove, which Geiger said went through several iterations over the course of a year and a half, also features a 2-acre commercial tract.

Exactly how that tract, which is labeled “office flex” in a conceptual plan of the site, would be developed hasn’t been determined.  The project’s proffered conditions suggest it could take the form of one or more buildings.

Stylecraft anticipates it will start construction on the project around the end of next year, with sales of townhomes expected to begin in 2026, said Kim Kacani, StyleCraft vice president of business development.  Starting prices for the units haven’t been set yet.

Rockwood Grove is planned to have one entrance on Hull Street. The project would extend Paulett Road in the adjacent Falling Creek neighborhood to create a connection with Oxbridge Road, according to a conceptual plan.

Amenities would include a dog park and common area, according to the plan.

Rockwood Grove would feature 260 townhomes on a 35-acre site near the Hull Street and Courthouse roads intersection.

The project site’s four parcels are at 9801 Oxbridge Place, 9725 Hull Street Road, 9727 Hull Street Road and 9701 Hull Street Road. The site is mostly undeveloped, except for a single-family home on one of the parcels. StyleCraft has the land under contract.

Kacani declined to share a cost estimate for the project’s construction, saying it was too early to say.

In addition to a rezoning of the project site to residential townhouse (R-TH) and an exception to permit the commercial portion, StyleCraft also secured tweaks to buffer requirements and development standards for the townhomes, as well as an exemption from building a shared-use path that would run along the southern end of the property.

StyleCraft has instead proffered an easement on the property that provides space for another entity to build the path. The bike and pedestrian route would be a segment of a larger path mapped out in Chesterfield land-use planning documents.

Kacani said there was pushback against the path from local residents who felt it didn’t have a destination other than the adjacent Falling Creek subdivision. The path within the Rockwood Grove site is planned to run from Oxbridge Road to Sheringham Road.

“We had four community meetings and one of the items that surfaced was concern by some of the residents that it was a path to nowhere,” she said. “It was coming across this piece of land but not really going anywhere.”

About a half-dozen speakers weighed in on the project at this week’s public hearing that came before the supervisors’ vote on Wednesday. Most speakers argued against the proposal. A couple of residents said they preferred a single-family development for the site. Others criticized the decision to effectively ax the shared-use path from the project.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to green light the development.

The Rockwood Grove project site is within the Rockwood Special Focus Area. The land-use plan is intended to guide the redevelopment of the aging retail centers at Hull Street and Courthouse roads and the surrounding area. A StyleCraft representative previously has said the plan’s adoption encouraged the homebuilder’s interest in the project.

The Rockwood area land-use plan maps a 50-year shift toward mixed-use redevelopment of the shopping centers and the creation of high-density residential development in the northwest and eastern portions of the 673-acre area. The plan also calls for more pedestrian access and additional roads to better connect the area.