The six-story building The Shenandoah in the Fan is currently vacant. ASH NYC, which bought the property for $3.5 million, plans to convert it into a boutique hotel. (BizSense file)
The Fan’s first boutique hotel is officially in the works.
The Shenandoah building at 501 N. Allen Ave. is in line to be converted into a roughly 70-room hotel. The six-story building sits just north of the circle on Monument Avenue where the Lee statue once stood.
The formal plans were confirmed last week by Ari Heckman, CEO of ASH NYC, which bought the property in the fall for $3.5 million but hadn’t disclosed its intentions for the site at the time.
ASH owns three boutique hotels in Detroit, New Orleans and Providence and has two in the works in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Heckman said he sees an opening in Richmond, despite nearby competitors like Quirk Hotel, the Graduate Richmond and The Jefferson Hotel.
Ari Heckman
“I like The Jefferson. I love an old grand dame hotel. That’s not necessarily in my aesthetic, but it serves that role in the community,” Heckman said.
“To me, there wasn’t an obvious place (in Richmond) that fit the model that we seek to create. I was also just super attracted to the Fan being this wonderfully historic neighborhood that I’d say is one of the 10 best mixed-use historic districts I’ve been to in the U.S.”
With 35,000 square feet, The Shenandoah previously served as the headquarters of local ad firm The Martin Agency in the 1980s and most recently was a senior living facility.
The parcel is currently zoned residential, so ASH is seeking a special-use permit to allow for a hotel. Mark Kronenthal of Roth Jackson is representing ASH in the entitlement process.
ASH is budgeting about $15 million for the renovation of The Shenandoah and expects to begin work in the latter half of 2022. Plans include a lobby-area cocktail bar and cafe, something Heckman said they’ve done in ASH’s other hotels.
Commonwealth Architects is the project’s architect. Heckman said they don’t yet have a general contractor or name selected for the hotel.
“Because the building is in the condition it’s in, the renovation process is pretty straightforward. I hope to open by the end of 2023,” Heckman said.
Founded by Heckman and Jonathan Minkoff in New York in 2008, ASH is a real estate development, interior design and hotel management firm.
Heckman acknowledged that having one company do those three seemingly disparate tasks is atypical.
“Most (companies) tend to focus on their one discipline. For us it’s always come down to control and my own personal desire to always be rooted in creativity as my North Star,” he said.
“I decided that in order to implement what I wanted to do creatively, there was no better way than to control the real estate and the project. That was how I got into real estate development, almost as a means to an end.”
Heckman said it was in 2013 while developing their first hotel in Rhode Island, The Dean, that they decided to get into management.
The lobby of The Dean, ASH NYC’s hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. (Courtesy of ASH NYC)
“We imagined we were going to just turn it over to an operator or third party manager. We were deep, deep, deep, deep into the development process and almost finishing the project, and we couldn’t find an operator we were super excited about,” Heckman said.
“Something felt very sad and hollow about turning it over to a third party that wasn’t actually part of creating the product, and we felt that disconnect would be very apparent to the guest.”
Heckman likens their approach of developer, designer and operator to that of innkeepers.
“I feel like so many other things of American life, the hotel industry got very corporatized. There are a lot of franchises that are masquerading as boutiques but are really a paint-by-numbers kit of parts,” Heckman said.
“Because we’re the designers of our hotels, every hotel has a very specific point of view. Every finish and piece of furniture is something that we either design and manufacture, or is antique and vintage furniture that we collect from all over the globe.”
Heckman said he sees a lot of similarities between Richmond and his hometown of Providence, with each being historic capital cities with university anchors and similar sized-populations. He said ASH’s other hotels have succeeded in drawing in locals as well as out-of-towners, and that he hopes the same for the Richmond spot.
“The ultimate measure of our success is if the people in the neighborhood make (the hotel) their own. We want to be the natural meeting point and living room for the neighborhood,” Heckman said. “That’s as or more important than creating a foundation for people from out of town to visit the hotel.”
The six-story building The Shenandoah in the Fan is currently vacant. ASH NYC, which bought the property for $3.5 million, plans to convert it into a boutique hotel. (BizSense file)
The Fan’s first boutique hotel is officially in the works.
The Shenandoah building at 501 N. Allen Ave. is in line to be converted into a roughly 70-room hotel. The six-story building sits just north of the circle on Monument Avenue where the Lee statue once stood.
The formal plans were confirmed last week by Ari Heckman, CEO of ASH NYC, which bought the property in the fall for $3.5 million but hadn’t disclosed its intentions for the site at the time.
ASH owns three boutique hotels in Detroit, New Orleans and Providence and has two in the works in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Heckman said he sees an opening in Richmond, despite nearby competitors like Quirk Hotel, the Graduate Richmond and The Jefferson Hotel.
Ari Heckman
“I like The Jefferson. I love an old grand dame hotel. That’s not necessarily in my aesthetic, but it serves that role in the community,” Heckman said.
“To me, there wasn’t an obvious place (in Richmond) that fit the model that we seek to create. I was also just super attracted to the Fan being this wonderfully historic neighborhood that I’d say is one of the 10 best mixed-use historic districts I’ve been to in the U.S.”
With 35,000 square feet, The Shenandoah previously served as the headquarters of local ad firm The Martin Agency in the 1980s and most recently was a senior living facility.
The parcel is currently zoned residential, so ASH is seeking a special-use permit to allow for a hotel. Mark Kronenthal of Roth Jackson is representing ASH in the entitlement process.
ASH is budgeting about $15 million for the renovation of The Shenandoah and expects to begin work in the latter half of 2022. Plans include a lobby-area cocktail bar and cafe, something Heckman said they’ve done in ASH’s other hotels.
Commonwealth Architects is the project’s architect. Heckman said they don’t yet have a general contractor or name selected for the hotel.
“Because the building is in the condition it’s in, the renovation process is pretty straightforward. I hope to open by the end of 2023,” Heckman said.
Founded by Heckman and Jonathan Minkoff in New York in 2008, ASH is a real estate development, interior design and hotel management firm.
Heckman acknowledged that having one company do those three seemingly disparate tasks is atypical.
“Most (companies) tend to focus on their one discipline. For us it’s always come down to control and my own personal desire to always be rooted in creativity as my North Star,” he said.
“I decided that in order to implement what I wanted to do creatively, there was no better way than to control the real estate and the project. That was how I got into real estate development, almost as a means to an end.”
Heckman said it was in 2013 while developing their first hotel in Rhode Island, The Dean, that they decided to get into management.
The lobby of The Dean, ASH NYC’s hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. (Courtesy of ASH NYC)
“We imagined we were going to just turn it over to an operator or third party manager. We were deep, deep, deep, deep into the development process and almost finishing the project, and we couldn’t find an operator we were super excited about,” Heckman said.
“Something felt very sad and hollow about turning it over to a third party that wasn’t actually part of creating the product, and we felt that disconnect would be very apparent to the guest.”
Heckman likens their approach of developer, designer and operator to that of innkeepers.
“I feel like so many other things of American life, the hotel industry got very corporatized. There are a lot of franchises that are masquerading as boutiques but are really a paint-by-numbers kit of parts,” Heckman said.
“Because we’re the designers of our hotels, every hotel has a very specific point of view. Every finish and piece of furniture is something that we either design and manufacture, or is antique and vintage furniture that we collect from all over the globe.”
Heckman said he sees a lot of similarities between Richmond and his hometown of Providence, with each being historic capital cities with university anchors and similar sized-populations. He said ASH’s other hotels have succeeded in drawing in locals as well as out-of-towners, and that he hopes the same for the Richmond spot.
“The ultimate measure of our success is if the people in the neighborhood make (the hotel) their own. We want to be the natural meeting point and living room for the neighborhood,” Heckman said. “That’s as or more important than creating a foundation for people from out of town to visit the hotel.”
This sounds like a wonderful addition to The Fan. When friends visit I always hear that the only good hotel options are downtown, and they’re exactly right! Soon there will be a Courtyard Marriott at Broad/Hamilton, but the area on W Broad between VCU and Scotts Addition needs more hotel options (and Carytown too!). This is a great start!
Excellent location for this kind of hotel in a very underserved part of the central city from a hospitality standpoint. Glad to see this coming to the Fan.
HUGE win for Old and Historic West Grace Street. Welcome.
A view of the aerial brings to mind a question of where the 70 guest room occupants will park. As it is street parking is at a minimal, and it appears that there are approximately 20 spaces on the property.
Brian, you’re only counting the spaces directly behind the building. This property also has a side lot directly on the traffic circle, which has 20+ more parking spots. I’d also disagree street parking is at a minimum at Allen/Monument/Grace, because that area is probably the easiest place in The Fan for finding a parking spot (Just not directly on Grace St). That will change with this hotel and if they only offer valet they could be much more creative with the use of their parking lot.
It’s an urban hotel. Many people will fly or take the train.
I have stayed in innumerable urban hotels without parking. It is a normal city thing. The city isn’t short pump, and it should not try to be short pump. Cities are for people, not cars, let’s stop paying any attention to parking.
If the hotel owners think their guests want it, I’m quite sure they will make it available. And I trust them to make that decision more than any body else.
Richmond has way too much parking.
Charles – I agree with you 100% Cities are for people. Urban hotels without parking or with limited parking are indeed quite normal in cities.
I’m reminded of the current ad campaign Progressive Insurance is running during the NFL season – “young homeowners who have become their parents” … when the group of homeowners in therapy attends a football game and all they want to do is stand around in the parking lot outside the stadium and talk about parking. And the therapist has to remind them:
“Let’s put away the parking talk for a while, shall we?”
This looks great. If it ends up being something like the Eliot or Lenox hotels in Back Bay in Boston it would be awesome.
I’ve been saying for years the Fan/MD need a nice hotel. The downtown hotels are not where a lot of people want to stay.
This is the first of the boutique hotels in this area if hotel is still slated to be built in the Sauer Property complex off of Hermitage.
Let’s hope the developers of Bow Tie area built a hotel also considering the Chamber states that RVA needs more hotel beds in order to attract larger conventions and tourism.
I’m not sure how much I’d count on conventions in the future. Conventions were already shrinking before Covid as technology and cost cutting were doing away with their necessity, at least in the banking industry where I work. While I enjoy the face-to-face interactions from conventions, companies are reevaluating the cost benefit vs online events.