Multiple buildings and a billboard sit on the property. (Mike Platania photo)
In an age when many urban industrial sites are often redeveloped into apartments or other new uses, a Charlottesville firm is bucking that trend with its most recent deal in Richmond.
Last month BMC Holdings purchased an industrial complex at 1320 School St. in the city’s Northside for $3.3 million.
The 1.6-acre parcel sits just south of Virginia Union University’s athletic facilities and faces the North Lombardy-Admiral streets roundabout in a part of town that has been attracting developer interest. A trio of 123-year-old industrial buildings totaling 48,000 square feet sit on the property, with a tenant list that includes a metal fabrication firm, a cabinetmaker, a granite company and VUU’s football offices.
While BMC has been known to do plenty of build-to-suit work for the whole gamut of commercial users, it’s not looking to redevelop the School Street property.
“We just are exceedingly bullish on this type of property. … We feel there’s a growing scarcity of industrial properties, especially within the urban ring,” said BMC Principal Robby Noll. “It’s the not-pretty side of real estate. We’ll stick to what works there.”
Founded in Charlottesville in 2008, BMC is a real estate developer, investor and property manager. Noll said the company owns about 40 properties throughout Central Virginia and the Southeast, including office space at 1518 Willow Lawn Drive in Henrico, which it bought and renovated in 2018.
Robby Noll (Courtesy BMC Holdings)
“When we started, most of our product was student housing near UVA but we’ve branched off quite a bit. Most is now commercial,” Noll said, noting that many projects are in the $2 million to $10 million range.
The School Street parcel, which most recently was assessed by the city at $1.5 million, is just north of a CSX railway and Interstate 64. The location, Noll said, discouraged BMC from entertaining residential uses on the site.
“Let’s be clear, it’s on a railroad track and up against the Interstate, so you’ve got to be realistic about your expectations,” Noll said. “Sometimes if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”
Instead, Noll said, BMC is planning to do some deferred maintenance, evaluate the tenants and bring the rents up closer to market rates.
“We need to spend hundreds of thousands on roof work,” Noll said. “We want to show that we recognize they’re aging buildings and need some love. We want to bring them up to snuff and make the spaces better for the operators.”
The School Street sale was recorded with the city March 28. CBRE’s Matt Hamilton represented the sellers in the deal.
Noll said BMC doesn’t have any other Richmond deals in the pipeline, but that it’s still looking for more, particularly for existing buildings that can be improved.
“We’re finding out more and more that with the cost of construction as compared to rental rates right now, existing inventory is more appealing to us than new construction,” Noll said.
Elsewhere in Northside, Northern Virginia-based Sugar Mill Construction is taking the opposite route of BMC. It’s looking to redevelop a retail and industrial strip along Lombardy Street into a six-story mixed-use building.
Multiple buildings and a billboard sit on the property. (Mike Platania photo)
In an age when many urban industrial sites are often redeveloped into apartments or other new uses, a Charlottesville firm is bucking that trend with its most recent deal in Richmond.
Last month BMC Holdings purchased an industrial complex at 1320 School St. in the city’s Northside for $3.3 million.
The 1.6-acre parcel sits just south of Virginia Union University’s athletic facilities and faces the North Lombardy-Admiral streets roundabout in a part of town that has been attracting developer interest. A trio of 123-year-old industrial buildings totaling 48,000 square feet sit on the property, with a tenant list that includes a metal fabrication firm, a cabinetmaker, a granite company and VUU’s football offices.
While BMC has been known to do plenty of build-to-suit work for the whole gamut of commercial users, it’s not looking to redevelop the School Street property.
“We just are exceedingly bullish on this type of property. … We feel there’s a growing scarcity of industrial properties, especially within the urban ring,” said BMC Principal Robby Noll. “It’s the not-pretty side of real estate. We’ll stick to what works there.”
Founded in Charlottesville in 2008, BMC is a real estate developer, investor and property manager. Noll said the company owns about 40 properties throughout Central Virginia and the Southeast, including office space at 1518 Willow Lawn Drive in Henrico, which it bought and renovated in 2018.
Robby Noll (Courtesy BMC Holdings)
“When we started, most of our product was student housing near UVA but we’ve branched off quite a bit. Most is now commercial,” Noll said, noting that many projects are in the $2 million to $10 million range.
The School Street parcel, which most recently was assessed by the city at $1.5 million, is just north of a CSX railway and Interstate 64. The location, Noll said, discouraged BMC from entertaining residential uses on the site.
“Let’s be clear, it’s on a railroad track and up against the Interstate, so you’ve got to be realistic about your expectations,” Noll said. “Sometimes if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”
Instead, Noll said, BMC is planning to do some deferred maintenance, evaluate the tenants and bring the rents up closer to market rates.
“We need to spend hundreds of thousands on roof work,” Noll said. “We want to show that we recognize they’re aging buildings and need some love. We want to bring them up to snuff and make the spaces better for the operators.”
The School Street sale was recorded with the city March 28. CBRE’s Matt Hamilton represented the sellers in the deal.
Noll said BMC doesn’t have any other Richmond deals in the pipeline, but that it’s still looking for more, particularly for existing buildings that can be improved.
“We’re finding out more and more that with the cost of construction as compared to rental rates right now, existing inventory is more appealing to us than new construction,” Noll said.
Elsewhere in Northside, Northern Virginia-based Sugar Mill Construction is taking the opposite route of BMC. It’s looking to redevelop a retail and industrial strip along Lombardy Street into a six-story mixed-use building.
Good for them. Uses like those in the buildings are good for the city and neighborhood. Add sustainability elements and some curb appeal and they’ll be a great complement to the other efforts in the area.
Very interesting! I read a lot about Charlottesville based investment into Richmond, including the occasional firm deciding to move their HQ to Richmond after opening a satellite there some time prior. I wonder if there is a lot of Richmond money investing in Charlotteville? It’s been a growth area for a long time, of course, but in a kind of stealthy, sleepy way. Lots of people buying homes in places like Waynesboro and Goochland because there is of course also no great supply of affordable housing in Charlottesville. LOTS of room for density there though and I bet there’d be… Read more »