The Circuit Arcade Bar building at 3121 W. Leigh St. has sold for the second time in two years. (BizSense file photo)
Duke Dodson has struck another deal, this time in Scott’s Addition.
His Dodson Development Group recently bought the building at 3121 W. Leigh St. for $3.9 million.
The property is home to The Circuit Arcade Bar and the former office space of menswear company Alton Lane, which Dodson said his firm is moving into.
Circuit co-owner Robert Lupica said the 6-year-old arcade and bar will continue operating in the building.
Last spring Lupica bought a stake in the property from Edmond Dempsey, and the two were the sellers in the deal with Dodson.
The building and its 0.8-acre lot were most recently assessed by the city at $2.5 million. Palmer Wilkins and Clint Greene of Dodson Commercial represented Dodson in the deal.
Lupica, a former Sweet Frog franchisee who owns Circuit and nearby Slingshot Social Game Club with his wife, Ingrid, said he anticipates that Dodson will eventually look to redevelop the property.
“The Circuit is still there for years to come. I’ll see how it all plays out, but at least three more years,” Robert Lupica said. “The Circuit’s my baby, I love it. We’re working on getting new games, but it’s a lease deal to get the new games.”
Duke Dodson, however, did not say whether redevelopment is in the parcel’s future.
“We like this property because it is in the heart of Scott’s Addition, and we believe in Scott’s Addition as a neighborhood long term,” Dodson said in an email.
Since selling off his property management divisions last summer, Dodson has been increasingly active in real estate acquisition and development, particularly on the Southside.
Dodson recently acquired The Locker Room’s building on Forest Hill Avenue and is working on redeveloping the former Bank of America branch down the road into apartments with Daniil Kleyman. Dodson is also collaborating with Tom Papa on a 163-unit apartment building on Maury Street in Manchester.
Dodson is facing a lawsuit from fellow local developer Rick Gregory over his property management firm’s alleged mismanagement of Gregory-owned apartments before Dodson Property Management’s sale. Dodson has denied the allegations.
Lupica’s other venture, Slingshot, got a new landlord in 2021 when North Carolina-based real estate firm Hem + Spire bought its building at 1300 MacTavish Ave. in a nearly $11 million deal. Hem + Spire also is embroiled in a lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court, being sued by the firm that bought the neighboring former Party Perfect property over a parking lot between the two properties.
The Circuit Arcade Bar building at 3121 W. Leigh St. has sold for the second time in two years. (BizSense file photo)
Duke Dodson has struck another deal, this time in Scott’s Addition.
His Dodson Development Group recently bought the building at 3121 W. Leigh St. for $3.9 million.
The property is home to The Circuit Arcade Bar and the former office space of menswear company Alton Lane, which Dodson said his firm is moving into.
Circuit co-owner Robert Lupica said the 6-year-old arcade and bar will continue operating in the building.
Last spring Lupica bought a stake in the property from Edmond Dempsey, and the two were the sellers in the deal with Dodson.
The building and its 0.8-acre lot were most recently assessed by the city at $2.5 million. Palmer Wilkins and Clint Greene of Dodson Commercial represented Dodson in the deal.
Lupica, a former Sweet Frog franchisee who owns Circuit and nearby Slingshot Social Game Club with his wife, Ingrid, said he anticipates that Dodson will eventually look to redevelop the property.
“The Circuit is still there for years to come. I’ll see how it all plays out, but at least three more years,” Robert Lupica said. “The Circuit’s my baby, I love it. We’re working on getting new games, but it’s a lease deal to get the new games.”
Duke Dodson, however, did not say whether redevelopment is in the parcel’s future.
“We like this property because it is in the heart of Scott’s Addition, and we believe in Scott’s Addition as a neighborhood long term,” Dodson said in an email.
Since selling off his property management divisions last summer, Dodson has been increasingly active in real estate acquisition and development, particularly on the Southside.
Dodson recently acquired The Locker Room’s building on Forest Hill Avenue and is working on redeveloping the former Bank of America branch down the road into apartments with Daniil Kleyman. Dodson is also collaborating with Tom Papa on a 163-unit apartment building on Maury Street in Manchester.
Dodson is facing a lawsuit from fellow local developer Rick Gregory over his property management firm’s alleged mismanagement of Gregory-owned apartments before Dodson Property Management’s sale. Dodson has denied the allegations.
Lupica’s other venture, Slingshot, got a new landlord in 2021 when North Carolina-based real estate firm Hem + Spire bought its building at 1300 MacTavish Ave. in a nearly $11 million deal. Hem + Spire also is embroiled in a lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court, being sued by the firm that bought the neighboring former Party Perfect property over a parking lot between the two properties.
Robert Lupica said. “The Circuit’s my baby, I love it.” The cognitive dissonance is too real here, the Circuit has become so run down with barely anything working. Hopefully the new landlords force Lupica to actually fix it back up.
Didn’t his staff at one of his venues all quit enmass, or am i thinking of some one else?
I would bet the exact opposite happens: this purchase and imminent (read, sometime in the foreseeable future) forced move by Circuit means that Lupica will not pour any capital into improving the Circuit and will instead simply run out the lease.