A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday to kick off construction of the modern-design townhomes planned at 2705 Fifth Ave. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
A Northside enclave known for its mix of century-old bungalows, foursquares and Queen Anne-style homes is about to get a modern addition to the neighborhood.
A groundbreaking ceremony on Friday marked the start of construction for Chestnut Flats, a courtyard-centered development of 12 modern-design townhomes at 2705 Fifth Ave., in the Highland Park Southern Tip neighborhood also known as the Chestnut Hill/Plateau Historic District.
Harsh Thakker
Behind the project is Richmond-based Dorado Capital, led by developers Harsh Thakker and Birju Bhagat and a third partner, Vikram Dhruva, who is based in Houston, Texas.
The 26-year-old Thakker, a Georgetown University alum, has primarily developed in the Washington, D.C. area but resides and grew up in metro Richmond, where Dorado has been making more moves of late. The company also is developing two subdivisions totaling nearly 100 homes east of Highland Springs in Henrico County.
Announced two years ago, Chestnut Flats will consist of two rows of six townhomes bookending a central lawn with amenities. The three-bedroom, 2½-bath homes will start at 1,700 square feet in size and are priced from the low $400,000s.
A rendering of the townhomes. (Images courtesy One South)
Pre-sales got underway in the spring. Andrea Levine and Michelle Rosman with One South Realty Group are listing the homes.
At Friday’s ceremony, Thakker said his group was introduced to Levine and Rosman by One South Commercial colleagues Tom Rosman and Justin Sledd, who had the property listing when an entity tied to Dorado purchased the 1.2-acre site for $300,000 in late 2020.
A 17,000-square-foot structure built in 1953 that formerly housed the 59-bed Crawley’s Nursing Home was razed to make way for the townhomes, which are designed by Walter Parks Architects’ Nate Goodenow and Chris Neveu. Thakker said the designers pitched the idea of what’s described on the project’s website as a “contemporary take on a classic Scandinavian chalet.”
“Nate brought us this concept plan from a project in Portland, Oregon, that was similar to this and had a shared courtyard,” Thakker said. “It just looked beautiful, and the residents who live there talked about how it created a sense of place and community for them. That all seemed like something that would not only be sellable but provide something new to the community that would be different.”
The two rows of townhomes would bookend a central green.
While some of the two-story units will have contemporary layouts, others will have what Thakker described as a “reverse layout,” with living spaces on the top floor and bedrooms below.
“Not something that we initially were comfortable with,” Thakker said, “but Michelle and Andrea bought in completely. They showed us that the layout still works, it’s still livable, there’s all these other benefits. And in the end, doing something new tends to attract attention and tends to improve salability rather than detract.”
Each unit will have a balcony, a ground-floor alcove connecting to the lawn, and dedicated parking. The exteriors will include metal, brick and cedar-style fiber cement siding.
Thakker said his group was interested all along in doing a modern-design development at this site, which is on the eastern edge of the former streetcar suburb that features homes built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bhagat, his local partner, is CEO of Richmond-based PG Hospitality and said he has had a hand in several hotel and retail projects in the area.
“As a young developer who grew up in Richmond but then went to D.C. for college and started developing in D.C., I noticed that boundary-pushing and architecture there was a lot more and it was rewarded by younger homebuyers,” Thakker said. “We wanted to do something like that here.”
Taking part in the ceremony were, from left: Chris Neveu, and Nate Goodenow with Walter Parks Architects; Kevin Jones with Spiral Horn; Thakker; Andrea Levine and Michelle Rosman; and Birju Bhagat.
Initially projected for completion last year, Thakker said the project was delayed due to issues that arose with the development plan during the city’s review process. He credited Baker Development Resources, which represented the group in its submissions to the city, for helping to resolve the issues.
The project is to be built in two phases, with the first phase of six townhomes and the courtyard aimed for completion a year from now. Thakker said the rest of the townhomes would start halfway through that phase and be finished in mid-2025. He put the overall project cost at about $4.5 million.
Spiral Horn General Contractors, out of Mechanicsville, is building the complex, and Richmond-based Fall Line is the landscape architect. Petersburg-based The Site Design Co. is handling civil engineering and development consulting, and Balzer & Associates, out of Midlothian, is the structural engineer.
The property is a couple blocks from another multifamily development planned in the area. Local couple J. Daniel and McKenzie Payne submitted plans last year for a three-story, 52-unit apartment building at 2906 Fifth Ave., a 1-acre lot near Six Points.
Also nearby, a 66-unit apartment project from Enterprise Community Development is going vertical in the 1200 block of East Brookland Park Boulevard.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday to kick off construction of the modern-design townhomes planned at 2705 Fifth Ave. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
A Northside enclave known for its mix of century-old bungalows, foursquares and Queen Anne-style homes is about to get a modern addition to the neighborhood.
A groundbreaking ceremony on Friday marked the start of construction for Chestnut Flats, a courtyard-centered development of 12 modern-design townhomes at 2705 Fifth Ave., in the Highland Park Southern Tip neighborhood also known as the Chestnut Hill/Plateau Historic District.
Harsh Thakker
Behind the project is Richmond-based Dorado Capital, led by developers Harsh Thakker and Birju Bhagat and a third partner, Vikram Dhruva, who is based in Houston, Texas.
The 26-year-old Thakker, a Georgetown University alum, has primarily developed in the Washington, D.C. area but resides and grew up in metro Richmond, where Dorado has been making more moves of late. The company also is developing two subdivisions totaling nearly 100 homes east of Highland Springs in Henrico County.
Announced two years ago, Chestnut Flats will consist of two rows of six townhomes bookending a central lawn with amenities. The three-bedroom, 2½-bath homes will start at 1,700 square feet in size and are priced from the low $400,000s.
A rendering of the townhomes. (Images courtesy One South)
Pre-sales got underway in the spring. Andrea Levine and Michelle Rosman with One South Realty Group are listing the homes.
At Friday’s ceremony, Thakker said his group was introduced to Levine and Rosman by One South Commercial colleagues Tom Rosman and Justin Sledd, who had the property listing when an entity tied to Dorado purchased the 1.2-acre site for $300,000 in late 2020.
A 17,000-square-foot structure built in 1953 that formerly housed the 59-bed Crawley’s Nursing Home was razed to make way for the townhomes, which are designed by Walter Parks Architects’ Nate Goodenow and Chris Neveu. Thakker said the designers pitched the idea of what’s described on the project’s website as a “contemporary take on a classic Scandinavian chalet.”
“Nate brought us this concept plan from a project in Portland, Oregon, that was similar to this and had a shared courtyard,” Thakker said. “It just looked beautiful, and the residents who live there talked about how it created a sense of place and community for them. That all seemed like something that would not only be sellable but provide something new to the community that would be different.”
The two rows of townhomes would bookend a central green.
While some of the two-story units will have contemporary layouts, others will have what Thakker described as a “reverse layout,” with living spaces on the top floor and bedrooms below.
“Not something that we initially were comfortable with,” Thakker said, “but Michelle and Andrea bought in completely. They showed us that the layout still works, it’s still livable, there’s all these other benefits. And in the end, doing something new tends to attract attention and tends to improve salability rather than detract.”
Each unit will have a balcony, a ground-floor alcove connecting to the lawn, and dedicated parking. The exteriors will include metal, brick and cedar-style fiber cement siding.
Thakker said his group was interested all along in doing a modern-design development at this site, which is on the eastern edge of the former streetcar suburb that features homes built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bhagat, his local partner, is CEO of Richmond-based PG Hospitality and said he has had a hand in several hotel and retail projects in the area.
“As a young developer who grew up in Richmond but then went to D.C. for college and started developing in D.C., I noticed that boundary-pushing and architecture there was a lot more and it was rewarded by younger homebuyers,” Thakker said. “We wanted to do something like that here.”
Taking part in the ceremony were, from left: Chris Neveu, and Nate Goodenow with Walter Parks Architects; Kevin Jones with Spiral Horn; Thakker; Andrea Levine and Michelle Rosman; and Birju Bhagat.
Initially projected for completion last year, Thakker said the project was delayed due to issues that arose with the development plan during the city’s review process. He credited Baker Development Resources, which represented the group in its submissions to the city, for helping to resolve the issues.
The project is to be built in two phases, with the first phase of six townhomes and the courtyard aimed for completion a year from now. Thakker said the rest of the townhomes would start halfway through that phase and be finished in mid-2025. He put the overall project cost at about $4.5 million.
Spiral Horn General Contractors, out of Mechanicsville, is building the complex, and Richmond-based Fall Line is the landscape architect. Petersburg-based The Site Design Co. is handling civil engineering and development consulting, and Balzer & Associates, out of Midlothian, is the structural engineer.
The property is a couple blocks from another multifamily development planned in the area. Local couple J. Daniel and McKenzie Payne submitted plans last year for a three-story, 52-unit apartment building at 2906 Fifth Ave., a 1-acre lot near Six Points.
Also nearby, a 66-unit apartment project from Enterprise Community Development is going vertical in the 1200 block of East Brookland Park Boulevard.
We sure could use a small development like thus in Newport News. We have so many empty lots on Warwick Blvd and Jefferson Ave
Nice to see developers showing interest and curiosity towards good and innovating design – and then acting on it. More of this, please.
Those look interesting, but personally I’d prefer my bedroom upstairs.