A rendering shows the Manchester apartments as they would appear at Hull Street and Commerce Road. (File images courtesy of The Lawson Cos.)
An apartment building planned on a prominent intersection in Manchester appears to be a go after a recent land purchase.
Norfolk-based The Lawson Cos., which is developing a five-story building at the southeast corner of Hull Street and Commerce Road, closed Sept. 1 on the nearly 1-acre property.
Records show it paid $2.4 million for the four parcels that make up the site: 812 Hull St., 6 E. Ninth St., and 811 and 812 Decatur St. The project does not involve a city-owned parking lot that fills the rest of the city block.
An aerial of the site at Hull Street and Commerce Road. (File image courtesy Porter Realty)
The purchase amount appears to be as much as the project’s estimated cost, according to permits filed with the city that put the total construction value at over $2.3 million and site demolition at $30,000. The project is being funded in part using low-income housing tax credits.
The seller in the deal was The J.M. Fry Co., a locally based manufacturer of printing inks that had owned the vacant property since 1969. The city assessed the parcels this year at $1.3 million combined.
Called The View at Belle Isle Apartments, the L-shaped building fronting Commerce and Hull will consist of 116 units on four levels above a partially underground parking garage. The garage will be accessed off Commerce and total 118 spaces, and the apartments would consist of eight studios, 81 one-bedroom units and 27 two-bedrooms ranging in size from 390 to about 950 square feet.
A northward view of the Manchester apartment building from across Ninth Street. The existing parking lot also is shown.
The apartments will be income-based and reserved for renters earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income. Lawson spokesman Dan Hankin said the latest AMI figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development puts that at $44,820 for a one-person household and $63,960 for a family of four.
When plans for the project were filed in 2021, Hankin said rents were anticipated to range from $830 to $1,065 a month, depending on unit type and resident income. He noted those numbers were based on the AMI figures at the time.
Planned amenities include a top-floor clubroom, fitness center, bike storage and a bus stop on-site.
Hankin said Lawson plans to break ground on the building next spring and anticipates the apartments will be ready to lease in spring 2026.
Lawson is working on the project with TS3 Architects and engineering firms Timmons Group, Dunlap & Partners and Speight, Marshall & Francis. Porter Realty’s Richard Porter and Clifford Porter brokered the land sale.
Lawson’s other projects in Richmond include the 200-unit Foundry Apartments along the interstate near Virginia Union University, and the 96-unit Alexander at 1090 Apartments at 1090 German School Road.
It also has been planning a 144-unit complex at 700 W. 44th St., south of Forest Hill. Lawson has been under contract to buy the 6.5-acre property and filed a zoning confirmation letter with the city in March. It has not filed a building permit or purchased the site.
A rendering shows the Manchester apartments as they would appear at Hull Street and Commerce Road. (File images courtesy of The Lawson Cos.)
An apartment building planned on a prominent intersection in Manchester appears to be a go after a recent land purchase.
Norfolk-based The Lawson Cos., which is developing a five-story building at the southeast corner of Hull Street and Commerce Road, closed Sept. 1 on the nearly 1-acre property.
Records show it paid $2.4 million for the four parcels that make up the site: 812 Hull St., 6 E. Ninth St., and 811 and 812 Decatur St. The project does not involve a city-owned parking lot that fills the rest of the city block.
An aerial of the site at Hull Street and Commerce Road. (File image courtesy Porter Realty)
The purchase amount appears to be as much as the project’s estimated cost, according to permits filed with the city that put the total construction value at over $2.3 million and site demolition at $30,000. The project is being funded in part using low-income housing tax credits.
The seller in the deal was The J.M. Fry Co., a locally based manufacturer of printing inks that had owned the vacant property since 1969. The city assessed the parcels this year at $1.3 million combined.
Called The View at Belle Isle Apartments, the L-shaped building fronting Commerce and Hull will consist of 116 units on four levels above a partially underground parking garage. The garage will be accessed off Commerce and total 118 spaces, and the apartments would consist of eight studios, 81 one-bedroom units and 27 two-bedrooms ranging in size from 390 to about 950 square feet.
A northward view of the Manchester apartment building from across Ninth Street. The existing parking lot also is shown.
The apartments will be income-based and reserved for renters earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income. Lawson spokesman Dan Hankin said the latest AMI figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development puts that at $44,820 for a one-person household and $63,960 for a family of four.
When plans for the project were filed in 2021, Hankin said rents were anticipated to range from $830 to $1,065 a month, depending on unit type and resident income. He noted those numbers were based on the AMI figures at the time.
Planned amenities include a top-floor clubroom, fitness center, bike storage and a bus stop on-site.
Hankin said Lawson plans to break ground on the building next spring and anticipates the apartments will be ready to lease in spring 2026.
Lawson is working on the project with TS3 Architects and engineering firms Timmons Group, Dunlap & Partners and Speight, Marshall & Francis. Porter Realty’s Richard Porter and Clifford Porter brokered the land sale.
Lawson’s other projects in Richmond include the 200-unit Foundry Apartments along the interstate near Virginia Union University, and the 96-unit Alexander at 1090 Apartments at 1090 German School Road.
It also has been planning a 144-unit complex at 700 W. 44th St., south of Forest Hill. Lawson has been under contract to buy the 6.5-acre property and filed a zoning confirmation letter with the city in March. It has not filed a building permit or purchased the site.
The projected construction costs have to be closer to $23M, not $2.3M. They have to use the same materials as everyone else!
I suspect that’s the cost of the garage parking.
Oh my… way to activate that corner with a massive block of brick. The street frontage on commercially active Hull and Commerce is filled with opportunity, (for tagging) and an harsh evening stroll in front of a brick wall. Window shopping is overrated. So much for any form of connection across commerce between the developing commercial corridor of Hull. This reminds me of Cary st west of 12… a wall of precast parking structure. This is a case study on how to kill commercial growth and activity as well pedestrian activity.
This structure may be more likely to de-activate than activate pedestrians, but commerce street is not exactly the Champs Elysees. Had the city supported the ‘Bridge Park’ instead of Navy Hill and the Casino, Commerce street could have already been pedestrian friendly.
They would be better served putting the Bridge Park idea into improving the pedestrian activity along 14th / Mayo bridge, now that that is slated for improvement. I’m all for slimming roads, and that one sure needs it, but the Bridge Park while it looked architecturally intriguing, it was ultimately was a bridge to nowhere once the T-pot was built. The parking garage hub at the end of the Manchester bridge didn’t serve that proposal well, and the fanciful floating spaghetti bridges connecting it to Browns island were dubious at best. Commerce is not pedestrian commercial, but it’s corner with… Read more »
I wonder what the increase in pedestrian deaths will be since these people are forced to walk on a small sidewalk with no shade or protection next to a stupidly huge intersection with cars going 40-70 mph. Or maybe a car will even crash into this building. The lack of planning is horrendous, and this is just another example how the city still prioritizes vehicles over everyone else, no matter what they promise or say.
Have they applied for tax credits for this one???? Their 77 W 44 Street project was just approved for LIHTC this past July by VA Housing. The application was solid in 2022 but the agency ran out of funds so they missed the cut. They scored the highest in the Richmond MSA tax credit pool and so now they have their credit so hopefully we will hear this moving forward soon.
Gonna slap that bldg up right next to the old Manchester Courthouse.Whata joke.
Didn’t know 9th Street was that wide.
Four lanes… that’s different proposal. Jonathan really needs to step up his game and keep us informed of these road widening proposals.
I mean, gorgeous, right?! Who knew we could make prisons look this fashionable!
A missed opportunity for ground level retail to provide services and employment. A small grocery store would do gangbuster business in that neighborhood.
This development has adequate parking, it’s going on underutilized land, and it has low income housing incorporated into it—these are things people here clamor for constantly. The rendering may not be pretty and it may not have ground floor retail, but so what? Renderings can be deceiving and Manchester needs more bedrooms before true retail arrives. This helps and it will work out for those who may not be able to afford to live in the area.
I share the same thoughts. It’s hard to complain about the lack of commercial mixed-use at this location when it’s 100% affordable housing on a currently vacant lot on a critical artery with great access to transit not to mention underground parking as well.
Have any of the people clamoring for new retail space been to a mall lately? There is already way too much retail space.
interesting take, and even though I look with a skeptical eye on all the clamoring too — I don’t think the connection is quite made. First off, not all malls are the same — even Chesterfield Towne Center and Southpark are coming back to life to a degree, but Short Pump is firing on all cyls. These people in manchester are just wanting a BIT MORE retail space, if they are sane, and mostly for necessitities so they can do-it-urban, you know with a basket on their bicycle. They don’t seem to understand that a grocer will come when the… Read more »
Just eat what’s on your plate and be happy you’re not starving to death. You’re lucky to even be getting this building. Our first idea was a tent city but we decided to do one better and provide walls. You’re welcome. There’s plenty of room for retail in – laughing – “malls” – fits of laughter.
No, I’m saying not every development needs to be perfect. I don’t love this project, but it incorporates a lot of what people often request.
Indeed, but you’ll note that this personality type is never happy with the gift horse, and always demands better, while providing nothing themselves.
Well, I was taught that when you are given something, it is a mark of being civilized to be thankful for it. It helps oneself and society — but one can choose to be entitled and never satisfied if one wishes. It’s a free country.
These people are ALWAYS unrealistic and like to complain. If they want to live in a first tier city with great pedestrian ways, pretty buildings and little shops everywhere, they should move to one — like Mackinac Island or something. Sure, I’d like things to become fantastic in marginal areas that were once just slums, but I have some sense of, I don’t know…. proportion? Places that are on the grow don’t become amazing until they get VERY expensive — sometimes that happens quickly, like in a boomtown — people can afford expensive. Here, we are talking about housing for… Read more »
Aha! Your true colors shining through… “if you want to live somewhere nice, move out of Richmond…” lolololol! Perfection!
Look, I moved to Richmond because I could AFFORD IT — I had relatives in Seattle and the SF bay area, but I couldn’t afford that, or at least have much hope of being able to buy a home there. And, guess what? prices rose a bit and I still couldn’t afford a place in Richmond so I moved to Petersburg where I could before anyone wanted to move there. I left my home state of NY, and chose a place I had a good chance of being able to afford: Richmond. Now, RIchmond is getting more expensive, just like… Read more »
In addition, I remember back circa 2004 when people were complaining that homes weren’t affordable to Nurses and Cops, etc — my response that this was BS — certain middle class people merely couldn’t afford to buy WHERE THEY WANTED TO — as ALWAYS — most people can’t even live exactly where they want to in COMMUNIST countries (unless they are evil enough to be politically high up the killing chain) — I would say, and these days the leftists would scream the racist term “gentification” because they WANT segregation — “there are PLENTY of places you can afford to… Read more »