A rendering of the four- and five-story building that would house the age-restricted apartments. (Images courtesy Larry Shaia)
After a couple swings and misses, Larry Shaia is hoping his third time at bat scores Hanover County its first 55-and-up rental community.
The developer with a track record of apartment projects in Hanover is seeking approval from county supervisors for a 97-unit age-restricted development beside his Cambridge Square Apartments at 7147 Mechanicsville Turnpike.
Called Summerlyn, the project has been reduced in size from an initial proposal that called for 144 units and was rejected by supervisors earlier this year. Shaia said this is the third time he’s sought zoning for the project and hopes to secure approval following a unanimous endorsement from the Planning Commission last month.
Larry Shaia (BizSense file photo)
“It’s the first of its kind in Hanover County, which is pretty stunning,” Shaia said of the project. “They have stuff like this in Henrico and in Chesterfield, but they have nothing like this in Hanover.”
Initially proposed as a second phase of Cambridge Square, Summerlyn would connect to that 207-unit complex but would otherwise be a standalone community, Shaia said, with its 97 units restricted to renters aged 55 or older.
“It’s for people who want to stay in Hanover but have more of a lifestyle outside of their home,” he said, noting the property’s proximity to the nearby Brandy Hill Plaza shopping center and planned amenities for the project including a clubhouse, courtyard, pickleball courts and a dog park.
Of concern to Shaia is a recent update to the county’s comprehensive plan that changes the methodology for how allowable density is calculated for multifamily developments. Where density recommendations were previously based on unit counts based on gross acreage, the new plan adopted in late September recommends density based on net acreage.
While the plan was adopted well after he applied for a needed rezoning last year, Shaia said he has heard differing opinions on whether the old or new rules should be applied in his case.
At the Planning Commission meeting in October, county planning staff sought guidance on which methodology to apply. The commission’s answer came in a 7-0 vote that was led by Mechanicsville District representative Randy Whittaker.
“We keep talking about the 2023 Comprehensive Plan. This application was put in months ago,” Whittaker said. “This 2023 Comprehensive Plan has only been approved for three weeks. These people didn’t have all that months ago, so I don’t think it should have to meet the 2023 plan.”
A site plan shows the building with amenities and access off Mechanicsville Turnpike, and a preservation area at the rear of the property.
Shaia said the commission’s decision was encouraging but noted that the deciding vote comes from the board, which is scheduled to take up the project at its Nov. 8 meeting.
“We did get a 7-0 approval from the Planning Commission, but the Board of Supervisors is obviously the ones that make the final decision,” he said.
Noting the net acreage methodology would reduce the project’s allowable density to 81 units, Shaia added, “The difference is substantial. Where at one time we thought we could get 144 units, now we can get 97 units. This would reduce it even further and just make it an unfeasible project.”
Shaia put the project cost at upwards of $27 million. He is developing it with Jesse Lennon, a local real estate investor who Shaia met decades ago when they were students at VCU. He said Lennon identified the 6.5-acre site and suggested it for senior apartments in 2011, when Shaia was starting planning for Cambridge Square.
“We started working on it literally when Covid hit. Everything shut down, we waited and then started back again after Covid was over, and here we are today,” Shaia said.
Shaia and Lennon are proposing the project through an entity called 7147 Mechanicsville Turnpike LLC. Lennon purchased the site through a different LLC in 2004 for $250,000, county property records show. The undeveloped land is currently assessed by the county at $667,900.
The horseshoe-shaped building would enclose a courtyard with amenities.
Consisting of a single horseshoe-shaped building enclosing a courtyard, Summerlyn would include 46 one-bedroom apartments, 39 two-bedrooms and 12 three-bedrooms, with units ranging in size from 750 to 1,300 square feet. The four- and five-story building would also include two overnight or short-term units for residents’ guests.
Shaia said rents are not set but would be at least those of Cambridge Square, which range from about $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom to $2,200 for a three-bedroom. He said Cambridge Square has performed well since it opened in 2020 and is currently about 95 percent occupied.
Primary access to Summerlyn would come from Mechanicsville Turnpike, where a right-turn lane would be added for entry. Shaia and Lennon are including a cash proffer for road improvements totaling $209,000, based on the $2,155 per unit required by the county.
Parking would surround the building and total 151 spaces. Sidewalks and pedestrian connections would run through the site, and a wetlands area south of the building would be preserved.
While the site is undeveloped, county planners consider Summerlyn an infill project due to development around it, including a tire store to the east, a church to the west and the Spring Meadows subdivision to the south.
The development is projected at $27 million.
Shaia said he initially proposed Summerlyn as an expansion of Cambridge Square because the combined acreage would have allowed greater density, using the gross acreage calculation.
“We originally said it was the sister property of Cambridge Square, and I’m not sure they liked that idea, so we got denied,” he said. “This property stands on its own and is 97 units instead of 144, so we reduced it a substantial amount. We’re hoping it gets through this time.”
Local attorney Andy Condlin with Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin is representing Shaia and Lennon in their rezoning request.
Cox, Kliewer & Co. Architecture, based in Virginia Beach, is designing the apartments. Bay Design Group, out of Mechanicsville, is the engineer, and locally based Timmons Group handled a traffic analysis, which projected that Summerlyn would generate 321 daily trips.
Shaia’s TSB Management Group, which provides property management for Cambridge Square, would also manage Summerlyn. He said his track record with Cambridge and other apartments in Hanover, including Charleston Ridge in Atlee and Charter Creek in Ashland, gives the county an idea of what would come with Summerlyn.
“I’m one of the owners of Cambridge, I’m one of the owners of Summerlyn, my management team is going to manage both properties, so that’s a plus,” he said. “Hanover County knows what I develop, because they’ve seen what I’ve developed in the past. I hope it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Meanwhile, Shaia’s also pursuing zoning for an expansion of Charleston Ridge, which he said would add 162 apartments in three buildings to the currently 137-unit complex. He said the expansion would add amenities including a courtyard and a second pool. Winks Snowa Architects is designing that project.
Shaia also is heading up development of Caldwell Park, a long-stalled project along Chamberlayne Road south of New Ashcake Road that’s set to add hundreds of homes and a mix of office and retail uses. He said infrastructure improvements are underway at the site, while work on a site plan for the project’s apartments continues following delays during Covid.
He said he’s hoping to secure financing for the apartments next summer and break ground in the next 12 to 18 months.
A rendering of the four- and five-story building that would house the age-restricted apartments. (Images courtesy Larry Shaia)
After a couple swings and misses, Larry Shaia is hoping his third time at bat scores Hanover County its first 55-and-up rental community.
The developer with a track record of apartment projects in Hanover is seeking approval from county supervisors for a 97-unit age-restricted development beside his Cambridge Square Apartments at 7147 Mechanicsville Turnpike.
Called Summerlyn, the project has been reduced in size from an initial proposal that called for 144 units and was rejected by supervisors earlier this year. Shaia said this is the third time he’s sought zoning for the project and hopes to secure approval following a unanimous endorsement from the Planning Commission last month.
Larry Shaia (BizSense file photo)
“It’s the first of its kind in Hanover County, which is pretty stunning,” Shaia said of the project. “They have stuff like this in Henrico and in Chesterfield, but they have nothing like this in Hanover.”
Initially proposed as a second phase of Cambridge Square, Summerlyn would connect to that 207-unit complex but would otherwise be a standalone community, Shaia said, with its 97 units restricted to renters aged 55 or older.
“It’s for people who want to stay in Hanover but have more of a lifestyle outside of their home,” he said, noting the property’s proximity to the nearby Brandy Hill Plaza shopping center and planned amenities for the project including a clubhouse, courtyard, pickleball courts and a dog park.
Of concern to Shaia is a recent update to the county’s comprehensive plan that changes the methodology for how allowable density is calculated for multifamily developments. Where density recommendations were previously based on unit counts based on gross acreage, the new plan adopted in late September recommends density based on net acreage.
While the plan was adopted well after he applied for a needed rezoning last year, Shaia said he has heard differing opinions on whether the old or new rules should be applied in his case.
At the Planning Commission meeting in October, county planning staff sought guidance on which methodology to apply. The commission’s answer came in a 7-0 vote that was led by Mechanicsville District representative Randy Whittaker.
“We keep talking about the 2023 Comprehensive Plan. This application was put in months ago,” Whittaker said. “This 2023 Comprehensive Plan has only been approved for three weeks. These people didn’t have all that months ago, so I don’t think it should have to meet the 2023 plan.”
A site plan shows the building with amenities and access off Mechanicsville Turnpike, and a preservation area at the rear of the property.
Shaia said the commission’s decision was encouraging but noted that the deciding vote comes from the board, which is scheduled to take up the project at its Nov. 8 meeting.
“We did get a 7-0 approval from the Planning Commission, but the Board of Supervisors is obviously the ones that make the final decision,” he said.
Noting the net acreage methodology would reduce the project’s allowable density to 81 units, Shaia added, “The difference is substantial. Where at one time we thought we could get 144 units, now we can get 97 units. This would reduce it even further and just make it an unfeasible project.”
Shaia put the project cost at upwards of $27 million. He is developing it with Jesse Lennon, a local real estate investor who Shaia met decades ago when they were students at VCU. He said Lennon identified the 6.5-acre site and suggested it for senior apartments in 2011, when Shaia was starting planning for Cambridge Square.
“We started working on it literally when Covid hit. Everything shut down, we waited and then started back again after Covid was over, and here we are today,” Shaia said.
Shaia and Lennon are proposing the project through an entity called 7147 Mechanicsville Turnpike LLC. Lennon purchased the site through a different LLC in 2004 for $250,000, county property records show. The undeveloped land is currently assessed by the county at $667,900.
The horseshoe-shaped building would enclose a courtyard with amenities.
Consisting of a single horseshoe-shaped building enclosing a courtyard, Summerlyn would include 46 one-bedroom apartments, 39 two-bedrooms and 12 three-bedrooms, with units ranging in size from 750 to 1,300 square feet. The four- and five-story building would also include two overnight or short-term units for residents’ guests.
Shaia said rents are not set but would be at least those of Cambridge Square, which range from about $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom to $2,200 for a three-bedroom. He said Cambridge Square has performed well since it opened in 2020 and is currently about 95 percent occupied.
Primary access to Summerlyn would come from Mechanicsville Turnpike, where a right-turn lane would be added for entry. Shaia and Lennon are including a cash proffer for road improvements totaling $209,000, based on the $2,155 per unit required by the county.
Parking would surround the building and total 151 spaces. Sidewalks and pedestrian connections would run through the site, and a wetlands area south of the building would be preserved.
While the site is undeveloped, county planners consider Summerlyn an infill project due to development around it, including a tire store to the east, a church to the west and the Spring Meadows subdivision to the south.
The development is projected at $27 million.
Shaia said he initially proposed Summerlyn as an expansion of Cambridge Square because the combined acreage would have allowed greater density, using the gross acreage calculation.
“We originally said it was the sister property of Cambridge Square, and I’m not sure they liked that idea, so we got denied,” he said. “This property stands on its own and is 97 units instead of 144, so we reduced it a substantial amount. We’re hoping it gets through this time.”
Local attorney Andy Condlin with Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin is representing Shaia and Lennon in their rezoning request.
Cox, Kliewer & Co. Architecture, based in Virginia Beach, is designing the apartments. Bay Design Group, out of Mechanicsville, is the engineer, and locally based Timmons Group handled a traffic analysis, which projected that Summerlyn would generate 321 daily trips.
Shaia’s TSB Management Group, which provides property management for Cambridge Square, would also manage Summerlyn. He said his track record with Cambridge and other apartments in Hanover, including Charleston Ridge in Atlee and Charter Creek in Ashland, gives the county an idea of what would come with Summerlyn.
“I’m one of the owners of Cambridge, I’m one of the owners of Summerlyn, my management team is going to manage both properties, so that’s a plus,” he said. “Hanover County knows what I develop, because they’ve seen what I’ve developed in the past. I hope it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Meanwhile, Shaia’s also pursuing zoning for an expansion of Charleston Ridge, which he said would add 162 apartments in three buildings to the currently 137-unit complex. He said the expansion would add amenities including a courtyard and a second pool. Winks Snowa Architects is designing that project.
Shaia also is heading up development of Caldwell Park, a long-stalled project along Chamberlayne Road south of New Ashcake Road that’s set to add hundreds of homes and a mix of office and retail uses. He said infrastructure improvements are underway at the site, while work on a site plan for the project’s apartments continues following delays during Covid.
He said he’s hoping to secure financing for the apartments next summer and break ground in the next 12 to 18 months.
Larry provides a very attractive and well managed community in each of his developments. He gives it a personal touch. This one is very attractive, but he’s correct about the unit count. Any fewer units will be infeasible.Personally, I think it’s way over-parked; fewer than half those spaces will be occupied at any one time. Though the lower age barrier might be 55, the average will be in the mid to high 70’s with many much older. There will be very little road impacts. Its a tax cash cow for Hanover.
If they would start densifying more large shopping centers around the Richmond metro, that would greatly help walkability too if they build it up right with the right infrastructure for walking and biking.
It’s Hanover County. There, it’s still a world of parking minimums and cars first.
As someone from Chesterfield, I am absolutely amazed that the Hanover Board of Supervisors actually have the power to deny zoning requests for multi-family units.