The building at Franklin and Foushee streets has housed the downtown YMCA since 1942. (BizSense file photos)
With two more property transfers that closed in recent weeks, the pieces are now in place for the planned redevelopment of the downtown YMCA complex to get underway.
The YMCA of Greater Richmond last week sold its Franklin Street building to the development group it’s working with to add market-rate apartments to the building’s top floors and in new-construction buildings planned to fill adjacent parking lots.
George Emerson
One of those lots, at the corner of Adams and Grace streets, also sold in recent weeks to an LLC tied to developer George Emerson, who’s heading up the project with frequent collaborator Phil Roper and fellow developers Tom Papa and Dennis Lynch.
Emerson said the purchases will allow construction to start on the apartments in the building, where renovations to the downtown Y branch have gotten underway to provide members access during the project. The branch will remain partially open throughout the construction, which Emerson said is getting started and is scheduled to last about 18 months.
“We’re hoping to have it wrapped up in a year and a half,” Emerson said of the building renovation.
The group paid $3 million for the 0.8-acre building property, which consists of two parcels at 8 and 16 W. Franklin St., in a deal that closed Dec. 5.
A week earlier, on Nov. 28, they closed on the Adams-and-Grace lot at 13-17 W. Grace St. for $1.5 million.
The parking lot at Grace and Adams, where a six-story building has been planned.
Last year, the group bought two other parking lots that round out the overall project site: a half-acre lot at the corner of Foushee Street and Grace, which it purchased for $2.4 million; and a similar-sized lot across Franklin from the Y building that sold for $2 million.
The latter lot was then transferred, through an assignment clause in the contract, to an LLC tied to Riverstone Properties, the Bill Goodwin-owned firm that owns the Second Baptist Church building and the rest of that city block.
With the recent purchases, the group has paid a total of $8.84 million for the YMCA properties, which were assessed by the city at the times of the transactions at over $14 million combined. Emerson said the YMCA’s lease in the building and the expected cost of the overall development factored into the purchase price.
“If you look at the assessed value of all of them, we paid a lot of money for that site,” Emerson said. “Y got a good deal, and I think we got a good deal. You had to look at what the cost is to renovate the YMCA and try to keep their rent low. All of that played into it.”
Emerson put the cost of the building renovation and apartments at $17 million. He said cost estimates for the new-construction buildings would depend on the final designs, which he said were still being determined.
“We haven’t really finalized what we’re going to do in the parking lots yet. We’ve got a couple of different variations we’re looking at, but we’re hoping we’ll finalize something in the spring and maybe get going the following year,” he said.
The group had been planning to start the project with the new building at Grace and Adams, though Emerson said the Y rehab would be the first phase. The corner at Grace and Adams has been planned for a six-story building with 70 apartments, structured parking and commercial space fronting Grace.
Renderings show the building at Grace and Foushee would wrap around a central terrace.
For the Foushee-and-Grace corner, a development plan filed with the city last year called for a seven-story building with 118 apartments and three levels of parking, one of them underground.
An additional 36 apartments would be added to the Y building’s top three floors, bringing the total apartment count for the project to 224.
Walter Parks Architects is designing the apartments, and SilverCore is handling engineering work. Markham Planning is handling filings with the city.
Y’s offices relocated
The Y’s new offices in Manchester’s Corrugated Box Building. (Images courtesy YMCA of Greater Richmond)
Meanwhile, the Y has found a new home for its corporate headquarters that had been housed in the building.
Earlier this year, the nonprofit leased nearly 12,000 square feet of space at 201 W. Seventh St., in the Corrugated Box Building in Manchester. The Y’s administrative staff moved in in January, said Megan O’Neill, YMCA of Greater Richmond’s COO.
The new offices fill nearly 12,000 square feet in the Corrugated Box Building. (On Three Photography)
O’Neill said the Y signed an eight-year lease with extension options. She said the move has allowed opportunities to make technological updates and modernize the offices’ equipment and furniture. Campfire & Co. designed the interiors.
“The open floor plan allows for increased opportunities for our branch location staff to convene and collaborate at our new space, and the location allows us to remain centrally located across our footprint,” O’Neill said, adding that the building also has “open-use common areas convenient for trainings and meetings.”
The downtown Y branch has been closed for the initial building work but is scheduled to reopen Monday.
The building at Franklin and Foushee streets has housed the downtown YMCA since 1942. (BizSense file photos)
With two more property transfers that closed in recent weeks, the pieces are now in place for the planned redevelopment of the downtown YMCA complex to get underway.
The YMCA of Greater Richmond last week sold its Franklin Street building to the development group it’s working with to add market-rate apartments to the building’s top floors and in new-construction buildings planned to fill adjacent parking lots.
George Emerson
One of those lots, at the corner of Adams and Grace streets, also sold in recent weeks to an LLC tied to developer George Emerson, who’s heading up the project with frequent collaborator Phil Roper and fellow developers Tom Papa and Dennis Lynch.
Emerson said the purchases will allow construction to start on the apartments in the building, where renovations to the downtown Y branch have gotten underway to provide members access during the project. The branch will remain partially open throughout the construction, which Emerson said is getting started and is scheduled to last about 18 months.
“We’re hoping to have it wrapped up in a year and a half,” Emerson said of the building renovation.
The group paid $3 million for the 0.8-acre building property, which consists of two parcels at 8 and 16 W. Franklin St., in a deal that closed Dec. 5.
A week earlier, on Nov. 28, they closed on the Adams-and-Grace lot at 13-17 W. Grace St. for $1.5 million.
The parking lot at Grace and Adams, where a six-story building has been planned.
Last year, the group bought two other parking lots that round out the overall project site: a half-acre lot at the corner of Foushee Street and Grace, which it purchased for $2.4 million; and a similar-sized lot across Franklin from the Y building that sold for $2 million.
The latter lot was then transferred, through an assignment clause in the contract, to an LLC tied to Riverstone Properties, the Bill Goodwin-owned firm that owns the Second Baptist Church building and the rest of that city block.
With the recent purchases, the group has paid a total of $8.84 million for the YMCA properties, which were assessed by the city at the times of the transactions at over $14 million combined. Emerson said the YMCA’s lease in the building and the expected cost of the overall development factored into the purchase price.
“If you look at the assessed value of all of them, we paid a lot of money for that site,” Emerson said. “Y got a good deal, and I think we got a good deal. You had to look at what the cost is to renovate the YMCA and try to keep their rent low. All of that played into it.”
Emerson put the cost of the building renovation and apartments at $17 million. He said cost estimates for the new-construction buildings would depend on the final designs, which he said were still being determined.
“We haven’t really finalized what we’re going to do in the parking lots yet. We’ve got a couple of different variations we’re looking at, but we’re hoping we’ll finalize something in the spring and maybe get going the following year,” he said.
The group had been planning to start the project with the new building at Grace and Adams, though Emerson said the Y rehab would be the first phase. The corner at Grace and Adams has been planned for a six-story building with 70 apartments, structured parking and commercial space fronting Grace.
Renderings show the building at Grace and Foushee would wrap around a central terrace.
For the Foushee-and-Grace corner, a development plan filed with the city last year called for a seven-story building with 118 apartments and three levels of parking, one of them underground.
An additional 36 apartments would be added to the Y building’s top three floors, bringing the total apartment count for the project to 224.
Walter Parks Architects is designing the apartments, and SilverCore is handling engineering work. Markham Planning is handling filings with the city.
Y’s offices relocated
The Y’s new offices in Manchester’s Corrugated Box Building. (Images courtesy YMCA of Greater Richmond)
Meanwhile, the Y has found a new home for its corporate headquarters that had been housed in the building.
Earlier this year, the nonprofit leased nearly 12,000 square feet of space at 201 W. Seventh St., in the Corrugated Box Building in Manchester. The Y’s administrative staff moved in in January, said Megan O’Neill, YMCA of Greater Richmond’s COO.
The new offices fill nearly 12,000 square feet in the Corrugated Box Building. (On Three Photography)
O’Neill said the Y signed an eight-year lease with extension options. She said the move has allowed opportunities to make technological updates and modernize the offices’ equipment and furniture. Campfire & Co. designed the interiors.
“The open floor plan allows for increased opportunities for our branch location staff to convene and collaborate at our new space, and the location allows us to remain centrally located across our footprint,” O’Neill said, adding that the building also has “open-use common areas convenient for trainings and meetings.”
The downtown Y branch has been closed for the initial building work but is scheduled to reopen Monday.
It’s good to see the Corrugated Box Building space used again. It’s been empty way too long. Manchester needs more daytime occupants.
Is it too late to add a rooftop track? The Y in Uptown Charlotte nailed theirs during renovation. Would be a nice urban touch.
Good call. It would be a great add.
Architecture is really ugly. Not in keeping with the neighborhood.
It’s (yet) another Walter Parks design. 🙄
I suspect those images are to so massing rather than final design. Walter Parks always has terrible early images.
There is so much happening North of the river, but not much south of the river.
Here is a crazy idea.
Maybe southside should leave the City of Richmond and become the City of Manchester.
That’s how it used to be,two different cities.
That’s correct, but it was a very long time ago. None of us were alive and Manchester was much smaller then.
It would be nice to know what kind of parking will be available for the Y customers and first-floor retail (or will the structured parking be available for them too?) By my count they are eliminating 150 spots.