Commonwealth Catholic Charities’ site is just south of the Leigh Street Viaduct near Shockoe Bottom. (Mike Platania photo)
Oliver Hill Way’s gradual redevelopment continues, now with a local nonprofit and an out-of-town developer getting in on the action.
Commonwealth Catholic Charities has filed a request to rezone the site of its youth and adult outreach center at 809 Oliver Hill Way to make way for an eventual mixed-use project with housing.
An adjacent parcel at 807½ Oliver Hill Way is also being eyed for residential redevelopment. James Doran Co., a South Carolina-based firm, has that 1-acre parcel under contract with plans to build an 84-unit income-based housing development.
Charles Hall, CCC vice president of housing, said the group is in the early stages of redeveloping its 2-acre site with the requested rezoning to TOD-1 Transit-Oriented Nodal district, which allows for a mix of uses and up to 12 stories in height. Hall said the project’s specifications haven’t been finalized.
Charles Hall
“We don’t know exactly what we want to build there, except that it’ll be affordable and mixed-use,” Hall said, adding that it’s also to be determined whether CCC will relocate the outreach center’s existing operations.
In addition to lower-income and supportive housing development, CCC’s services include immigration and adoption consulting, mental health counseling, financial coaching and homeless sheltering.
Hall pointed to the city’s Richmond 300 master plan and the Shockoe Small Area Plan as part of the impetus for CCC to redevelop the site.
“We’re trying to follow the master plan and create a more dense, walkable, livable part of the city,” Hall said. “It seems like that whole stretch and the neighborhood’s just growing up, per se.”
CCC has owned the site since 2019, when it bought it for $1.5 million. Mark Baker of Baker Development Resources is representing CCC in the rezoning case, which is not yet on a Planning Commission agenda.
James Doran Co. is planning to buy the vacant parcel, but not the warehouse next door at 807 Oliver Hill Way. (Mike Platania photo)
James Doran Co.’s project is similarly in an early stage.
Director of Acquisitions Rosie Doran said the firm, which recently built the 84-unit Glenwood Ridge complex in Church Hill, is under contract to buy 807½ Oliver Hill Way. She said in an email that they’re looking to build 84 units of “affordable/workforce housing.”
The parcel is currently owned by a group led by One South Realty Group co-founder Rick Jarvis, which bought it and an adjacent 20,000-square-foot warehouse last year for $1.9 million. Doran said her firm is only under contract to purchase the vacant parcel, which was most recently assessed by the city at $533,000.
Just south of the warehouse is 1700 Venable St., a 2-acre lot that’s also being lined up for redevelopment by way of a rezoning request that was filed over the summer.
Over in the Northside, CCC has another housing development in the works.
It’s planning a 56-unit income-based complex that would span 15 buildings, a project it’s taking on with the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. The duo filed plans in 2020 and received entitlements in 2021. Hall said they’re now looking to get work underway on the roughly 3-acre site at 1031 and 1101 Fourqurean Lane.
“We have our capital stack complete, and we’re hoping to break ground in the early part of next year,” Hall said.
Commonwealth Catholic Charities’ site is just south of the Leigh Street Viaduct near Shockoe Bottom. (Mike Platania photo)
Oliver Hill Way’s gradual redevelopment continues, now with a local nonprofit and an out-of-town developer getting in on the action.
Commonwealth Catholic Charities has filed a request to rezone the site of its youth and adult outreach center at 809 Oliver Hill Way to make way for an eventual mixed-use project with housing.
An adjacent parcel at 807½ Oliver Hill Way is also being eyed for residential redevelopment. James Doran Co., a South Carolina-based firm, has that 1-acre parcel under contract with plans to build an 84-unit income-based housing development.
Charles Hall, CCC vice president of housing, said the group is in the early stages of redeveloping its 2-acre site with the requested rezoning to TOD-1 Transit-Oriented Nodal district, which allows for a mix of uses and up to 12 stories in height. Hall said the project’s specifications haven’t been finalized.
Charles Hall
“We don’t know exactly what we want to build there, except that it’ll be affordable and mixed-use,” Hall said, adding that it’s also to be determined whether CCC will relocate the outreach center’s existing operations.
In addition to lower-income and supportive housing development, CCC’s services include immigration and adoption consulting, mental health counseling, financial coaching and homeless sheltering.
Hall pointed to the city’s Richmond 300 master plan and the Shockoe Small Area Plan as part of the impetus for CCC to redevelop the site.
“We’re trying to follow the master plan and create a more dense, walkable, livable part of the city,” Hall said. “It seems like that whole stretch and the neighborhood’s just growing up, per se.”
CCC has owned the site since 2019, when it bought it for $1.5 million. Mark Baker of Baker Development Resources is representing CCC in the rezoning case, which is not yet on a Planning Commission agenda.
James Doran Co. is planning to buy the vacant parcel, but not the warehouse next door at 807 Oliver Hill Way. (Mike Platania photo)
James Doran Co.’s project is similarly in an early stage.
Director of Acquisitions Rosie Doran said the firm, which recently built the 84-unit Glenwood Ridge complex in Church Hill, is under contract to buy 807½ Oliver Hill Way. She said in an email that they’re looking to build 84 units of “affordable/workforce housing.”
The parcel is currently owned by a group led by One South Realty Group co-founder Rick Jarvis, which bought it and an adjacent 20,000-square-foot warehouse last year for $1.9 million. Doran said her firm is only under contract to purchase the vacant parcel, which was most recently assessed by the city at $533,000.
Just south of the warehouse is 1700 Venable St., a 2-acre lot that’s also being lined up for redevelopment by way of a rezoning request that was filed over the summer.
Over in the Northside, CCC has another housing development in the works.
It’s planning a 56-unit income-based complex that would span 15 buildings, a project it’s taking on with the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. The duo filed plans in 2020 and received entitlements in 2021. Hall said they’re now looking to get work underway on the roughly 3-acre site at 1031 and 1101 Fourqurean Lane.
“We have our capital stack complete, and we’re hoping to break ground in the early part of next year,” Hall said.
Not much along that road I’d want to walk to.
It’s with great pride that I see Catholic Charities is addressing the great need for affordable housing in RVA.
Agreed, Randolph. Very glad they’re stepping up to the plate to help address this issue.