The three-building complex stands along one of Scott’s Addition’s main thoroughfares. (BizSense file photo)
Capital Square has made another record-breaking land grab in Scott’s Addition.
Last week the Innsbrook-based developer purchased the former Dairy Bar property at 1600 Roseneath Road and the adjacent former Tang & Biscuit property at 3406 Moore St. in two separate deals totaling $11.5 million, per city records.
The acquisitions, which closed April 5, give Capital Square control of 2.2 contiguous acres on which it plans to raze the existing buildings and construct a “multifamily development with on-site parking and ground floor retail,” a spokesperson said, noting that the total number of units is to be determined.
Earlier this year Capital Square filed preliminary plans for the assemblage, showing its intention to build a mixed-use structure of up to eight stories that would house either multifamily units or a hotel.
The company said a possible hotel use is still in play and that it continues to explore its options as it relates to a hotel.
Construction of the new development is slated to begin next year.
With a per-acre price tag of $5.2 million, the sale is the highest ever seen in Scott’s Addition on a per-acre basis. Capital Square had set the previous high mark in 2022 when it bought the 2.7-acre former N. Chasen & Son plot at 2924 W. Marshall St. for $4 million. The company is now building another trio of mid-rise apartment buildings on that site.
Capital Square’s new development along West Marshall Street in Scott’s Addition is now going vertical.
Capital Square paid $8.4 million for the Dairy Bar complex, which is the larger of the two parcels. The Tang & Biscuit property went for $3.1 million. The city most recently assessed the two parcels at a combined $10.2 million.
The seller of 1600 Roseneath Road was local development firm Stanley Shield Partnership, which had bought the site in 2022 for $7 million. The seller of the Tang & Biscuit site was a group including Dominion Payroll co-founders David Gallagher and David Fratkin, as well as Henry Shield of Stanley Shield. That group bought the building ahead of Tang & Biscuit’s opening in 2017 for $1.7 million.
Both buildings have sat vacant since last year when Tang & Biscuit and Biscuits & Gravy abruptly closed.
The nearly 45,000-square-foot Dairy Bar complex was previously home to Dairy Bar restaurant, which later became Biscuits & Gravy. The building also included office, retail and warehouse space that was home to tenants like Hack.RVA Makerspace and Moving Mountains Tattoo Collective, which have relocated to the Westwood area and the Arts District, respectively.
Capital Square is one of the busier developers in Scott’s Addition, having recently built over 550 apartments across its three-phase Scott’s Collection project and the city-block-sized Otis apartment building at 1601 Roseneath Road.
CapSquare has found a home in Scott’s Addition. I was told last week that they’d bought out its Otis partner, Greystar, for over $400,000 per unit, making that sale the high-water mark in the region. Although that number may shock locals, I think you may see that as a bargain before long. Prices in other southern markets such as Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta and Raleigh can exceed $600,000 per door. Watch out as Richmond continues to grow.
The rents in the Otis reflect that. 2 bedroom units are going for north of $3k. That is Northern Virginia prices and not really reflective of the general market down in Richmond.
Interesting. Are they really nice units or spacious??? Richmond DOES have an urban appeal that much of NoVa does not outside of say Old Town Alexandria or maybe Shirlington or Reston Town Center — rents are pretty high in those places. Also, these big developers are buying more for the “Future” than the present, to the degree that they think they can see into the future. Some places seem like they have “gone about as far as they can go” to people, and sometimes they are correct, but as Astor learned about NYC, high can go higher, much higher. And… Read more »
Thank you for this info.
Who knows? Maybe City Hall is inadvertently being Genius by not getting anything done on their “Diamond District” shenanigans and hence holding on to the land. ((…..maybe…. this IS a genius plan……)) and as the area continues to appreciate, they will be able to either sell the land at a really nice price that could solve Richmond’s fiscal woes, reduce taxes OR they could actually get someone ELSE to build the Squirrel’s baseball stadium for them?
The small cramped land parcel at Hamilton and Grove is advertising units in the high $600k. I think the real estate collapse of 2008 is going to replay before long.
Well, they say that the canary in the coalmine IS the condo market, but predicting TOPS is hard, esp in a locality, since, like Politics, all markets are more local than they are national. People say that when you see a strong condo market start to weaken, that is when you should get nervous.
Per neighborhood comps they are reasonable for that part of Grove. they’re listed for $710-820k for around 2500 sqft.
wow, I’m impressed with all that Capital Square is doing. I’ve heard the Otis is close to sold out, which would imply we will see movement on this location sooner rather than later.
It’s nice to see all the development in the neighborhood, which is much less developed than the average Richmonder thinks it is.
Thank you for that second paragraph.
As an artist, I’ve had nothing but great experiences working with the folks at CapSquare. They genuinely seem to care about creating a community and building spaces that feel good to live in.. not just sticking people in boxes as inexpensively as possible. I’m stoked to see them take on more of these big projects.
Interesting observation. There are a lot of people who seem to think that everything is cheap and bad that is being built around there — I think they are mostly looking at the fact that the builders are not putting a lot of effort into the exteriors a la what used to be called the Modern Aesthetic, which is a bit of misnomer and should more be stated as the philosophy of Function Over Form. Indeed, the photos of the apts and stuff always seem nice from the insides.
strong agree – their buildings are much better, on the outside at least, than the indistinguishable 5+1 variants
For 11 million I expect that we might see something larger than the 6 story buildings they are currently doing. Well, I actually hope they do something really creative.
Yeah, some creativity WOULD be nice. It’ll come eventually if Richmond moves more up the market some more — Nashville is a great example of developers being incentivized to do more than “Good Enough” — Right now, I am not sure the market is even Indianapolis.
it would be great to see a 10-12 story building there