Officials shovel dirt to mark the start of construction of the two hotels and two restaurants that Shamin Hotels is developing beside the Henrico Sports & Events Center, visible in the background. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
With Henrico’s new sports and events center now open and residential construction underway next door, work is starting on two hotels and two restaurants that will likewise add to the transformation of Virginia Center Commons.
County officials and developers took part Thursday morning in a groundbreaking ceremony for a 114-room Home2 Suites and 111-room Residence Inn being developed by Shamin Hotels, which is collaborating with Rebkee Co. on the redevelopment of the former suburban mall into an urban-style mixed-use village.
Shamin, the region’s largest hotelier, also is developing two restaurants on the 6.3-acre site, across Telegraph Road from Interstate 95 and beside the Henrico Sports & Events Center at the eastern end of the former mall site.
A site plan shows the two hotels and two restaurant buildings across a parking lot from the Henrico Sports & Events Center. (Courtesy Henrico County)
Users for the restaurants have not been announced. Both will be one-story buildings with outdoor seating. One will total 5,800 square feet of building space and the other 4,200 square feet, according to a development plan approved last year.
The five-story Home2 Suites will total 74,300 square feet, while the four-story Residence Inn will total 85,100. Both will rise right out front of the 185,000-square-foot, $50 million events center, which opened in October.
Speakers at Thursday’s ceremony touted the hotels as accommodating the “tourism” half of the sports tourism that the new center has already started generating. The venue hosted the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship in March and this month hosted the NWBA Wheelchair Basketball National Championships.
Fairfield District Supervisor Roscoe Cooper addresses attendees during Thursday’s ceremony. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
“We love tourism. We love sports tourism,” said Anthony Romanello, Henrico’s economic development director.
“Folks come here, they stay in our hotels, they eat in our restaurants and we don’t have to educate their children,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “It’s a great combination and it helps build our economy.”
The hotels will add to existing lodging options that at Virginia Center include a Comfort Suites, Candlewood Suites and Courtyard by Marriott, as well as a Hampton Inn & Suites and SpringHill Suites nearby and, across the interstate, the Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center.
A rendering of the 114-room Home2 Suites hotel.
The events center is managed by the Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority and ASM Global, which recently launched its “Stay, Play, & Dine” promotional package that has eight local businesses already signed on, including Virginia Crossings. The advertising package includes rotating outdoor and indoor signage at a rate of $2,400 for a 12-month cycle.
Shamin CEO Neil Amin said the Hilton-branded Home2 Suites and Marriott-branded Residence Inn will be Shamin’s 21st and 22nd hotels in Henrico. The company is developing another Residence Inn at 500 W. Williamsburg Road across from Richmond International Airport.
“We’ve had a tremendous 30-year partnership with Henrico County,” Amin said. “The county through the years has created that pro-business climate, that high quality of life, that attracts residents and attracts workers that fill our hotels, and it of course attracts visitors. Without that, we would not be able to invest over half a billion dollars that we’ve invested in the county.”
The 111-room Residence Inn and Suites.
Amin said the Virginia Center area was the strongest hospitality and retail submarket in the Richmond region in 2008, when the 1990s-era mall was still in its prime.
“Clearly this area has tremendous potential. It has the bones to really achieve greatness, which it will,” Amin said. “Being close to 95, a sea of travelers, a sea of visitors … it’s a premier location for people to live, to visit and to spend money that improves quality of life.”
Site work is underway and construction is scheduled to last 18 months, Amin said. Tennessee-based Thomas Builders is the general contractor, and Henrico firm NBJ Architecture designed the hotels. Koontz Bryant Johnson Williams handled engineering work.
Amin would not disclose a cost estimate for the hotels.
Apartments are taking shape where the JCPenney at Virginia Center Commons once stood.
The work adds to a flurry of activity at the site that’s become visible from Brook Road. An initial phase of 275 apartments is taking shape between the events center and the American Family Fitness building, the only part of the demolished mall that remains. Purcell Construction is building the apartments.
A second phase of 115 apartments will start in June 2026, contributing to an overall plan for 500 apartments, 325 two-over-two condos, income-based housing options and retail space.
Closer to Brook Road, Stanley Martin Homes is constructing 75 townhomes on a 5-acre site between the Brook and the mall site.
The site of the planned hotels and restaurants is opposite the events center from the under-construction apartments. (Henrico County photo)
Rebkee principal Rob Hargett said the overall development should wrap up in 2026. Rebkee also is redeveloping Henrico’s Regency mall with local developer Thalhimer Realty Partners.
Romanello noted other development in the works for the area includes Sauer Properties’ plan for a mix of industrial, office and retail uses and 780 residential units on 93 acres along Jeb Stuart Parkway just south of the mall site. He said construction on that project will start later this year.
Also in the works is a 273-unit apartment building at 10551 Telegraph Road, a 3.3-acre parcel beside the Citizens Bank Office Park next to the interstate. Tennessee-based Bristol Development Group is developing that project with property owners Mohawk Investment Partners I LLC and National Financial Realty-Richmond LLC.
The Henrico Sports & Events Center looks like a warehouse in El Paso.
I’m not sure what warehouses in El Paso look like, but I am underwhelmed with the appearance of the Center. Perhaps when the area is fully developed it will all blend in to be more whelming, at the very least.
Could you provide an example of what you think a multi-court indoor sports facility (that doesn’t house a provessional team) should look like?
Look at the one in VB
I have, and it has one ‘less warehousey’ facade. The rest is warehouse. Is it the retention pond or the planted trees that add up because I’m not seeing it.
I am too. The one in Virginia Beach looks much better quality construction. This one looks like a metal warehouse.
Kudos to Henrico County Planning for working so diligently on this project with Shamin!
Hotels support the Sports and Events Center. It’s a perfect match, and a win-win for Shamin/Rebkee and the County.
Wish there was this much support for cultivating equity among the Henrico County Public Schools sports facilities. We are paying attention county supervisors and HCPS School Board. Do better.
Robert: The center was built using tilt-up construction, which is used in building warehouses. It allows construction to take place faster. If you go inside, you will see what the County has achieved. The seats are better than I thought they would be, and court visibility is excellent. I understand that they will be upgrading the scoreboard and providing better signage in the parking lot so that it’s easier to find your car, particularly at night, but other than those two issues the County did a good job, at a reasonable cost.