Ronald McDonald House planning $32M facility in Jackson Ward

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond has secured land for a proposed 50-room lodging facility, which would provide accommodations for families of children being treated in local hospitals. (BizSense file)

The stage is being set to develop a long-vacant piece of property in Jackson Ward.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond is planning to build a 50-bedroom facility at 505 W. Leigh St., near the Belvidere Street interchange with Interstate 64.

The nonprofit organization, which provides extended-stay lodging and hospitality services to the families of hospitalized children at local medical facilities, recently purchased a portion of the property and filed a conditional-use permit application for the project.

The 52,000-square-foot facility is anticipated to open in the first quarter of 2027 and cost $32.6 million to build and equip, according to an RMHC spokeswoman. DPR has been tapped to serve as the project’s general contractor. SMBW is the architect.

RMHC bought the 1.6-acre project site for $4 million last month from the VCU Real Estate Foundation, according to city courthouse records. It’s part of a larger 2.6-acre parcel that the university’s real estate arm has owned since 2015.

The project site is zoned Multi-Family Residential (R-73) and the proposed facility is a permitted use there with a conditional-use permit. In late December the nonprofit filed an application for the permit, which would need approval from City Council.

RMHC bought a portion of 505 W. Leigh St. in Richmond, which was formerly home to the Belvidere Medical Center. (Jack Jacobs photo)

The VCU Real Estate Foundation bought the property for $4 million in late 2015. The now-grassy property was formerly home to physicians’ offices at the Belvidere Medical Center, which was demolished ahead of VCU’s acquisition of the site.

A university spokesman said this week there weren’t any active plans for the remaining acreage owned by the VCU foundation.

The upcoming Leigh Street project comes as a successor to the RMHC’s plans to establish a 60-room, 65,000-square-foot facility in downtown Richmond as part of the now-abandoned plans by VCU Health to redevelop the site of the former Public Safety Building.

When that project fell apart, RMHC went on the hunt for a new location for a large lodging facility, which is intended to address demand from families to stay temporarily in close proximity to their hospitalized children.

RMHC’s local operations include a presence at the region’s hospitals with facilities like a four-bedroom center at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and a two-bedroom unit at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital. The local chapter’s CEO, Emily Toalson, said the upcoming facility stands to substantially bolster the organization’s capabilities.

“The project to build a new 50-room House is the next pivotal phase in our commitment to provide care and comfort for families whose children are hospitalized. With the new house, we will be able to care for more than three times the number of families we can currently serve,” Toalson said in an email.

The organization plans to close the nine-bed lodging house at 2330 Monument Ave. once the new facility in Jackson Ward is operational, according to the nonprofit’s spokeswoman.

Restaurant chain McDonald’s doesn’t own RMHC, though it is the nonprofit’s largest corporate partner.

BizSense reporter Mike Platania contributed to this report.