Feed More’s former complex, outlined in yellow, is beside the interstate and across Rhoadmiller Street from The Park at RVA. (BizSense file image)
A development that’ll bring nearly 200 new residences to The Diamond area has taken a step forward.
The 6-acre former Feed More headquarters at 1415-1603 Rhoadmiller St. sold last week to developer K. Hovnanian for $13 million.
- K. Hovnanian, a New Jersey firm that’s a division of publicly traded Hovnanian Enterprises, is planning to raze the now-vacant, 90,000-square-foot former tobacco warehouses to make way for nearly 200 for-rent, two-over-two residences. The complex will be called The Lofts at Durham Park.
The purchase price amounts to a per-acre rate of about $2.1 million. The city most recently assessed the property at $9 million.
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A rendering of some of the planned units.
K. Hovnanian had initially sought to develop the project as for-sale condo units when it first filed plans last year. But Martin Rizer, the firm’s vice president of land acquisition for its Mid-Atlantic division, said they’ll now be rental units.
Rizer said that change occurred a few months ago when Hovnanian was approached by New York private equity firm Mandrake Capital Partners, which made them an offer to purchase all the units.
“They saw this opportunity and they wanted to take it as a rental community,” Rizer said. “We were looking to build it as a for-sale community but this structure seems to make sense as well.”
He said as Hovnanian build units, it will sell them to Mandrake, which will then rent them out. The units will all be two-over-twos, meaning each building will reach four stories, with a pair of two-story residences stacked one above the other.
Demolition of the former Feed More buildings is scheduled to begin in the next few months. Rizer said the design and general contracting will be handled by K. Hovnanian in-house.
He said this is K. Hovnanian’s first development in Richmond city limits, but that the firm has more than 800 single-family lots under contract throughout Henrico and Chesterfield counties.
The Lofts at Durham Park will be within blocks of two major construction projects: VCU Athletics’ 42-acre athletic village and the ballpark-anchored Diamond District.
Feed More, a nonprofit food bank, had called the Rhoadmiller Street complex home since 2000 until it relocated to a newly built, $40 million facility in Henrico County last year.
Feed More’s President and CEO Doug Pick said in a statement that the Rhoadmiller buildings served the group “well and faithfully.”
“But it is never the structure that determines the goodness of an organization – it is its people and the mission,” Pick said. “The neighbors we serve are at the heart of everything we do, and our focus remains the same as always: nourishing communities and empowering lives across Central Virginia.”
Feed More’s former complex, outlined in yellow, is beside the interstate and across Rhoadmiller Street from The Park at RVA. (BizSense file image)
A development that’ll bring nearly 200 new residences to The Diamond area has taken a step forward.
The 6-acre former Feed More headquarters at 1415-1603 Rhoadmiller St. sold last week to developer K. Hovnanian for $13 million.
- K. Hovnanian, a New Jersey firm that’s a division of publicly traded Hovnanian Enterprises, is planning to raze the now-vacant, 90,000-square-foot former tobacco warehouses to make way for nearly 200 for-rent, two-over-two residences. The complex will be called The Lofts at Durham Park.
The purchase price amounts to a per-acre rate of about $2.1 million. The city most recently assessed the property at $9 million.
-
A rendering of some of the planned units.
K. Hovnanian had initially sought to develop the project as for-sale condo units when it first filed plans last year. But Martin Rizer, the firm’s vice president of land acquisition for its Mid-Atlantic division, said they’ll now be rental units.
Rizer said that change occurred a few months ago when Hovnanian was approached by New York private equity firm Mandrake Capital Partners, which made them an offer to purchase all the units.
“They saw this opportunity and they wanted to take it as a rental community,” Rizer said. “We were looking to build it as a for-sale community but this structure seems to make sense as well.”
He said as Hovnanian build units, it will sell them to Mandrake, which will then rent them out. The units will all be two-over-twos, meaning each building will reach four stories, with a pair of two-story residences stacked one above the other.
Demolition of the former Feed More buildings is scheduled to begin in the next few months. Rizer said the design and general contracting will be handled by K. Hovnanian in-house.
He said this is K. Hovnanian’s first development in Richmond city limits, but that the firm has more than 800 single-family lots under contract throughout Henrico and Chesterfield counties.
The Lofts at Durham Park will be within blocks of two major construction projects: VCU Athletics’ 42-acre athletic village and the ballpark-anchored Diamond District.
Feed More, a nonprofit food bank, had called the Rhoadmiller Street complex home since 2000 until it relocated to a newly built, $40 million facility in Henrico County last year.
Feed More’s President and CEO Doug Pick said in a statement that the Rhoadmiller buildings served the group “well and faithfully.”
“But it is never the structure that determines the goodness of an organization – it is its people and the mission,” Pick said. “The neighbors we serve are at the heart of everything we do, and our focus remains the same as always: nourishing communities and empowering lives across Central Virginia.”
I’m happy to see the 2o2 product but disappointed that they will be rental instead of for-sale. The City needs many more for-sale housing units to balance its growth and stabilize its tax base.
There isn’t a financial incentive for developers to build entry level for sale housing. It’s part of why we have so little upward mobility in our country right now. Private equity wants rentals; developers need to maximize their profits on each unit. Only government policy can change the situation.
Honestly wish we would just build updated copies of entire neighborhoods like the Fan, Church Hill, Museum District, Barton Heights, etc. Except with modernized building codes and no racial covenants. These types of places are obviously what people want based on the fact that they are among the most valuable and sought-after properties in the region. Hell, even people from NOVA and elsewhere have flocked to these neighborhoods due to their sense of place and design (and being significantly cheaper in a moment in time). Yet it seems like all of our newer choices in housing are much less inspired.… Read more »
Most popular established neighborhoods would be illegal or impossible to build again today based on the ridiculously complicated and restrictive zoning codes and building codes. Things like detached SFH zoning, minimum lot sizes, set back requirements, parking mandates, FAR requirements, etc. are all obstacles. This gets at your point that we need to DRASTICALLY modernize our building & zoning codes to allow housing to be built again.
We will own nothing and be happy by 2030.
In my opinion the rendering clearly indicates that the design wouldn’t be appealing to buyers, therefore the rental path seems more appropriate. The rendering doesn’t show parking. As the area population grows ingress and egress to this area will become increasingly more difficult.
“…Hovnanian was approached by New York private equity firm Mandrake Capital Partners…”
““They saw this opportunity and they wanted to take it as a rental community,” Rizer said. “We were looking to build it as a for-sale community but …”
Renter-class nation. The “private equity” monopolies strike again.
You will own nothing, and won’t be happy.
It has curb appeal one step better than that of a prison.
I am also lost with the name the Lofts at Durham Park..where is the Park, what is the reference to Durham (close to the ballpark so the Bulls…we are the Squirrels) and how are 2 over 2 units considered lofts??? I bet the name is left over from another project on the copied plans they are using.
Maybe it’s because we’re in the same time zone as Durham, N.C.?
Keck bldg is on 2600 Durham Street. The Park RVA is right next door (at least as long as open)
I feel like when you name a building “______ at _____ Park”, the expectation for people is that it is at/near some type of outdoor park or even in a neighborhood with “_____ Park” in the name. Naming it after a street that doesn’t have a park but rather an indoor entertainment venue with that name is a bit iffy.
Seems a little misleading or at the very least a weird name for a residential project in a former industrial area adjacent to an interstate with approximately zero green space nearby.
Yeah- that was my first thought as well.
Yuck, that design is so ugly.I lived in a stacked townhome years ago in the lower unit. Our bedroom level was below the upstairs unit’s living room/kitchen area. Any bass from the stereo/television or heavy foots steps was right over our heads while we were trying to sleep. Never again.
Just curious, are developers trying extra hard to make apartment buildings this ugly? The rendering is awful
Couldn’t agree more.
So am I understanding this correctly: 200 units built in 2 over 2 configuration in four-story buildings. Does that mean that each “unit” is considered an “apartment” – and that each “apartment” will be two stories? If so, these are going to be HUGE apartments. This would make far more sense if these were condos. But two-level apartments? Are they going to find renters who want – or even NEED – a two-story apartment unit?
Am I misreading this or not understanding it correctly? Bruce, what’s your understanding of this?
This is the same design that builders use for 2o2 condos. Each unit is two levels, one atop another. Each unit has 2 parking spaces, in tandem, which is actually more than 95% of new apartment buildings. I suspect they’ll be built in a condo regime, which would allow the Wall Street company to sell off individual units as the market allows. Maybe not! The rent numbers psf will be interesting.
It’s classic development for the Richmond market. They will be rented by young professional couples who don’t want to mess with a yard. Then they will get married, save up a down payment, have a child, and move to the counties and buy a starter home when the child is school age.
…But there aren’t any starter homes being built.
In the counties starter homes start at 400k.