The 4-story building would rise on a vacant lot near Manchester. (Mike Platania photo)
Another piece of Hull Street in the city is being eyed for development, this time by a local low-income housing firm.
Canterbury Development Group filed plans last month for a 90-unit apartment building at 2008 Hull St. Referred to in planning documents as “Swansboro Place,” the new structure would rise four stories on a vacant 1.4-acre lot that takes up the majority of the block bound by Hull, Decatur, East 20th and East 21st streets.
Canterbury, which develops housing for low-income residents, is based not far from the project site in the Southside. The firm’s previous projects include the phased, 70-unit Townhomes at Warwick Place and a pair of historic tax-credit renovations along High Street in downtown Petersburg.
Canterbury CEO Junior Burr did not respond to multiple requests seeking comment in recent weeks.
Conceptual drawings for Swansboro Place. (City documents)
According to plans, Swansboro Place would total around 77,000 square feet and have a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, and a first-floor resident community space. The project is also planned to include 69 parking spaces as well as short- and long-term bicycle storage.
Timmons Group is listed as the project engineer and Cornerstone Architecture & Interior Design, the architect.
An entity tied to Canterbury bought 2008 Hull and 2021 Decatur streets in April for $950,000, city records show.
Swansboro Place would rise across the street from the former Siegel’s Supermarket building that Laura and Michael Hild bought for $630,000 in 2017 and had rezoned in 2019.
Michael Hild was found guilty of a reverse mortgage bond fraud in 2021 related to his now-bankrupt company Live Well Financial and is facing 44 months in prison. That conviction and Live Well’s ongoing liquidation has set off a tug-of-war between lenders, the Live Well trustee and Laura Hild over the couple’s Southside real estate holdings, including the Siegel’s site. However, the properties’ future remains in limbo as he is appealing the verdict and now seeking a new trial.
The 4-story building would rise on a vacant lot near Manchester. (Mike Platania photo)
Another piece of Hull Street in the city is being eyed for development, this time by a local low-income housing firm.
Canterbury Development Group filed plans last month for a 90-unit apartment building at 2008 Hull St. Referred to in planning documents as “Swansboro Place,” the new structure would rise four stories on a vacant 1.4-acre lot that takes up the majority of the block bound by Hull, Decatur, East 20th and East 21st streets.
Canterbury, which develops housing for low-income residents, is based not far from the project site in the Southside. The firm’s previous projects include the phased, 70-unit Townhomes at Warwick Place and a pair of historic tax-credit renovations along High Street in downtown Petersburg.
Canterbury CEO Junior Burr did not respond to multiple requests seeking comment in recent weeks.
Conceptual drawings for Swansboro Place. (City documents)
According to plans, Swansboro Place would total around 77,000 square feet and have a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, and a first-floor resident community space. The project is also planned to include 69 parking spaces as well as short- and long-term bicycle storage.
Timmons Group is listed as the project engineer and Cornerstone Architecture & Interior Design, the architect.
An entity tied to Canterbury bought 2008 Hull and 2021 Decatur streets in April for $950,000, city records show.
Swansboro Place would rise across the street from the former Siegel’s Supermarket building that Laura and Michael Hild bought for $630,000 in 2017 and had rezoned in 2019.
Michael Hild was found guilty of a reverse mortgage bond fraud in 2021 related to his now-bankrupt company Live Well Financial and is facing 44 months in prison. That conviction and Live Well’s ongoing liquidation has set off a tug-of-war between lenders, the Live Well trustee and Laura Hild over the couple’s Southside real estate holdings, including the Siegel’s site. However, the properties’ future remains in limbo as he is appealing the verdict and now seeking a new trial.
It’s good to see some needed growth in this area. Hopefully more buildings are added for low income or affordable housing. Its desperately needed among other things around this area. Rec Centers/accessible grocery stores
More affordable housing is needed but I thought the thought today was to have mixed income neighborhoods. Funny how the LMI tax credit housing continues to be concentrated in or very close to existing LMI neighborhoods. Why do developers not tend to place them say Short Pump or Midlothian or even say Chester.
Cost of land.
Why can’t we celebrate this development given Hull St hasn’t seen much investment South of Cowardin? Big picture there isn’t much incentive for developers to build low income housing even where the land is more affordable, like here, and it’s a national issue (not just an RVA issue).
I will celebrate with you. Cheers!
That’s the “thought” sure. But I am not sure this tends to happen much in the USA — we’d have to change our culture, which is hard given the history of bad blood and crime rates, etc — but I know Canada makes developers build some units in big condo buildings to be held at affordable prices and are accordingly built to less high standards — I had a friend who took advantage of this about 20 years ago in Toronto. But, as Donald Trump pointed out in the Art of the Deal, it is often the middle class who… Read more »
I agree that it is good to see some development in the area and especially good to see more affordable options being planned too. However, simply because they are affordable units should not mean they have to look so institutional. Simple things can be done that do not add lots of cost.
Well, to give BOTH parties the benefit of the doubt, first, that is a conceptual drawing. Maybe you didn’t see the caption. And to you, I would be tempted to class you in the huge group of people who seem to be very generous with other peoples’ money, but maybe you know how to make things “look better.” I know a way: spend less money on the actual living space and make the facades look nicer. Much ink has been spilled on how a lot of soul killing communist apt blocks have actually surprisingly nice living spaces, and how even… Read more »
The conceptual drawings look like a brutalist disaster. Please do better.
Funny, Brutalist used to be cool at one time….
Some WERE cool.
That drawing looks a LOT like the bldg my father worked in when I was a kid — it was one of the ugliest bldgs on campus, and when I was a teen I wished he worked in one of the beautiful bldgs on campus.
But the inside was nice — just like mid century High schools, the offices and the labs were spacious and the halls were wide.
https://archives.rpi.edu/institute-history/building-histories/jonsson-rowland-science-center
Nice to see something going on in this area along Hull St. but the design leaves a lot to be desired…look around the neighborhood and see the character of the older buildings in the area and use that as a jumping off point. And, please, provide a better balance between the windows and the balance of the project. It looks very institutional (as noted before); and that is precisely what isn’t needed in this area to support an interesting, walkable neighborhood.
I agree, but is taking a que from the neighboring buildings REALLY a good idea? I don’t know the details, but this is too often cited as some kind of Law in Richmond — better to be boring and uglyish than to stand out in some way, always.
looking at the map, it looks like taking a que from the neighborhood would mean they would build a small, bombed out looking structure with a big chain link fence with razor wire around it, or maybe go for a mid-century garage look?
This is a huge lot with tons of potential across from a TOD-zoned lot. 300 units could go here, 90 of which could be affordable.