The UTurn building at Maywill and Thalbro streets has changed hands. (Photo courtesy UTurn)
A faith-based sports and coworking complex is under new management and in the hands of a new owner who’s planning to take it into a new era.
UTurn has sold its indoor sports facility at 2101 Maywill St. to Hill City Church, which has held services at the Westwood-area building since its founding nearly a decade ago.
The church, led by wife-and-husband lead pastors Lacy and John Wagler, bought the 4.5-acre property through an LLC in a deal that closed Sept. 1. The purchasing entity, called The Commons RVA LLC, paid over $5.7 million – the same amount that Henrico County assessed the property at this year.
John and Lacy Wagler
Hill City has taken over memberships for UTurn’s gym, fitness center and coworking space, and the church is planning a new version of the facility under the name The Commons RVA, John Wagler said.
“We are currently in the process of planning what the future of the building will be,” Wagler said in an email. “We are incredibly excited to build on the legacy of UTurn and continue to have the building be a gathering space for organizations and communities doing good for the city of Richmond.”
Duane Simms, UTurn’s interim general manager, said he would help lead The Commons RVA, which would effectively take the place of UTurn.
The nonprofit was founded by Paul Manning in 1991 as U-Turn Sports Performance Academy. It provides sports programming and leadership and mentoring for area youth, and in 2019 added The Collaboratory of Virginia, a coworking space specifically for nonprofits.
A $5.3 million project announced in 2019 would convert 38,000 square feet of the building into the Collaboratory of Virginia coworking space for nonprofits. (BizSense file photo)
In an update in late June, UTurn told members that it was in negotiations with Hill City to buy the 160,000-square-foot building, which was converted into an indoor sports facility with support from donors including Tom and Nancy Chewning, according to UTurn’s website.
“After many months of prayer and conversation, we are pleased to announce that the UTurn facility is transitioning ownership to Hill City Church,” read the June 30 update on UTurn’s website. “Hill City has been an integral partner with UTurn since 2014 and has maintained a vision to serve the Richmond community in many ways that are consistent with the UTurn mission and legacy.”
Wagler said it would take a few months to finalize plans for The Commons RVA.
“The Commons is something that is going to be birthed out of Hill City and (we) have had a general vision for it even before we started the church. The two things that are going to take some time to develop are what is happening with the building and the full articulation of what The Commons will be,” Wagler said, describing both as being intertwined.
The property sale follows a subdividing of the UTurn property that is making way for an apartment building next door. A 1.8-acre portion of the property was subdivided last year and sold for $1.8 million to local developer Fulton Hill Properties, which is planning a seven-story building with more than 250 apartments at the intersection of Thalbro and Westmoreland streets.
Last month, the Henrico Planning Commission supported a request from Fulton Hill to add 15 units to the building using additional acreage on the east side of the site that it acquired since the project was approved last year. The additional units would bring the total number of apartments to 268. A permit request for that change is set to go before county supervisors at their meeting this Tuesday.
The UTurn building at Maywill and Thalbro streets has changed hands. (Photo courtesy UTurn)
A faith-based sports and coworking complex is under new management and in the hands of a new owner who’s planning to take it into a new era.
UTurn has sold its indoor sports facility at 2101 Maywill St. to Hill City Church, which has held services at the Westwood-area building since its founding nearly a decade ago.
The church, led by wife-and-husband lead pastors Lacy and John Wagler, bought the 4.5-acre property through an LLC in a deal that closed Sept. 1. The purchasing entity, called The Commons RVA LLC, paid over $5.7 million – the same amount that Henrico County assessed the property at this year.
John and Lacy Wagler
Hill City has taken over memberships for UTurn’s gym, fitness center and coworking space, and the church is planning a new version of the facility under the name The Commons RVA, John Wagler said.
“We are currently in the process of planning what the future of the building will be,” Wagler said in an email. “We are incredibly excited to build on the legacy of UTurn and continue to have the building be a gathering space for organizations and communities doing good for the city of Richmond.”
Duane Simms, UTurn’s interim general manager, said he would help lead The Commons RVA, which would effectively take the place of UTurn.
The nonprofit was founded by Paul Manning in 1991 as U-Turn Sports Performance Academy. It provides sports programming and leadership and mentoring for area youth, and in 2019 added The Collaboratory of Virginia, a coworking space specifically for nonprofits.
A $5.3 million project announced in 2019 would convert 38,000 square feet of the building into the Collaboratory of Virginia coworking space for nonprofits. (BizSense file photo)
In an update in late June, UTurn told members that it was in negotiations with Hill City to buy the 160,000-square-foot building, which was converted into an indoor sports facility with support from donors including Tom and Nancy Chewning, according to UTurn’s website.
“After many months of prayer and conversation, we are pleased to announce that the UTurn facility is transitioning ownership to Hill City Church,” read the June 30 update on UTurn’s website. “Hill City has been an integral partner with UTurn since 2014 and has maintained a vision to serve the Richmond community in many ways that are consistent with the UTurn mission and legacy.”
Wagler said it would take a few months to finalize plans for The Commons RVA.
“The Commons is something that is going to be birthed out of Hill City and (we) have had a general vision for it even before we started the church. The two things that are going to take some time to develop are what is happening with the building and the full articulation of what The Commons will be,” Wagler said, describing both as being intertwined.
The property sale follows a subdividing of the UTurn property that is making way for an apartment building next door. A 1.8-acre portion of the property was subdivided last year and sold for $1.8 million to local developer Fulton Hill Properties, which is planning a seven-story building with more than 250 apartments at the intersection of Thalbro and Westmoreland streets.
Last month, the Henrico Planning Commission supported a request from Fulton Hill to add 15 units to the building using additional acreage on the east side of the site that it acquired since the project was approved last year. The additional units would bring the total number of apartments to 268. A permit request for that change is set to go before county supervisors at their meeting this Tuesday.
What happens to the proceeds of the sale? U-Turn is a non-profit that will cease to exist, it sounds like.
Good question; I would assume they have some debts from the facility and improvements they made. Their last tax filing as a non-profit (IRS form 990) was in 2019 so they are behind and probably like Monroe Park Conservancy and EnRichmond. 2019 forms shows they were ran a debt each year, loosing $300k a year, and down to $3.7M in assets/cash so take out the building and add in the pandemic I bet they sold as they ran out of cash.