A roughly 1,300-square-foot house is currently on the site on Robious Road. (Mike Platania photo)
A longtime local insurance broker-turned-developer is taking on his biggest project yet near a prominent Chesterfield intersection.
Mike Sanford recently filed for a rezoning request to construct Robious Landing, a 70-unit apartment complex at 11229 Robious Road.
The new development would rise on a mostly wooded 2.25-acre parcel just east of Robious’ intersection with Huguenot Road, wedged between a storage facility and the nearly 400-unit Clairmont at Chesterfield apartments.
Mike Sanford
Sanford’s main line of business is Sanford Insurance, which brokers business insurance policies throughout much of the Eastern Seaboard.
He started the insurance business in the late ’80s before getting into real estate about 10 years ago.
“I’ve done pretty much only small projects. We’ve built houses, flips and stuff like that,” Sanford said, noting that he’s also tried to strategically pick up land throughout Central Virginia.
“I’ve got property up near Charlottesville, Richmond, Henrico, Hanover and Goochland. I’ve even got property out in Blackstone,” he said. “We’ve got parcels all over the place, and what my objective is now is to start developing these parcels.”
Sanford bought the Robious Road land in 2021 for $425,000. It currently houses a derelict, one-story building, which is set to be razed to make way for Robious Landing.
The complex would total 70 units spread across a trio of 3-story buildings, with 46 one-bedroom units and 24 two-bedrooms. Planned amenities include a pool and 125-space parking lot.
The land is currently zoned for agricultural uses and Sanford recently filed a rezoning request to green-light the project. He said he was initially planning for Robious Landing to be a mixed-use project.
“I was trying to have commercial (space) on the bottom floor and apartments on the two floors above. (The county) didn’t like the commercial part. So we changed it to all apartments,” Sanford said.
A drawing of one of the buildings at Robious Landing. (Courtesy Mike Sanford)
Appich Architects is the project designer and real estate attorney Jack R. Wilson III is handling the rezoning process, which Sanford said he’s hoping to get underway sometime this fall.
The project’s estimated cost is $20 million, making it Sanford’s biggest real estate project to date.
“It’s exciting and a little scary, but I think if you’ve got a good plan, that’s the secret,” Sanford said. “I think we’ve got the right people on the project and the right plan, so I think it’ll be very successful.”
About two miles to the east near Bon Air, a developer from out of town is planning an additional 300-plus apartments at 1145 Old Bon Air Road.
A roughly 1,300-square-foot house is currently on the site on Robious Road. (Mike Platania photo)
A longtime local insurance broker-turned-developer is taking on his biggest project yet near a prominent Chesterfield intersection.
Mike Sanford recently filed for a rezoning request to construct Robious Landing, a 70-unit apartment complex at 11229 Robious Road.
The new development would rise on a mostly wooded 2.25-acre parcel just east of Robious’ intersection with Huguenot Road, wedged between a storage facility and the nearly 400-unit Clairmont at Chesterfield apartments.
Mike Sanford
Sanford’s main line of business is Sanford Insurance, which brokers business insurance policies throughout much of the Eastern Seaboard.
He started the insurance business in the late ’80s before getting into real estate about 10 years ago.
“I’ve done pretty much only small projects. We’ve built houses, flips and stuff like that,” Sanford said, noting that he’s also tried to strategically pick up land throughout Central Virginia.
“I’ve got property up near Charlottesville, Richmond, Henrico, Hanover and Goochland. I’ve even got property out in Blackstone,” he said. “We’ve got parcels all over the place, and what my objective is now is to start developing these parcels.”
Sanford bought the Robious Road land in 2021 for $425,000. It currently houses a derelict, one-story building, which is set to be razed to make way for Robious Landing.
The complex would total 70 units spread across a trio of 3-story buildings, with 46 one-bedroom units and 24 two-bedrooms. Planned amenities include a pool and 125-space parking lot.
The land is currently zoned for agricultural uses and Sanford recently filed a rezoning request to green-light the project. He said he was initially planning for Robious Landing to be a mixed-use project.
“I was trying to have commercial (space) on the bottom floor and apartments on the two floors above. (The county) didn’t like the commercial part. So we changed it to all apartments,” Sanford said.
A drawing of one of the buildings at Robious Landing. (Courtesy Mike Sanford)
Appich Architects is the project designer and real estate attorney Jack R. Wilson III is handling the rezoning process, which Sanford said he’s hoping to get underway sometime this fall.
The project’s estimated cost is $20 million, making it Sanford’s biggest real estate project to date.
“It’s exciting and a little scary, but I think if you’ve got a good plan, that’s the secret,” Sanford said. “I think we’ve got the right people on the project and the right plan, so I think it’ll be very successful.”
About two miles to the east near Bon Air, a developer from out of town is planning an additional 300-plus apartments at 1145 Old Bon Air Road.
For people that rag on the blandness of the elevations in the City, at least it isn’t this blandness from the 90’s.
Good luck on that development, but I sure as heck hope that isn’t the final architectural look, VERY uninspired. Additionally, Chesterfield needs to do something about the corridor coming in from Robious up to Huguenot. It’s already a hot mess, and if this is built, it will only add to the traffic issues there.
$20M for 70 units? $285k/unit? At $2k/month in rent you need a 5% cap to get that valuation back. Those same 70 units cost us $4M and we’re getting the same rents. Need more affordable housing, nothing in Richmond is sub-$2k/month now.
I hope they put in the same 8 to 10 foot wide sidewalk like the one across the street and replace the 5 foot sidewalk in front o fit. They also need pedestrian signals for the Stoplight at Costco and Mall Drive and Robous.
A properity like this should bring in at least $200,000 to $300,000 in taxes to Chesterfeild so the county should have the funds to put this in.