A rendering of the apartment buildings planned for Walmsley Gardens. (Images courtesy Spy Rock)
A reworked plan that will add hundreds of apartments for lower-income renters in South Richmond is progressing following a seven-figure deal.
An entity tied to Crescent Development and Spy Rock Real Estate Group paid over $3 million for the 10-acre site where they’re now planning 344 income-based apartments, 68 more than 276-unit project that the frequent collaborators previously planned at Walmsley and Broad Rock boulevards.
The developers purchased the site in two separate deals that both closed Nov. 14. The 8.3-acre parcel at 4850 Walmsley Blvd. went for $2.5 million, while four parcels at 4818-4838 Walmsley Blvd. sold as a group for $651,000.
The seller in the deals was Chin Ha Kim or an LLC owned by Kim. The larger undeveloped parcel is assessed by the city at $234,000. The four developed parcels totaling just over 2 acres are assessed at $653,000 combined.
A site plan shows the apartments grouped in 10 buildings, with the larger building along Walmsley housing the senior units.
Called Walmsley Gardens, the project along Walmsley just west of Broad Rock is now planned to consist of 216 units for households with incomes at 60 percent of the area median income, and 128 apartments for seniors at 51 to 80 percent AMI.
Crescent’s Zac Frederick said they were able to fit more units into the project with a reworked design that pulls from their Springdale Park project and planned Glenwood Farms redevelopment in Henrico. The units are now housed in 10 buildings, up from seven in the previous plan. A clubhouse and pool also are planned.
Zac Frederick
“It shifted over the months,” Frederick said of Walmsley Gardens. “We had a different design and development approach and created some efficiencies in layout and site plan, and we were able to maximize the site a little bit better and landed on 344 total.”
Frederick also credited Richmond’s Affordable Housing Performance Grant program for making the $88 million project financially possible for the developers. The program provides annual grants to offset a development’s incremental real estate tax burden for an initial 15-year period, with the potential for an additional 15 years of benefit, according to the Richmond Economic Development Authority’s website.
“This is one of the first of the batch to utilize the (grant), and without it, we wouldn’t be able to successfully develop affordable housing,” Frederick said. “I tip my hat to the City of Richmond and the state for having the foresight to work with a tool that really makes a difference, because we wouldn’t even be talking about developing down here at this scale without the” grant.
Preston Lloyd with Williams Mullen represented the developers in the grant process and rezoning of the property.
The project had been previously revised from an earlier proposal that called for nine three-story apartment buildings and a potential commercial or mixed-use component along Walmsley. The two latest iterations have been completely residential.
The building that will house the senior apartments.
The development will replace four houses fronting Walmsley and fill wooded land beside Second Baptist Church and Brookmont Apartments. Frederick said demolition and site work started immediately after closing, and construction is slated to last up to 24 months.
KBS is building the apartments, which are designed by Poole & Poole Architecture. VHB is the civil engineer.
Walmsley Gardens adds to a full slate of projects for Crescent and Spy Rock. In addition to Glenwood Farms, Spy Rock and Crescent earlier this year broke ground on Helios Apartments, a 186-unit solar-powered complex taking shape at the former Days Inn of Richmond site near the Chamberlayne-I-95 interchange.