A site plan shows the 12 buildings that would fill the 10-acre site east of Pemberton Road and north of Mayland Drive. (BizSense file)
A condo development in western Henrico is slated to get underway early next year after a new development group closed on the site in a recent eight-figure deal.
The 264-unit Flats at Mayland condos planned on 10 acres at Mayland Drive and Pemberton Road is expected to start construction in the first quarter of 2025, following a $10 million land deal by a new group that includes the same developers as before but with additional partners.
The previous group, Legacy Mayland LLC, consisted of Legacy Land Development founders Cindy Weinstock and father and daughter Bill and Tracey Johnson, along with Chad Joyce, who worked with Legacy Land when he was a division manager with NVR, parent company of Ryan Homes.
Joyce, now with Henrico-based Virginia Commonwealth Capital, said the new development group, Brandyminster Properties LLC, consists of the same foursome and two additional partners, who Joyce said didn’t want to be named.
The new group closed Dec. 10 on the $10 million purchase, which comes out to about $1 million per acre. The previous group had paid $3.36 million for the five parcels that make up the 10-acre site when it purchased the land last year.
Chad Joyce
Joyce said the jump in price reflects the site’s increased value since the land was rezoned for the project, the cost for which he has put at about $80 million.
When the land sold in August 2023, a month after it was rezoned, the parcels were assessed by the county at upwards of $1.5 million combined, according to Henrico property records that did not include a 2023 assessment for one of the five parcels.
This year, the five parcels’ combined assessment more than tripled to $4.9 million combined.
“We added value through getting it rezoned,” said Joyce, whose Joyce Realty firm is involved in the project.
Joyce left NVR in 2022 after 25 years, during which time he collaborated with the Johnsons and Weinstock on projects when they were with the former Atack Properties, which Legacy Land spawned off from several years ago. Weinstock has described Ryan Homes as Legacy Land’s preferred builder.
Joyce said the approval process for the Mayland project has taken longer than expected but that they expect to break ground on the project early next year. They previously had aimed to start construction over the summer.
“We should be under construction in the first quarter. I’m waiting on one more VDOT approval,” Joyce said.
Each of the four-story buildings would house 24 condos.
Reduced from an initial proposal for 288 units, the 264 condos will range in size from 1,100 to 1,500 square feet and include two bedrooms and two bathrooms, Joyce said. Prices will be set in the high-$300,000s to low-$400,000s.
The condos will span a dozen four-story buildings, and the development also will include a central recreation area, a 2,000-square-foot community center and about 350 parking spaces. Amenities could also include a dog park, gazebo, pavilion, pergola or fire pit.
Joyce said the group is close to signing a builder but hadn’t formalized a contract as of Tuesday. The project’s designs last year were based on plans by Ryan Homes, though Joyce said at the time that the Reston-based builder was not signed onto the project. Youngblood, Tyler & Associates is handling engineering work.
Joyce said the project likely would take about four years to complete, as the buildings will be built as units are sold.
Legacy Land’s developments include Pemberton Ridge, a 24-home subdivision built by Ryan Homes along Pemberton about a mile south of the Flats at Mayland site. The Henrico-based firm also developed Westlake Heights, a 120-home subdivision beside Powhite Park in South Richmond. Virginia Commonwealth Capital, which Joyce co-owns with fellow NVR/Ryan former manager Bob Lewis, developed Huguenot Manor, a gated subdivision in Powhatan.
There is a huge demand awaiting this development and it’ll sell well. Great location for it. It’s not surprising that VDOT is the holdup. It would be great if the Governor would shake things up in that agency to move it through the approvals more expeditiously. The state no longer builds roads. It needs to allow others to do their part in improving them.