Shockoe Bottom area adds apartments

By: Will Jones | Times-Dispatch
Published: May 27, 2009

The developers of the proposed Shockoe Center ballpark project aren't the only ones seeing a strong demand for housing in Shockoe Bottom.

As the first units of a 351-unit apartment complex are set to hit the market this summer, at least two other projects are queuing up for the area east of downtown Richmond and VCU Medical Center.

Those three projects would total about 625 units on top of the 250 apartments and 60 condominiums that are planned for Shockoe Center. In addition, the 65-unit Raven Place Apartments, at East Broad Street and Oliver Hill Way, opened last summer.

"There's just a big demand downtown," particularly near Virginia Commonwealth University's medical campus, said Matt Coyner, who is part of a group working to develop about 200 apartments near the McDonald's at 18th and East Broad streets.

That project, tentatively called the Cedar Broad apartments, also would include a parking deck and ground-level retail space.

In addition, a 74-unit apartment complex is planned a few blocks to the east, at 21st and Broad.

A special-use permit request was filed this month on behalf of 2001 East Broad LLC for the 0.7-acre industrially zoned site, across from Trinity Methodist Church. A representative of 2001 East Broad did not return several messages left last week.

The 21st and Broad Apartments would consist of four floors of apartments above a ground floor that would include a lobby and commercial space. The project also would have below-ground parking, according to plans filed with the city.

The project has not yet been scheduled for public hearings by the Planning Commission and City Council.

The Raven Place Apartments opened last summer and are almost fully occupied, said Michael Hunt, who runs Genesis Properties, the management company for Raven Place.

Hunt said the economic downturn has caused a slight drop in occupancy rates for the company's 500 or so apartments in the downtown area, but he remains optimistic about housing in the Bottom, particularly if Shockoe Center is built.

"I think the ballpark would be a tremendous asset for that area" and another draw for young professionals, Hunt said.

Historic Housing is getting ready to open the first 37 units of the Atrium Lofts at Cold Storage. The former Richmond Cold Storage warehouses are being renovated into 351 apartments and other uses. Historic Housing also has been identified as the potential apartment developer for Shockoe Center.

"I think if Shockoe Center happens, then this neighborhood becomes the center of the universe," said Brian White, co-manager of Historic Housing.

John Johnson, president of the Church Hill Association, has been monitoring the Bottom's gradual changes and wonders whether the city is taking stock of the cumulative effect on traffic and city services.

"If you look at the map, the growth of the city is east," he said.

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.