Henrico rents house it will tear down for road

A house that stands in the way of the Gayton Road extension has an unlikely new tenant: Henrico County.

By paying $1,400 a month to rent the house at 12520 Bacova Drive, the county keeps from paying to relocate anyone else who might rent it.

"This is a fairly large house, seven rooms and a two-car garage," said Jon B. Tracy, director of real property for the county. "There could be all sorts of things we would have to move. In addition, we're trying to negotiate with an owner in acquisition of real property. We don't want to delay it in any possible way. We have a time schedule. They want to start moving earth as soon as possible."

Tracy and a co-owner of the house call the rental agreement a win-win situation.

"It was the best of a bad situation," said Darrell Bowman, who owns the house with Marsha S. Morgan. "It minimizes my losses and minimizes their expenses."

Bowman said he viewed the property as an investment and originally had planned to build three houses there. Meanwhile, he was renting out the house until the previous tenant moved in September.

"I can't have the house vacant while you decide how much to pay for the house," Bowman said.

"As a compromise, I said, 'You pay my mortgage and you can have full access in the meantime.' Basically, it lets them start on the process two or three months sooner."

The current assessment is $327,200, with $140,000 for the land and $187,200 for the house.

Tracy said he hoped the purchase would be final in two or three months. The county will demolish the house to make way for the road.

Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or .