Mike Platania 17
The 23-acre plot is currently a wooded area off Rady Street. (Google Earth)
Hundreds of apartments for lower income residents are on the drawing board for the Northside as an out-of-town real estate firm continues to go big in Richmond.
Elmington, a Nashville, Tennessee-based developer, has filed plans to build up to 400 apartments on a 23-acre parcel at 2811 Rady St. near the Six Points neighborhood.
The units would be available for residents earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. If approved, the project would be one of the highest-density housing developments for lower income renters in the city in recent years.
It’s one of two major housing developments Elmington is pursuing in Richmond. A few weeks ago the company announced plans for a 260-unit low-income project at 2201 McDonough St. on the Southside.
The company is seeking a special-use permit to greenlight the Rady Street development, which would reach four stories high. Further specs weren’t outlined in its plans.
Elmington spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
The Rady Street development, like the McDonough Street project, would be under the Elmington Affordable brand. The company also has multifamily, senior living and construction divisions.
The 23-acre wooded site on Rady is zoned industrial and owned by Fredericksburg-based Payne Trucking, which also wasn’t available for comment.
The parcel is designated for industrial use in the city’s Richmond 300 master plan, but Elmington notes in its SUP application that it is close to the Six Points neighborhood, which the plan designates for “more neighborhood services and residential uses.”
“While this project does not align with the recommended industrial designation, it fulfills other objectives in the Master Plan, most importantly, the creation of affordable housing,” Elmington writes in its application.
Williams Mullen’s Preston Lloyd is representing Elmington in the entitlement process for both the Rady Street and McDonough Street proposals.
Elsewhere in Northside, Virginia Supportive Housing is planning to build a four-story, 83-unit affordable housing development across the street at 2900 Rady St., and a few blocks to the west is the former Mizpah Presbyterian Church, which is being redeveloped into a 66-unit, income-restricted development.
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Bruce Milam
2 days ago
Another proposal to put all the “low income” in one area instead of finding a way to disperse these low earners across a wider geography through real estate tax abatements. It’s the LIHTC way of creating instant ghettos (although admittedly most of these apartments are quite well appointed). I just think there’s a better way.
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Michael Morgan-Dodson
2 days ago
Reply toBruce Milam
It’s also in an area that subject to routine flooding. I’m gonna be very interested to see the site layout and storm water plan.
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Peter James
1 day ago
Reply toMichael Morgan-Dodson
Oy vey – that’s concerning. I hope the developers plan and design properly for this – otherwise quite a few families could be at risk.
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Christopher Baker
17 hours ago
Reply toMichael Morgan-Dodson
Isn’t there a creek/ravine back there?
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Brett Themore
2 days ago
Never trust a Special Use Permit. The intent of these as stated in the application is to fix underlying zoning issues that cannot be met. That should primarily be used for a change of use, not to increase height, or set backs, those can almost always be met. They may not want to be met by a owner or developer, because hey… More, height, less setbacks generally means more units, more revenue and more profit. The expense comes at the surrounding neighbors. It’s time the city tighten the SUP process.
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David Humphrey
1 day ago
Reply toBrett Themore
SUPs are used on a case by case basis and take into the account the surrounding uses. So, when you say the neighbors in this case, I ask what neighbors are they impacting more? Which is exactly why I think they consider it here.
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Brett Themore
1 day ago
Reply toDavid Humphrey
SUP’s may take into account they surrounding uses, unfortunately they rarely take into account the surrounding scale, density, character, or existing zoning patterns. Sure, this location has fewer direct neighbors, but it should fit in as part of the neighborhood. Just look at he surrounding development pattern – single family detached. Now an SUP development with consideration to a neighborhood, should limit height to 35′, match setbacks, utilize massing that although more dense, may be duplexes, 2 over 2, 2 over 3, or smaller scale multifamily resembling the existing development pattern. Instead, what will be proposed here is several 4-5…Read more »
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Reply toBrett Themore
Respectfully, where are you getting “4-5 story mega apartment blocks”? There have been no renderings published yet, and the only specs we have at this point is that the buildings “would” reach 4 stories – and very often when looking ahead at planned development, unless there’s something etched in stone, we can often translate “would” into “could” — which means until we know more, it’s not definite. Yes, 400 units on 23 acres is pretty dense – but how many of these will be 1-bedroom apartments?
Do you have inside information that we don’t?
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Brett Themore
22 hours ago
Reply toPeter James
Yes, neighborhood presentations by the developer.
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Peter James
53 seconds ago
Reply toBrett Themore
They had actual rendering that are not being more broadly published? You were actually present at public meetings between the developer and neighborhood residents?
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Cameron Holmes
1 day ago
This area would be better as a forested park with Shockoe Creek flowing through it. There’s enough concentrated poverty in the area.
Also there are no such places as a Six Points neighborhood or Northside, Virginia. Who is making this stuff up?
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Peter James
1 day ago
Reply toCameron Holmes
Right – that’s technically Highland Park, no?
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David J. Kupstas
1 day ago
Reply toCameron Holmes
It’s common to refer to areas of Richmond as Northside, South Side, West End, and East End. (I usually see South Side as two words as it relates to Richmond, probably because Southside in Virginia refers to places like Chase City and Emporia.) As for Six Points, I had never heard of it until today, but it does appear to be a common name for that area for a number of years now.
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David Humphrey
1 day ago
Reply toCameron Holmes
There is also technically no such thing as West End or Carytown, Virginia, but yet everyone knows where that is. Sorry you have not heard of Six Points or Northside but I am sure many people in those areas have.
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Camille Robinson
1 day ago
Reply toCameron Holmes
The area is “6 points” where 6 roads come to a point right there. Been keeping my eye on this spot for a while. And because of the “point”, I think the layout is even better suited for dense commercial than more “Brookland Park Blvd” up the street. Don’t know how this new dev will help or hurt that growth.
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Michael Boyer
1 day ago
Always thought that little area though there nothing but a mosquito infested creek bed.
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