The 10-story building, as it would appear from the Wawa parking lot next door, would include eight stories of apartments above a two-story podium parking deck. (Images courtesy of Henrico County)
A wave of redevelopment started by Libbie Mill-Midtown is getting ready to spill over across Staples Mill Road.
Joe Marchetti Jr.
A local group led by Joe Marchetti Jr. is planning a 10-story building with 240 apartments that would replace an existing two-story building at 2369 Staples Mill Road. The 1.6-acre site sits just south of the Wawa and across from the Libbie Mill building that includes Shagbark restaurant.
At 10 stories in height, the building would be among the tallest residential structures in Henrico County, nearly rivaling the 12-story 5100 Monument Ave. condos tower beside Willow Lawn.
Plans call for eight floors of apartments above a two-story podium parking deck and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space that would front Staples Mill. The U-shaped apartment tower would partially enclose an amenity area atop the podium structure.
The new structure would replace the existing Holland Business Center, a 1950s-era office and warehouse building that’s currently home to Virginia Endoscopy Center, which leases the property.
Marchetti, whose Holland Associates LLC has owned the property since 1999, said the redevelopment would not go forward until Virginia Endoscopy Center’s lease expires. He would not say how long the medical clinic has left on its lease.
County property records show the LLC purchased the site for $1 million. The county most recently assessed the property at $2 million.
“The best way to describe this is future land planning,” Marchetti said of the project, which he said would follow the momentum of Gumenick Properties’ Libbie Mill and other new development nearby.
“We looked out several years to determine what was the highest and best use of the property, and following the trend of what’s going on with the new Tapestry project that’s attached to the Kinsale headquarters, and the success that Gumenick is having with Libbie Mill, we thought we’d follow suit with something that would blend in with where the future development for this corridor is going,” he said.
The courtyard would include a pool and other amenities on top of the podium-style parking deck.
Like the nearby Tapestry West Apartments and Kinsale Capital Group building, which Marchetti consulted on, the Staples Mill site is included within Henrico’s Westwood Redevelopment Overlay District. The county established the designation to permit multifamily residential development in the transforming area between Staples Mill and Westwood Avenue on the north side of Broad Street.
Marchetti’s group is seeking a provisional-use permit that would allow the project in the district. A request to the Planning Commission that was deferred last month was scheduled to go before it at its meeting this Thursday, though Marchetti said the case would be deferred again.
County planning staff had requested a parking analysis that the group has since provided, but is recommending deferral again to allow the group time to provide more details about site and landscaping design, including details in relation to county fire services.
Called 2369 Lofts, the market-rate apartments would consist of 184 one-bedroom units, 32 two-bedrooms and 24 studios. The southward-facing amenity area on top of the podium structure would include a courtyard with a pool, grills and a picnic area, firepits, and a dog run.
The site is currently home to Virginia Endoscopy Center. (Jonathan Spiers photo)
Baskervill is the architect on the project, and engineering firm Timmons Group conducted the parking analysis, which said the project would need fewer than the 240 parking spaces required by the county. The analysis said between 188 and 215 spaces would be needed, depending on whether the commercial space is used as office or retail.
Marchetti said the building would feature some green development components that would be detailed when the project is closer to moving forward. He said it’s too early to estimate the project’s cost.
An executive with Colliers International, Marchetti said the commercial real estate firm is not involved in the project. In addition to the Kinsale building, Marchetti has been involved in other developments around town, including the Innslake Place apartments that effectively kicked off a wave of infill development projects in Innsbrook.
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