A site plan shows the two apartment buildings and adjacent solar panels that would power the units. (Henrico County documents)
Two years after its remnants were razed, a longtime hotel site at a northern gateway to Richmond could be repositioned as income-based housing, with a solar-power component added to the mix.
An 8-acre property that includes the former Days Inn of Richmond property at 5701 Chamberlayne Road is being proposed for a residential development consisting of 186 lower-income apartments and an adjacent solar field that would power the property.
Behind the project are Richmond developers Spy Rock Real Estate Group and Crescent Development, which have collaborated on several projects in the city and are redeveloping the former Henrico Plaza Shopping Center in Henrico.
Zac Frederick
Crescent principal Zachery Frederick said the Chamberlayne site came to his attention when Henrico County demolished what was left of the former hotel in 2021, after declaring the property derelict two years earlier.
“I reached out to the owner and pinged them every six months, and finally they realized it was time to sell,” Frederick said. “Luckily I was able to get it under contract and apply the vision to it.”
That vision includes two buildings – one four stories tall and the other three stories – that would house the apartments. The buildings would be similar in style to The Ella, Spy Rock’s mixed-use development on part of the UMFS campus that’s shown in the plans as a sample building elevation.
A sample building elevation included in the plans shows The Ella, Spy Rock’s mixed-use development on part of the UMFS campus in Richmond.
The plans also show a detached office/clubhouse building, surface parking around the buildings and the solar field, which would fill an adjacent parcel to the south with six rows of solar panels.
The one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments would range in size from about 650 to 1,200 square feet and be targeted to households earning 60 percent of the area median income. Frederick said the project would involve low-income housing tax credits and solar credits provided by the federal Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, which encourages investments in domestic and clean energy.
“The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act has allowed us to really boost the incentives to use solar and renewable energy, so on that 2-acre parcel we plan to put nothing but solar panels that will power the 186 units exclusively,” Frederick said.
The developers are under contract to buy the two parcels that make up the site pending zoning and permit approvals from Henrico. Requests for rezoning and a provisional-use permit are set to go before the county Planning Commission at its meeting tonight (Thursday).
The former Days Inn of Richmond site was razed in 2021. (Jonathan Spiers photo)
The 6-acre hotel site – across Chamberlayne from the Exit 82 off-ramp for Interstate 95 northbound – is owned by Chesapeake Veterans Home LLC, a Virginia Beach-based entity that bought it in 2015 for $1 million. The 2-acre parcel at 5700 Crenshaw Road is owned by Ashley Terrace Realty LLC, tied to the owner of the next-door Ashley Terrace Apartments.
Henrico has assessed the two parcels at about $1.2 million combined.
The larger parcel originally housed the Virginia Inn, a hotel also known as Virginia Interstate Inn or Schrafft’s Virginia Inn. Built in 1963, the original structure totaled 101 rooms and was expanded by 90 rooms in 1972, according to notes on the county’s property record.
The hotel became a Best Western in 1980 and was later split into two hotels, a Red Roof Inn and a Quality Inn, around the turn of the century. The Red Roof Inn was later converted to a Ramada, and the Days Inn closed in 2014. The property is adjacent to a Super 8 by Wyndham hotel that remains in operation.
An undated postcard shows the Schrafft’s Virginia Inn that once filled the site. (Pinterest account image)
After the property was deemed derelict in 2019, the county instituted a real estate tax abatement program to stimulate the site’s redevelopment, according to the rezoning application. The county also placed liens on the property to recoup its demolition costs, according to the application, which states that the purchase price for the property would cover payment to the county to satisfy the liens.
County planners are supportive of the project but recommend deferring the case from Thursday’s meeting because of questions regarding fencing and buffering around the property. Hirschler attorney Jeff Geiger is representing the developers in their requests.
Frederick did not provide a cost estimate for the project, which the developers working on with engineering firm VHB. He described the project as challenging to pull off in a market in need of more housing options.
“It’s very difficult to build affordable housing,” Frederick said. “The tools provided through the Inflation Reduction Act have really made it a little bit easier, but we’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got and we’re getting creative.
“There’s still a lot more needed to solve the affordable housing crisis. We’re able to pull it off because of things like the IRA, but still, more is needed to truly provide quality, safe, affordable housing for the folks who need it most,” he said.
The apartments would add to other residential development in the works along that stretch of Chamberlayne. To the south, StyleCraft Homes is planning 160 townhomes on a wooded site on the east side of Chamberlayne between the post office and Azalea Avenue.
The project also would be the latest redevelopment plan for a former roadside hotel in that part of the county. Farther north along Brook Road, Middleburg Communities is planning to replace the Knights Inn motel with more than 300 apartments and townhomes.
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