A parking lot next to Shockoe Bottom’s most notorious nightclub is getting a $22 million makeover.
Longtime local developer Louis Salomonsky is planning a 124-unit apartment development on a lot adjacent to Have a Nice Day Cafe.
Salomonsky told BizSense on Wednesday that the project, called Canal Lofts IV, would be slightly more up-market than his other three Canal Loft buildings, and that he is aiming for a more affluent tenant.
“We plan to raise the bar a bit in Shockoe Bottom,” Salomonsky said.
The development will feature one three-bedroom, 39 two-bedroom and 84 one-bedroom apartments and a three-story parking deck with about 320 parking spaces, according to permits filed with City Hall. Between the parking deck and the apartments, it will be an almost 200,000-square-foot structure.
Salomonsky gave a ballpark estimate of almost $22 million for the apartments. Historic Housing, which Salomonsky co-owns with David White, is close to a deal with a lender for the project, but Salomonsky wouldn’t comment on which bank would finance the project until it’s settled.
Salomonsky’s companies, SWA Construction and SWA Architects, will work the project. Bacon Housing is the property owner, and Main Street Realty will manage the property. All those companies are subsidiaries of Historic Housing.
Once the new project is complete, Historic Housing will operate almost 900 apartments in Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom, Salomonsky said.
Salomonsky said that the proximity to Have a Nice Day Cafe, which has been the source of some ill will among owners in the Bottom, wouldn’t drive away tenants. But he said the owners of the nightclub should keep their operation from causing problems in the neighborhood.
“They are going to need to run a good operation there if they want to stay in business,” Salomonsky said.
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I wonder how losing 100+ parking spaces will impact things down there.
“ShockED Bottom”… Freudian Slip?
Living next door to Have a Nice Day? Yea, NO THANKS!
No way in hell anyone will pay a premium to live there. It’s the loudest block in the Bottom and there are all kinds of crazy people wondering the streets late at night. Epic fail!
I expect this developed will be installing bullet-proof windows to protect his occupants from the surrounding environment.
Hopefully more development like this will be primary catalyst to getting rid of HAND, or at least forcing it to change for the better.
great idea. Hope they put retail on the bottom floor – that’s the best way to improve the bottom, and thus protect their investment.
Retail gives the Bottom a reason to exist, puts people on the street, and thereby makes the area safer and more desirable. Its a positive feedback loop. Without retail, its just a congested development with bad parking.
And yes, I include restaurants etc. in that. Anything where people will go “I’m glad I live there so I can walk to X and don’t have to look for parking”.
There’s no way to compete with Short Pump on the soulless boring hellhole front – it owns that. Shockoe can compete on the basis of being fun and interesting, and urban. The suburbs will always do suburbia better.
I think this is great news. This is one of the worst blocks in the Bottom that needs help. Lots of lighting and people walking around helps to get rid of crime quicker than anything. If the city would just put some more street lamps up, it would go a long way. Seems to me that the next boom will be in parking garages. There are plenty of empty lots in the Bottom. I would like to propose a multistory parking deck with a decent grocery store on the first floor.
Great news ….thanks for investing in Richmond.
so i guess Bitoo(sp?) wants to get out of the parking lot business in that block. or maybe hes just had enough of the guys from HAND.
Glad to see the project, but I hope the design fits in with the historic neighborhood. At least the rendering in the article show the parking deck (2 stories) behind the a some retail space on Main Street.
A high end development with excess parking on a vacant and ugly lot in the heart of Shockoe Bottom is a great thing. It is wonderful to see $22 million in private development in our city. Good luck with the project.
I think developing that eyesore, empty parking lot will do a lot of good for Shockoe Bottom. I am looking forward to seeing that space transformed into an attractive and productive space. Best of luck!
The area could use some investment, and I think there’s a healthy number of people who want to live in a real downtown area as opposed to the fan. It’s too bad that ‘raising the bar’ doesn’t seem to involve a decent design.