26-unit Libbie Avenue condo project to start construction this spring

Conceptual elevations show the condo building with varying facades along Libbie Avenue. (BizSense file)

Three years after securing approvals for the project, a development team is about to pull the trigger on more than two dozen new condos in the Libbie-and-Grove area.

Construction is slated to start this spring on a 26-unit condominium development that will replace an existing office building at 417 Libbie Ave.

A group that includes New York-based Urban Generation Living recently applied for city permits to demolish the century-old building, which previously housed Vascular Surgery Associates’ West End office.

The three- and four-story rowhouse-style condos will fill the 0.75-acre property, which is a few doors down from Eagle Construction of VA’s recently completed Row at Westhampton townhomes.

This nearly century-old, 3,700-square-foot building and its parking lot are slated to be razed and redeveloped into 26 condos. (BizSense file photo)

UGL, whose local work includes the condo conversion of the former One Monument Avenue complex on Stuart Circle, is working with a group that includes local businessman Stuart Cantor. The group has enlisted Clint Mann of D.C.-based Urban Pace to handle marketing and sales for the condos.

Mann said the group has been refining the project since securing city approvals and purchasing the property in 2022. An LLC affiliated with UGL paid $3.5 million for the site, which the city assessed that year at $2.6 million. It’s currently assessed at about $3.7 million.

Clint Mann

“We’ve been working very diligently on refining the plan, the interior finishes, the amenity package, making sure that the product we’re delivering meets expectations of the consumers,” Mann said. He said time has also been spent looking at other product that has come on the market, and interviewing potential buyers on what they are desiring.

“A lot of work goes in behind the scenes on projects like this, and we’re now in a position where we can go vertical,” Mann said.

With two to four bedrooms and 2½ to 3½ bathrooms, the homes are planned to range in size from 2,000 to 2,500 square feet, with penthouses ranging from 4,400 to 4,900 square feet. Eight units will fill each of the three main floors, with two elevators providing access to a parking garage.

Mann said pricing for the homes will start around $1.4 million. The price point is comparable to Eagle’s Row at Westhampton townhomes, which have all sold at prices ranging from $1.3 million to $1.9 million for the street-facing units.

The building’s configuration along Libbie, with eight condos filling each of the three main floors.

Baskervill is designing the condos, which Mann said would be delivered in late 2026 if construction goes according to schedule. He said the group is in talks with a local builder and should be finalizing a contract in the next few months, when he said new renderings of the units would be released as part of marketing that will include a website.

He said the cost of the project, to be called “417 Libbie,” has not been finalized.

“It’s really going to be the nicest condominium product ever delivered in Richmond,” said Mann, who said he’s familiar with the market and previously helped market the condos at Rocketts Landing. “We’ve put a lot of thought and design in this, hiring Baskervill to do the interiors, and spared no expense to make sure that the interiors exceed expectations at all levels.”

Mann, who spent a year at the University of Richmond and has led Urban Pace, a Long & Foster affiliate, since 2017, said the market has shown demand for higher-end condos in that part of the West End. Across the street from Eagle’s townhomes is the 14-unit Tiber condos, and the area also has seen condos added via several infill developments and the Westhampton on Grove development.

“I think there’s real demand,” Mann said. “If anything, our efforts to reach out to the community, do focus groups and listen for feedback has just affirmed our understanding and belief that there is a missing piece of the market and there is demand for this. This is a location people want to live in, and these are the types of homes that people have expressed interest in.”

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