City Council delays vote on Westhampton Pastry Shop redevelopment

A rendering of the proposed building at the corner of Patterson and Libbie avenues. (BizSense file photos)

The future of two different projects along Patterson Avenue went in two different directions at last night’s Richmond City Council meeting. 

Council delayed a decision on the proposed redevelopment of the Westhampton Pastry Shop building at 5728 Patterson Ave.  

The proposal would see the existing, 1940s-era building replaced with a four-story commercial building, with restaurant and retail space on the ground floor below three floors of office space. 

The development team has said that Westhampton Pastry Shop’s current building has reached an age where it needs to be replaced, and that the long-standing bakery would be retained as a tenant in the new building. 

The proposal has faced some neighborhood pushback as some have complained about potential parking and traffic concerns. Some of those locals spoke against the development at last week’s Planning Commission meeting, where the Commission voted to recommend approving the project. 

City Council chose to delay its vote on the matter until its Feb. 24 meeting. 

Superstars Pizza’s owner is planning to take over a vacant former laundromat at Patterson and Roseneath.

Council did vote to approve a proposed deli in the Museum District from one of Westhampton Pastry Shop’s neighbors.

Superstars Pizza owner Taylor Antonelli received council approval for a planned deli a few miles east at 3401 Patterson Ave. Antonelli is now cleared to convert the vacant, former laundromat into a delicatessen and hub for his mobile catering operation, FiftyOne Mobile Kitchen. 

The proposal required amending a previously-approved special-use permit on the site. A coffee chain, PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans had been looking to open its first local location at 3401 Patterson Ave. but those plans fell through. 

Also on Council’s agenda was a real estate disposition plan for the city to sell around 55 acres of surplus land, most of which is in the city’s East End. That item was also continued until council’s Feb. 24 meeting. 

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