Drive-through soda shop proposed for former Regency-area bank building

A conceptual plan for a new soda shop at 1415 Eastridge Road. (Courtesy Henrico County staff reports)

A drive-through soda shop may soon bubble up in an old bank branch near Regency.

Plans are in the works for part of the 2,500-square-foot former Atlantic Union Bank branch at 1415 Eastridge Road to become the location of a shop called Sodie, according to a rezoning request filed with Henrico County. 

Per the Sodie website, the shop’s “custom-crafted soda creations will bring various flavors and unexpected twists.” However, it’s unclear who’s behind Sodie, as its owners are not listed in the project staff report.

Local attorney Andy Condlin of law firm Roth Jackson is representing the applicant in a request to rezone the 0.67-acre site from B-1 Business District to B-2C Business District to allow for the drive-through restaurant. 

The site sits at the northeast intersection of Eastridge Road and Jesse Senior Drive next to El Caporal Mexican restaurant. 

According to property records, the building was constructed in 1972 and was home to an Atlantic Union Bank branch (then called First Market Bank) from 1998 to 2006, when the building was converted to an office for All American Mortgage Corporation. The property is currently vacant.

The building is still owned by All American Mortgage, county records show, but it is listed for sale and lease on the Colliers website.

The property is located within the county’s “enterprise zone,” which includes contiguous areas identified for commercial revitalization through a program between the Commonwealth of Virginia and several individual localities. 

The Henrico Planning Commission is set to hear Sodie’s rezoning case at its Thursday evening meeting. 

The county’s 2026 comprehensive plan designation for the site is commercial arterial. Staff reports note that the rezoning request is consistent with the designation. 

A conceptual plan for the new Sodie soda shop. (Courtesy Henrico County staff reports)

Per the rezoning application, the Eastridge Road building’s footprint would remain the same. The applicant plans to use only half of the available square footage for the soda shop and leave the other half, which spans around 1,200 square feet, vacant. 

The applicant proposes about a 1,600-square-foot patio area and a walk-up ordering window for the soda shop. An existing drive-through window would also remain, along with the existing drive-through overhang and the two existing drive-through aisles. 

Per the application, the existing lane directly adjacent to the drive-through window would remain the same in its entirety, while the second lane would taper. 

The end of the drive-through would lead out to Eastridge Road as an exit-only egress. The conceptual plan for the soda shop indicates there will be a total of 29 parking spaces. 

Staff reports noted that while the applicant indicates 29 parking spaces is the required amount based on the site’s proposed use, it is “discounting square footage intended to be left vacant.” 

“Should that space be used, the required minimum parking calculations would increase. In addition to minimum parking requirements, staff notes several design challenges affecting traffic flow. For instance, drive-through lanes cannot block or hinder traffic circulation per the code,” the report reads.

The report notes that seven employee parking spaces shown in the concept plan for the soda shop would be in violation of that requirement. 

1415 Eastridge Road. (Courtesy Colliers)

The staff reported that the applicant has proffered some details related to building materials, buffers and trash pickup. 

Other proffers include keeping all landscaped and natural buffer areas along Eastridge Road and Jesse Senior Drive as they exist or as they’re set forward in the concept plan, and limiting construction hours to 7 a.m. through 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. through 6 p.m. on Saturdays and no construction on Sundays. 

However, the report notes that some outstanding questions exist regarding parking design, trash pickup, site landscaping and sidewalks. 

“While the proposed use could be appropriate, staff could be more supportive of this request if these concerns are addressed,” reads the staff report. 

Henrico planning commission members will hear the application on July  10 at 6 p.m. Also on the agenda is a rezoning application from local developer Dorado Capital for a 49-home subdivision near Highland Springs in eastern Henrico. 

The Sodie site sits across the street from 1401 Eastridge Road, where Bank of America is planning a new branch on a triangular-shaped lot across Parham Road from Regency, which used to provide vehicular access to the mall via an underpass that has since been filled.

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