Future apartment development site near Diamond District sells for nearly $9M

An embroidery company previously operated on the site. (Mike Platania photo)

A planned multifamily project near The Diamond looks to be moving forward, possibly with a new developer at the plate.

Earlier this month the 3.4-acre plot at 1613 Ownby Lane sold for $8.75 million, city records show. 

While the land had been eyed for more than a year by D.C.-based Capital City Real Estate for a five-story, 314-unit apartment building dubbed “The Porter,” the buyer in the Aug. 13 sale was an entity tied to Mid-America Apartment Communities. 

Mid-America is based in Memphis, Tennessee, and owns about 300 apartment communities nationwide, most of which are in the Southeast. Its seven local holdings include the MAA West Creek near the intersection of Broad Street Road and State Route 288, and the MAA Pavilion Place apartments near Genito Road and Charter Colony Parkway in Chesterfield. 

A rendering of the site’s proposed development. (Courtesy Newmark)

It’s unclear whether Capital City is still involved in the project. The firm, which entered the Richmond market with the Commodore development in Manchester, did not respond to requests for comment. Mid-America could not be reached. 

Regardless of who will lead the project, The Porter looks to be moving forward. Its plan of development was approved by the city late last year and in recent weeks a slew of demolition and building permits have been filed for the project. 

The land sale was brokered by Newmark’s Garrison Gore, Victoria Pickett and Charles Wentworth. A one-story warehouse sits on the plot, which the city most recently assessed at $4.5 million. The seller was Vatex Corp., an embroidery firm that had owned the property since 1985 when it bought it for $2 million. 

The site is near the future Diamond District, which has shown plenty of forward momentum this summer. It’s also near VCU’s planned Athletic Village, demolition for which recently got underway with the razing of the former Greyhound bus maintenance center at 2701 Hermitage Road. 

Across Hermitage Road from the Ownby Lane site is the old Cobb Lumber facility, which Breeden Construction is planning to redevelop into a six-story, mixed-use project. Construction on that development has yet to begin. 

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