Petersburg apartments undergoing upgrades, rebranding after $3M sale

The former Westover Commons apartments on Varina Avenue in Petersburg are now named The Legend at Walnut Hill. (Google Street View image)

A nearly 80-year-old apartment complex in Petersburg’s Walnut Hill neighborhood is undergoing a multimillion-dollar upgrade after getting picked up by two D.C.-area buyers.

WinCor Holding Co. and Rawson Square CRE are working with Artcraft Management, a property manager based in Innsbrook, on a renovation and rebranding of Westover Commons, an 84-unit complex at 1922 Varina Ave. that they’ve renamed The Legend at Walnut Hill.

WinCor and Rawson purchased the 3.5-acre property in late May for just over $3 million. WinCor principal EJ Corwin said the firms plan to put “several million dollars” into the renovation, which is to include unit upgrades and other property renovations.

EJ Corwin

The purchase is the first in the region for Rawson and the second for Corwin, whose portfolio with WinCor includes the 29-unit Fieldcrest Townhomes near Richmond Raceway. Artcraft Management also manages Fieldcrest, which an LLC tied to Corwin purchased in 2023 for $2.3 million.

“Both firms have experience and are interested in the Richmond MSA market, including Petersburg,” said Corwin, who launched WinCor in January. “This was an opportunity for a great, well-located asset that just needed some attention, to provide a better community for the residents.”

Rawson is led by Roberta “Bobby” Bosfield, who launched the firm last year after four years with Linden Property Group in Arlington. Corwin, previously with Structured Investments Group in Maryland and a senior vice president with Wells Fargo before that, said he and Bosfield have both become familiar with Richmond.

“Both of us in previous lives have experience in the Richmond market,” Corwin said.

He said the firms have a focus on investing in and improving lower-priced housing and were alerted to Westover Commons by Greysteel broker Fletcher Hultman, who was marketing the property. Both Westover and Fieldcrest are low-income housing tax credit properties, with Westover’s apartments targeted to renters making 60% of the area median income.

The 800-square-foot units are housed in an assortment of two-story buildings. (Images courtesy Artcraft Management)

The Petersburg apartments were 86% occupied when the transaction closed May 30. The seller was Petersburg Woodale LP, an entity based in Christiansburg that had owned the property since 1999, when it purchased it for $840,000. The entity was tied to Virginia Mountain Housing, now named Community Housing Partners.

Built in 1947, the apartments are housed in two-story buildings on both sides of the southern end of Varina Avenue. The City of Petersburg assessed the property this year at $3.3 million.

Planned improvements include renovations to the two-bedroom, 800-square-foot units, with more substantial upgrades to units that will be marketed as “Legend” apartments. Those units will be enhanced with new cabinets and flooring, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, new fixtures and fully renovated bathrooms.

“Legend” units will be rented at about $1,200 a month, while the other units will rent for $965.

Photos of the renovated kitchens and bathrooms.

Working with local contractors, Artcraft Management has started other work to the property, cleaning up landscaping and walkways and cutting back shrubbery, and power-washing building exteriors and hallways. Artcraft CEO Alethea Parker said roof replacements are getting started, while renovations to the laundry room should wrap up in coming weeks. A new dumpster enclosure and mailboxes also are planned.

Corwin said they’re working with local contractors on the project, which is expected to finish within 18 months.

“This is a great asset that’s just been a little forgotten, and we are really looking to recreate it and provide nice homes for the residents and build out a community,” he said.

The apartments add to others in Petersburg that have changed hands in recent years. In early 2024, local firm Weinstein Properties sold Addison Crater Woods, a 636-unit complex at 200 Addison Way, to an out-of-town group for $95 million.

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