BizSense Beat is a weekly collaboration between VPM News and Richmond BizSense that brings you the top business stories during NPR's Morning Edition on Fridays.
Here’s a recap of the top stories for the week of Dec. 8, 2023:
Regency development could extend across Parham with plan for former underpass site
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Jonathan Spiers
The mixed-use redevelopment of Regency mall could spill across the street with an additional project envisioned at the site of what used to be an entrance ramp under Parham Road.
The developers behind the transforming mall have struck a deal with Henrico’s Economic Development Authority to buy the county-owned land at 1401 Eastridge Road, a triangular-shaped lot in the southeast corner of Parham’s intersection with Eastridge and Quioccasin roads, for a mixed-use development that would add to the overall Regency project.
The otherwise undeveloped land totaling just over an acre was previously the site of a vehicular entrance to the mall via a ramp off Eastridge and underpass beneath Parham. The county decommissioned the access road and filled in the tunnel before conveying the property to the EDA in August.
The developers – Rebkee Co. and Thalhimer Realty Partners – are looking to add the site to the larger Regency redevelopment and have it rezoned from conservation use to allow for commercial development under the county’s Urban Mixed-Use Planned Development designation.
Church planning redevelopment of Hull Street road site with 192 apartments, 40 townhomes
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Jonathan Spiers
As an income-based apartment project gets going across the street, a local church led by a state delegate-elect is looking to add to Chesterfield’s housing stock through a collaboration with a national homebuilder.
Village of Faith Ministries, a Sandston-based church with a Southside location in the former movie theater at 11000 Hull Street Road, is planning a redevelopment of the property with nearly 200 apartments and 40 townhomes.
It’s working with D.R. Horton, a Texas-based homebuilder that’s listed as the contract purchaser of the property in plans that were filed with the county last month.
The plans show the front half of the property closer to Hull Street Road would be filled with seven three-story buildings totaling 192 apartments, while the rear half that borders existing residential neighborhoods would be filled with the 40 townhomes.
Former Shaved Duck owner bringing new restaurant to the Fan
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Mike Platania
A storied Fan restaurant space in line to house an Italian restaurant is now set to be the next destination for a Chesterfield restaurateur who’s flying north into the city limits.
Joe Kmetz, who formerly co-owned The Shaved Duck in Midlothian, is preparing to open Trouvaille at 203 N. Lombardy St., the space that in recent years has housed restaurants including Balliceaux, Poor Boys of RVA and cigar bar Brun.
After working in the kitchens of such local spots as Wood & Iron Gameday, The Flyin’ Pig and Tazza Kitchen, Kmetz opened The Shaved Duck Restaurant in 2017 in a retail strip in Westchester Commons before closing it this summer.
Named for the alleyway across the street, Trouvaille will serve a “seasonal menu with a craft cocktail focus,” as Kmetz put it. He said he wants to keep Trouvaille’s menu flexible, an approach he also used at The Shaved Duck.
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