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BizSense Beat: January 17, 2025

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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 January 17, 2025:

Ms. Bee’s Juice Bar finalizes move from its storefront in Northside to a location in Jackson Ward
Reported by BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers

Owner Brandi Battle-Brown hasn’t forgotten about the custom-designed parklet that remains in front of her old store.

The once-controversial, honeycomb-shaped parklet from Ms. Bee’s old space on Brookland Park Boulevard is moving to a new location at 323 N. Adams St. — a spot previously home to Saison Market.

Battle-Brown also owns the adjacent Hive Bar & Grill at Adams and Marshall in Jackson Ward and has secured city approval to relocate the old parklet.

The parking space-sized patio is one of seven that popped up in Richmond as an open-air dining option during the pandemic, when indoor dining was restricted.

A city-funded program provided five parklets to several eligible businesses, while two other parklets – Ms. Bee’s and another at Jackson Ward gallery Art180 – were funded separately with grants and private funds.

 

A $2.4 million land purchase paves the way for a wave of new townhomes in Westchester Commons
Reported by BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers

StyleCraft, a developer based in Lakeside, purchased 4.5 acres within a shopping center at Route 288 and Midlothian Turnpike.

The company is planning to build 94 more units, adding to 108 homes being built nearby in the same area beside the Panera Bread and Bank of America branch.

Sixty-five of those initial homes have been built so far and 40 have been sold, with an average sale price of about $540,000.

The company plans to break ground on the remaining 43 homes in the first phase this spring, while the 94 homes that will finish out the housing units dubbed The Edge, are scheduled for development in mid-2026.

The effort to make movie watching at The Byrd Theatre a little more comfortable is officially underway.

 

Carytown’s century-old cinema begins work to replace its balcony seating.
Reported by BizSense’s Jackie DiBartolomeo

In 2017, the theater launched the Byrd’s Pull Up A Seat campaign,which seeks to raise money to not only replace the balcony, replace the seats in the side sections of the theater, as well as add two additional ADA-accessible platforms inside.

Patrons and donors helped to fund the project, which is projected to cost around $650,000. Local construction company Daniel & Company is the general contractor for the project.

The theater received a $315,000 donation from Byrd Theatre Foundation Board of Directors chair Martin Davenport back in October that was earmarked for the seat replacement project.

The donation covers all costs for seat replacement in the balcony. Around $554,000 has been raised as of the end of December, leaving roughly $96,000 in donor support still needed to complete the project.

The theater will remain open during the renovation.

 

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Lyndon German covers Henrico and Hanover counties for VPM News.