Nonprofit to build 4-story project on East End’s Nine Mile Road with mixed-income apartments, childcare center

Building off what was started with the massive mixed-use development at the 25th Street roundabout, a local nonprofit with ties to that project is looking to keep the momentum going up the Nine Mile Road corridor.

RVA Community Development Corp., a 7-year-old nonprofit focused on Richmond’s East End, is planning a 4-story building with 30 mixed-income apartments above a childcare center at 2708, 2718 and 2720 Nine Mile Road.

The $12 million project was approved Monday by city council, which awarded a special-use permit to allow the building’s height and setback from the street.

The one- and two-bedroom apartments will include four “deeply affordable” units, meaning with rents at or below 30% of the area median income; four market-rate units; and the rest rented at or below 80% AMI.

The childcare center would fill the building’s ground floor, and also fill a void of such facilities in the area, said Toby Desch, RVA CDC’s executive director.

Desch also works for Church Hill North Holdings, the Steve Markel-led group that developed the cluster of buildings at the nearby roundabout that includes The Market at 25th grocery store, The Flats at 25th apartments and The Pinnacle, the modern-design building that houses the Kitchens at Reynolds culinary school.

Desch said the childcare center would add to community services that the groups have worked to bring to the neighborhood, along with the Virginia Credit Union branch at the 25th Street complex, and the VCU Health Hub between The Pinnacle and the block where the Nine Mile Road building is planned.

“We know that childcare is a huge need in the East End and for everyone, so we believe that having a full-service childcare center in the neighborhood will be a massive boon,” Desch said. He added that providing such services through development is what drives Church Hill North Holdings and RVA CDC, and what keeps their focus on and around the East End.

“This part of town has lacked a lot of traditional investment. We would like to see more neighborhood resources that are found in other parts of town, found in the east end of Church Hill,” he said. “There are in-home and smaller childcare centers, but there isn’t a large childcare center. What are other things that you could find in other parts of town that aren’t here that would make it a better place to live?”

Desch serves on RVA CDC’s board with Danielle Wyatt, Church Hill North Holdings’ executive director. Other board members include Neil Kessler, a retired partner with Troutman Pepper Locke; Eric Mai, a senior associate at HDAdvisors; Shekinah Mitchell, neighborhood engagement director at Bon Secours Mercy Health; and Dee Ann Remo, CEO of Heritage Wealth Advisors.

Rounding out the board are Donald Coleman, lead pastor at East End Followship; Kanika McBride with Greater Richmond SCAN; and Lawson Wijesooriya, chief of staff to Mayor Danny Avula.

Desch said the Nine Mile Road building will be the first major project for RVA CDC, which he said has laid low since forming in 2019. He said the group has $8 million committed to the project so far and is raising funds to cover the remaining $4 million needed for the development.

Describing their approach as injecting some philanthropy into real estate development, Desch said, “It’s not all about returns; it’s about developing things that will benefit the neighborhood.”

RVA CDC purchased the three-parcel site last summer for $700,000. The seller was Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority, which assembled the nearly 1-acre site starting in 2010.

The city assessed the three parcels at $377,000 combined. The site is across Nine Mile Road from Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital and does not include the Twins Auto Repair shop and another building at the west end of the block.

Desch said RVA CDC has been in discussions with The Sprout School to operate the childcare center but that a user for the space has not been finalized. Poole & Poole Architecture is designing the building, and Desch said the group has been in talks with KBS but has not finalized a general contractor for the project.

The 12,000-square-foot building will be lined on the west and north sides with 34 parking spaces, with access off 27th Street. The top three floors will consist of 18 one-bedroom apartments averaging about 740 square feet in size, and a dozen two-bedrooms averaging 1,100 square feet.

Construction is aimed to start this spring or summer, with completion targeted for late 2027, Desch said.

Also in the neighborhood, Church Hill North Holdings is getting started on a conversion of the former Bethlehem Baptist Church building at 1920 Fairmount Ave. into four office spaces with “social service delivery uses.”