I spoke to the President of Thalhimer Realty Partners, Drew Wilshire, this past week about the multiple facets of the Reynolds South development project (more recently referred to as City View Landing), the recent sale of a portion of this project to Guy Blundon and Mark Purcell as announced in Richmond BizSense, and the resulting impacts of this development on the patio view from Legend Brewing.

The construction activity that is taking place now is for the long planned eastern tower at 505 Porter St which sits directly between the Corrugated Box Building and the river, and to the east of Legend Brewing. Development has been taken over from Thalhimer Realty Partners by Guy Blundon and Mark Purcell with construction now being handled by Purcell Construction. While the sale is still not reflected in the City’s online system of record, we are told the site activity that has been taking place for the last month or so was actually being handled by the new owner in anticipation of the sale transaction being completed. The eastern tower is reportedly being reduced from 13 to 10 stories.

While there is also a lot of activity occurring on the western tower parcel located at 301 W 6th St, we are told this is simply to give the construction crews working on the eastern tower room to operate, store equipment, and move dirt and debris. Mr. Wiltshire clarified that construction for the western tower has not yet started and could possibly be delayed as long as 5-7 years. This is because the western tower was originally planned to be a commercial building and there is a glut of commercial space available in downtown Richmond. Given these circumstances and the fact the zoning allows for both commercial and apartment development at the site, the western tower could very well end up being built as an apartment building similar to the eastern tower.

Mr. Wiltshire mentioned that the eastern tower will have a significantly lesser impact on the view from Legend Brewing’s patio than the western tower will have. The western tower sits directly between Legend Brewing’s patio and the City. However, given the current lack of immediate plans for construction to begin on the western tower, that means that Legend Brewing can hopefully continue to enjoy its view for a good bit longer. Mr. Wiltshire also mentioned that when the western tower development begins (and assuming Thalhimer handles the development), they will try to take into consideration their neighbors at Legend Brewing. That means that development on the westernmost portion of the 301 W 6th St site which would have the greatest obstruction of the views of the city from the Legend patio, could potentially be limited in such a way to reduce the impact so that the tower does not completely eliminate Legend’s patio view.

If that happens, that would be wonderful news for all parties involved! We will continue to keep an eye on these projects as it will be interesting to watch the construction develop.