A rendering of the Shops at Fairfield building planned at Mechanicsville Turnpike and Fairfield Way. (Courtesy Lawrence Ellis Williams)
An underutilized building at an East End crossroads could be in store for a major overhaul.
The owner of the three-story building at the southwest corner of Mechanicsville Turnpike and Fairfield Way is looking to replace the structure with a mixed-use building that would be nearly three times as large and include street-level storefronts below offices and apartments.
The plans were submitted earlier this year by local architect Lawrence Ellis Williams on behalf of Mustafa Alashwal, who’s listed as the owner. Alashwal is tied to Apple 6 LLC, which acquired the two parcels that make up the roughly half-acre property at 1534-1538 and 1540 Mechanicsville Turnpike.
The existing building consists of a convenience store under vacant upper floors. (Jonathan Spiers photo)
Williams said Alashwal approached him about transforming the property by replacing the existing 6,000-square-foot structure, which consists of a convenience store and unoccupied upper floors, with the three-story, 17,000-square-foot building proposed in the plans.
“They were willing to remove that building and put some shops there that were more national chains, such as Dunkin’ Donuts and that sort of thing,” Williams said. “Obviously that’s a gateway intersection, and because it is, it deserves a little bit more attention compared to some of the other parts of the city.
“They pretty much don’t have upscale shops here,” he said, adding that there wouldn’t be any vape shops in the building. “But more importantly, there’s no office space over in this part of the East End, so we’re trying to get entrepreneur development done. It’s just trying to do a facelift for that intersection.”
Lawrence described the building as a townhouse-style design with storefront spaces on the first floor, an office on the second floor and an apartment on the top floor. The plans call for as many as nine storefronts, with five offices and an apartment on the second floor and six more apartments on the top floor, for a total of seven residential units.
The apartments are planned to be market-rate units, though Lawrence said they plan to see if any of the units could be lower-rent or eligible for subsidized housing vouchers through the Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority. The apartments would range from 880 to 1,120 square feet in size, and the second-floor unit would be wheelchair accessible, with an elevator serving all floors of the building.
The five office spaces on the second floor would range from 730 to nearly 1,300 square feet, and the ground-floor storefronts would range from 730 to 1,260.
A site plan shows the lower-level footprint, which could contain as many as nine storefronts. (City documents)
The building would be restricted to 35 feet in height and could include two roof decks for the office tenants. The building would be set back 10 feet from the western and southern property lines, and the development would include 25 parking spaces.
The group is seeking a special-use permit to allow the new structure, which would replace the current building that was built in 2008. Richmond property records show that Apple 6 LLC acquired the property in 2011 from Jamal Investments LLC, which had purchased the two parcels in 2011 for $163,000 collectively. The city has assessed the parcels at $575,000 combined.
Williams said Alashwal has been involved in redeveloping or investing in other properties in and around Richmond. Last year, Alashwal leased the former Rent-A-Center building at 5212 Chamberlayne Road in Henrico.
The Richmond Planning Commission is scheduled to review the SUP request at its meeting today (Tuesday). Should the project proceed with approval from city council, Williams said construction could start early next year. He declined to disclose a cost estimate for the project.
“They are positive about getting it done,” said Williams, who’s also president of Eastview Civic League and said the community association is in favor of the project.
The Shops at Fairfield would add to other recent investment in the area. A few blocks north off Mechanicsville Turnpike, Virginia Supportive Housing – now named SupportWorks Housing – converted the former Seven Hills Health Care Center at 1900 Cool Lane into its Cool Lane Commons headquarters and apartments.
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