Another major affordable housing project off Walmsley Boulevard in the works

Another major affordable housing project off Walmsley Boulevard in Richmond’s Southside is moving forward after the city’s Planning Commission voted Monday in its favor. 

The NOON Cottrell project, which is being developed by an affiliate of Lynx Ventures, would add up to 402 housing units spread across two buildings near the intersection of Broad Rock and Walmsley boulevards. 

While application documents submitted to the Richmond Planning Department don’t specify the income range the units would be rented at, they indicate that Lynx intends to use low-income housing tax credits for the project. Those federal credits require that rents be restricted based on area median income for at least 15 years. 

It might be Richmond’s biggest push to create affordable housing. But many residents don’t even know it exists.

Richmond has signed off on 25 agreements that, if all come to fruition, will add 3,213 affordable units to the city’s housing stock.

The RichmonderSarah Vogelsong

The project “will provide hundreds of new, high-quality units at affordable rates,” wrote Brian Jackson, an attorney with Hirschler Fleischer who is representing the developer, in a June 25 letter to the department. 

Currently, the four lots at 4611 and 4705 Walmsley Blvd. and 3609 and 3616 Cottrell Rd., are undeveloped. Collectively, they cover almost 11 acres of land.

Because the properties are zoned for business and single-family residential, the project needs to obtain a special use permit in order to move forward. In its vote Monday night, the Planning Commission recommended that City Council approve that permit, and the Council is expected to have the final say later this month. 

While the proposal does not match the zoning that exists for the site now, the developers have argued that it is in line with the city master plan’s designation of the area as a micro node, or a notable neighborhood place that provides goods and services and attracts people beyond adjacent residents. 

The Broad Rock and Walmsley intersection has already become a hub for affordable housing, with the nearby Walmsley Gardens and Walmsley Gardens Senior developments set to add about 344 units to the area. 

Both of those projects have received Affordable Housing Performance Grants from the city, a tax break Richmond offers developers for creating and maintaining affordable units over the next 15 to 30 years. 

John Gregory, a principal with Lynx, said in an email that the company also intends to pursue a performance grant for  NOON Cottrell. Lynx has ushered several projects in Richmond, including NOON Hioaks on Carnation Street and NOON Ingram on Ingram Avenue in Oak Grove, through that program. 

According to Jackson’s letter, the phased construction of the development would include the creation of a stormwater retention pond, a pool, courtyards for community use, new sidewalks on Cottrell Road and Walmsley Boulevard and landscaping. 

No one spoke either in favor of or against the proposal Monday, although a campaign backed by the RVA YIMBY group led to 17 letters of support. Because no objections were lodged, the project was placed on the Planning Commission’s consent agenda, which is voted on as part of a block, and provoked no discussion. 

Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org