HENRICO, Va. (WRIC) — Henrico County has given final approval to an ambitious project that would add 500 apartments in a massive mixed-use expansion of an existing Ukrop’s bakery.
The project, which is in Henrico’s Brookland district and just a few hundred feet from the border with Richmond, would see a sea of parking lots surrounding a Ukrop’s bakery and technical college replaced with high-density mixed-use buildings and a hotel.
Further development on the other side of the bakery could see more mixed-use buildings constructed along with an unspecified civic area.
The first three phases of development, which are those currently authorized by the county, would split the 500 apartments between two mixed-use buildings. What the developer has not decided is what the mixture of those units will be, except that no more than 10% can be three or more bedrooms.
That restriction reflects a development pattern that extends across the Richmond region, which has seen an enormous increase in the number of 1-bedroom and studio apartments since 2016 — and a decline in 2- and 3-bedroom units.
That’s good for young, single or childless professionals, but has lead to a housing squeeze for families without the money to purchase a home — something that has slipped increasingly out of reach of the average family.
The project will also require a massive expansion of parking on the site, with the addition of nearly 1,000 spaces in parking garages on the site.
