DRE's Womack is leasing the commercial portion of Richmond's prestigious Tobacco Row redevelopment.

Richmond Office is Central to Virginia Retail

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA:  The Richmond office of Divaris Real Estate, Inc., has the retail market covered in Western and Central Virginia. 

Divaris, which specializes in office and retail representation, was hired by Konover Property Trust to handle the leasing of five of its shopping centers in Western Virginia.   One of the centers was Towne Square Shopping Center on Towne Square Boulevard in Northern Roanoke.

Focusing on attracting national big box retailers, Divaris leased a vacant PharMor box to Bed Bath & Beyond (22,272 square feet).  DRE’s Brett Womack and Brenda Martin represented the Landlord in the transaction.

Womack, principal of DRE’s Richmond office, says that the retailer had not previously located in Roanoke because of a lack of available quality space.

“There’s a high demand, not as much supply,” she says. “Lynchburg and Roanoke are on everybody’s radar screens for new locations but there’s only a limited supply. Both cities have a very active, very healthy retail environment and if there were more available land, there would be more development.”

“This was the first real big-box opportunity in the northern part of Roanoke,” says Womack of the leases at Towne Square.

Bed Bath & Beyond celebrated its grand opening in December, a time when Womack said the 301,563-square-foot center was experiencing “a lot of retail activity.” A Sam’s Club, adjacent to Town Square, which is also an anchored by Michaels and Office Max, was in the process of expanding.

“It’s a good mix of national, regional and local retailers,” says Womack of the center.

The Richmond office is currently evaluating sites in Roanoke for clients including Boscov’s and Ross Dress for Less. Womack notes the largest assembly of retail in the Roanoke market is in the area of the Valley View Mall, at the intersection of Interstate 581 and Hershberger Road. “A lot of the retailers who are coming into the market for the first time want to open their first stores there,” she says of the area.

The southern part of the city, home to Lowe’s and Super Wal-Mart, is also expanding, but Womack says the city’s real growth area could be Roanoke’s east side.  “That’s a great area for future retailing,” she says.

In Charlottesville, DRE's Debbie Wake brokered a deal last year with Minnesota-based Best Buy.   The electronics giant opened one of its prototype stores in October, on eight acres on the site of the former Mount Vernon Hotel, at the intersection of Route 250 and Route 29.  Wake, who represented Best Buy in the transaction, says the retailer chose Charlottesville, home of The University of Virginia, as the site of its 45,000-square-foot store because “the demographics are very good (because of) the high education level and the student population.”

“One of the things that we are exceptionally good at in the Richmond office is historic, redevelopment projects,” notes Womack. Assistant vice president Lynn Guest recently sold the former BT Crump building, a 33,000-square-foot building that is now being converted, along with two other properties, into luxury apartments and ground floor commercial space. The project, called Shockoe Commons on Main Street Apartment Homes, should be complete by the end of this summer. Subway has already opened a location in the project’s retail space.  Womack also is also leasing the commercial portion of Richmond’s prestigious Tobacco Row project, working exclusively for Forest City Enterprises. 

In nearby Mechanicsville, Divaris is completing the lease up of the Clock Tower Office Building, part of Brandy Hill Shopping Center.

Divaris completes the  lease up of The Clock  Tower office building.

But the Richmond office isn’t limiting itself to Virginia’s largest markets.

“Harrisonburg is a very exciting market and so are the Christiansburg and Blacksburg markets,” says Womack. “Most of the people we work with who are coming into Virginia are interested in coming into those markets also.”

Divaris retail sales and leasing agent Kent Cardwell is working with Dollar General Stores to find sites in Central and Western Virginia. Partnering with one of the store’s preferred developers, Cardwell helped close on five pieces of land last year and has six more sites that are expected to close this year for Dollar General locations. He also recently represented Dollar General on two lease transactions in the metropolitan Richmond market.

Additionally, DRE’s Richmond office has been leasing surplus properties for Rite Aid -- completing four of them in 2003. Three Rite Aids were leased to Family Dollar, Dollar General and Dollar Tree and the fourth one went to a local furnishings and accessories business. Brenda Martin and Kent Cardwell lead the Rite Aid team and they are currently seeking tenants for two more Rite-Aid locations in the Richmond area. 

A former Rite  Aid property in  Richmond is  leased by Divaris  to Family Dollar.

 

Also in Richmond, Wake recently sold two former Service Merchandise buildings – one has been occupied by DSW Shoe Warehouse and one was sold to a local investor who plans to subdivide the store for two retailers.

And although Divaris’ Richmond office does most of its business in Central and Western Virginia, they cover the entire state for specialized tenants such as Chico’s and The Bombay Company. Office Depot, Payless ShoeSource and WhiteHouse/BlackMarket round out the roster of the Richmond office’s newest retail clients.