Just 12 percent of Scott’s Addition residents own the spaces in which they live. Most of the population rents — paying an average of about $1,350 a month. The average rent in the Richmond region is $1,016. Given the chance and affordability, some would buy one of the early 20th-century row houses on Leigh, Clay or Moore streets. The houses don’t come on the market often, but when they do, it’s a scramble.
Buskey Cider’s Will Carrell says earlier this year he spoke with a real estate agent about a Leigh Street house that popped onto the market. He told an agent he’d have an offer on the table in five minutes. A short while later, the agent texted Carrell with the news: A house is going up, and the Realtor is coming to take pictures before listing the property.
“I’m not a rich guy,” Carrell says. “And the houses are not that expensive; they’re small places for humble beginnings, and I put in an offer for $8,000 over asking price. Before the real estate agent even showed up to take pictures, that day it sold for $25,000 over asking price.”
The creation of a parking lot in an empty field on Leigh Street sacrificed a house at the end of the row. The Addition is at the point where the lot on which some of the tiny housing stock sits is, to some, worth more than the structure.
Carter Snipes’ development firm brought back to life the Hofheimer Building, which began as an Oriental rug cleaning facility and evolved into a second-floor dance studio and Adam’s Camera on the street level. The building now houses Peter Chang’s, an event space and a rooftop bar.
Snipes says he believes the solution for additional residential space is straight up. “The price per acre has gotten so high, that’s really the only way you can add housing to Scott’s Addition,” he says.
Taller dwellings require rezoning, which the city is considering, and how that will change the streetscape of the Addition. Spy Rock Real Estate Group’s Andrew Basham, also a Scott’s Addition Boulevard Association board member, says rezoning will benefit the Addition not just by increasing residency, but for allowing concentration on the quality of life issues emphasized by the boards of associations for the Fan and Museum districts.
“Our board constantly responding to another rezoning or special-use permits takes away from fundamental challenges like lighting, traffic, parking,” Basham says. He said he doesn’t foresee a sudden rush to put up 10-story buildings, either. “I don’t see the economics of that working out,” he says. The force of the market, though, makes upward stories inevitable.
He acknowledges the housing shortage in the Addition but says a condominium solution isn’t quite ready to rise. Basham explains that a 10-unit condo building might sell, but one with 50 would be questionable.
“Nobody knows how deep the market is,” he says. The bulk of Addition residents are young, without families, or empty-nesters. “The reality is if you can demonstrate a strong empty nester demand,” Basham says. “That’s where the buying power comes from.”
Basham points out Snipes’ contemporary Meridian townhouses at Cutshaw Avenue and Thompson Street, across Broad from the Addition. While not in the Addition proper, they’re nearby. They start at $450,000, but, Snipes says, “For an entry level to get into The Fan or Museum District, that’s about where the price point is.”
