The Virginia Home has acquired a Hanover site for a new residential facility. (Images courtesy the Virginia Home)
The Virginia Home has officially acquired the land it needs to make its move from the city to Hanover County.
The nonprofit recently paid $8.7 million for a 70-acre site in eastern Hanover, where it will relocate its Richmond home for disabled adults to a $128 million new-construction facility.
Plans call for a 160-bed residential facility across a 190,000-square-foot, one-story building that would rise near the intersection of Pole Green and Bell Creek roads. The project site is adjacent to the Food Lion-anchored Shoppes at Bell Creek.
Gilbane has been tapped as the project’s general contractor. Architecture firm Baskervill is handling the facility design. The two-parcel assemblage has a total assessed value of $1.6 million, and the sellers in the late-November deals were Shield Hanover Land Trust and Big Oak Development Co., according to online land records.
Site work for the Hanover facility is expected to start in July, with completion targeted for the fall of 2027, CEO Doug Vaughan said.
While its relocation plans have been reported previously, the Virginia Home on Thursday formally announced the move during an event at its current location, 1101 Hampton St. in the city. It plans to sell that property, where it has been based for nearly a century, to help finance the move.
CEO Doug Vaughan shares remarks during the Virginia Home’s formal announcement of plans to relocate to Hanover.
The new facility is planned to have more beds and be larger than the current 130-bed, 120,000-square-foot facility that overlooks Byrd Park.
Vaughan said the hunt continues for a buyer for the Richmond property but added that the Virginia Home has been in talks with residential developers for the site.
“There is interest,” Vaughan said. “It’s developers and they will more than likely be converting (the property) to apartments, that’s what the interest is.”
The 2-acre property features a five- and six-story building that fronts Hampton Street and has an attached annex on South Meadow Street.
The property’s assessed value is $18.2 million, online city records show, and the land is zoned single-family residential (R-5).
The Virginia Home at 1101 Hampton St. in Richmond. (BizSense file)
The Virginia Home is relocating to Hanover to expand its operations and provide a better living experience and larger rooms for its residents, who have conditions such as quadriplegia, brain injuries, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy.
“Our new campus will address key challenges of our current six-floor building by transitioning to a one-story, more modern design that enhances safety, accessibility and the ease of movement for residents, staff and visitors alike. Every resident’s room will have beautiful outdoor views, abundant natural light and a warm home-life atmosphere,” Vaughan said in his remarks during the event.
In the new location, the Virginia Home plans to continue to offer nursing and therapy services to residents and also introduce a day program for 55 to 60 adults on the facility’s waiting list for a residential unit or who don’t require full-time care.
The residential units at the Virginia Home’s upcoming Hanover facility will be larger than rooms in the nonprofit’s current location in Richmond. (Courtesy the Virginia Home)
The Virginia Home has been on Hampton Street since the early 1930s. While it has twice expanded its facilities over the decades, it has run out of room for further growth there and the old building lacks the capacity for newer technology.
“Over the years, I’ve seen residents do amazing things like adaptive golf, skiing, surfing and horseback riding, but we want everyday life to be great too, and that means a bigger, brighter facility and the infrastructure to support the most up-to-date technology,” said Laura Stewart, chairwoman of Virginia Home’s board of trustees. “It will be hard to say goodbye to this building, but our new building is an opportunity to better serve our current residents and staff and open our doors to more residents.”
The Virginia Home anticipates it will cost $128 million to build the one-story, 190,000-square-foot residential facility planned in Hanover. (Courtesy the Virginia Home)
While the Virginia Home’s more immediate plans are to have 160 beds in the Hanover facility, the site is expected to allow for further expansion of its residential capacity.
Future expansion projects could bring different housing options, such as “multiperson cottages” that would offer a more independent living arrangement for residents, according to a news release.
Ahead of this week’s announcement, the Virginia Home has been working toward its eventual move. The organization in October received regulatory approval from the state to relocate its current 130 beds. In Virginia, certain medical and healthcare facilities and equipment require approval through the state health department’s certificate of public need program.
Vaughan said the organization will need to make a separate request to have an increased bed count in Hanover. The project also will need a rezoning from the Hanover Board of Supervisors to pave the way for construction.
The organization also recently secured permission from Hanover to issue up to $70 million in industrial revenue bonds to help finance the project. Through the arrangement, the Hanover Economic Development Authority will act as a conduit for the Virginia Home to tap the public bond market in exchange for a fee. Vaughan said the Virginia Home hasn’t yet sold the bonds.
The Virginia Home first opened as an eight-resident home on the former Ross Street (now Governor Street) in 1894 and later moved to its current location by Byrd Park. It has 260 employees and officials said it hasn’t been determined how much its workforce might expand as part of the Hanover move.
