Owner seeks to urbanize Willow Lawn, add more than 2,000 residences

Major changes are planned for the oldest shopping center in Henrico (and Metro Richmond).

The owner of Willow Lawn, in Henrico’s Near West End, has filed plans that would remake the 67-year-old shopping center in a significant way for a third time – this time through the potential addition of more than 2,000 residential units and the slight expansion of commercial and office space (from about 463,000 square feet to about 510,000) at the nearly-38-acre site.

In documents filed with Henrico County, officials with Maryland-based Federal Realty Trust (the shopping center’s owner since the 1980s) outlined their desire to redevelop the center – “both vertically and horizontally,” according to their plan – during a period of 20 to 30 years. The company is applying to rezone the property from its existing business and residential designations to an Urban Mixed-Use Planned Development (or UMU-PD) designation that would allow a much higher density of development (up to 60 residential units per acre).

“Redeveloping Willow Lawn will occur over time as retail tenants move and change and opportunities become available to add residential, retail, and office uses,” company officials wrote in their proposal.

In their initial review of the concept, Henrico planners didn’t raise any significant objections but did call for more information about specific elements and recommended that the Henrico Planning Commission defer the consideration of the case from its Aug. 10 meeting to a later date. The site is recommended for commercial, office and environmental protection area uses in the county’s 2026 Comprehensive Plan, but “a properly designed Urban Mixed Use project could be consistent with the amalgamation of future land use recommendations and the addition of residential uses,” planners wrote.

Once the planning commission holds a public hearing about the case, its five members will make a recommendation to the Henrico Board of Supervisors, which then would hold its own public hearing and vote on the proposal at a subsequent meeting.

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As part of the plan, Federal Realty Trust officials sectioned the existing site into 12 separate areas to explain what combination of uses each might ultimately house. Tentatively, all but one would include at least some residential units, but the bulk of the residences (just more than 1,500) are targeted to be located in the sections that currently include:

• Gold’s Gym and the adjacent parking lot (525 units on 6.7 acres);
• the parking lot in front of Dick’s Sporting Goods (325 units on 2.9 acres);
• DSW, Dollar Tree and several other outparcel, as well as an adjacent parking lot (280 units on 2.7 acres);
• the front portion of the current Ross store and its adjacent parking lot (190 units on 2 acres);
• the portion of parking lot that front on Willow Lawn Drive between Fitzhugh Avenue and Markel Drive (185 units on 1.7 acres).

Those residences would be located primarily in mid- and high-rise residential buildings, according to preliminary plans – typically situated above ground-level commercial space. The maximum height of “signature” buildings would be 175 feet, though most buildings are expected to be lower in height (and there is no guarantee that any would rise to that height).

Plans call for the provision of at least 15% open space in seven of those 12 new-look sections (ones that would house mixed-use or mixed-use residential components), while the other five would feature a combined 15% open space, including a central courtyard area adjacent to the current Dick’s Sporting Goods, where a smaller similar area currently exists. That courtyard would have to be built before more than 745 residential units were completed, according to the company’s proposal.

The architecture of new buildings, according to the developer, would be based upon the original three-story Miller & Rhoads department store building at the site (currently home to SimpliSafe and several retail tenants) and also upon “more recent contemporary buildings found throughout the county.” Structured parking would be partially or fully “wrapped” by commercial or residential space, according to the company’s proposal.

Federal Realty Trust officials pointed to the county’s ongoing Comprehensive Plan update and its likely attempt to foster redevelopment of aging corridors and more densely-populated urban-style residential areas as evidence that their plan would be a timely one.

“The purpose of UMU-PD is to encourage moderate to high density neighborhood development integrated with commercial and civic uses in a compact, walkable neighborhood setting,” company officials wrote. “The district should create a center of commercial, entertainment and office uses in multi-story buildings to meet most of the residents’ needs while still attractive business from outside the development. Willow Lawn can meet those criteria as it redevelops over time.”

Over time, according to the plan, Willow Lawn would move to a gridded pattern of both one-way and two-way streets, some with street parking and some without. The development would also be required to adhere to a set of included design standards approved by the Henrico Planning Commission to ensure it matches the look of the area around it.

“The proposed development and supporting materials have many positive aspects; however, there are areas where more clarification and detail are needed,” planners wrote. “The documents submitted primarily cover internal aspects, and do not show how the development would be compatible and integrated with adjacent properties, roadways, and other infrastructure exterior to the site.”

They asked that the develop update its plans to show streetscape concepts for Willow Lawn Drive and West Broad Street and more details about how the site ultimately would be integrated with the gridded street pattern to the east.

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During a July 11 community meeting at the site, some neighbors expressed concerns about the impact of traffic, additional pedestrians, and the taller buildings on the surrounding neighborhoods, according to a planning staff report. The new zoning also would allow 24-hour operations by right for business tenants, which was a concern for Henrico Police, planners wrote. Currently, businesses at the site must obtain a provisional use permit in order to operate before 6 a.m. or after midnight, and only one (Gold’s Gym) operates outside of those hours.

Federal Realty’s plans would include proffers banning several retail uses, including those for adult-themed businesses, alternative financial lending institutions, gun shops (including sales and repair); feel markets; and billboard signs. Only one gas station would be permitted on the site.

Although the area’s existing water lines could support the development, local sewer infrastructure would need to be expanded, planners wrote. Similarly, while Crestview Elementary School and Tuckahoe Middle School currently both are at just about 74% capacity, the development and other nearby developments could push both over capacity – with this project adding an estimated 341 elementary and 138 middle school students – according to the planning staff report. Freeman High School already is over capacity, and would require redistricting, expansion or some other capacity relief options in order to handle future student population growth, including the 153 high school students anticipated to come with the Willow Lawn project, planners wrote.

Planning staffers recommended the planning commission's deferral of the case from Aug. 10 to a later date so that Federal Realty Trust officials could further clarify how their plans would be phased in over time and how it would integrate into the surrounding area, in addition to responding to comments from the county’s traffic planner and Virginia Department of Transportation about its traffic study.

“With the addition of new uses, the ability of the internal and surrounding transportation network to handle increases in traffic needs to be thoroughly assessed,” planners wrote.

They also suggested that Federal Realty Trust should be encouraged to limit Willow Lawn’s own hours of operation as part of the proposal.

Federal Realty Trust turned Willow Lawn partially into an indoor mall in the 1980s but then switched it back to an outdoor model in 2005 and completed additional changes five years later.