Westminster Canterbury plans expansion onto former Azalea Mall site

, and Tom Lappas

January 8, 2020 . 10:30 AM

2 min read

A rendering of the proposed expansion of Westminster Canterbury Richmond. (Courtesy WCR)

Relief may be coming soon for a longtime Northern Henrico eyesore.

Westminster Canterbury Richmond is proposing a 10-acre expansion of its retirement community between Dumbarton Road and Brook Road adjacent to I-95. The expansion would occur on a portion of the former site of the Azalea Mall, which has been vacant for several decades. Westminster Canterbury bought the 10-acre section of the site in 2018.

Plans call for the addition of 125 new independent living units – 93 of them coming from five new buildings on the new acreage and the rest as part of a multi-level addition to an existing building on the current site. WCR also is proposing to build a new multi-level parking deck and a new aquatic and athletic facility as part of the project. The community currently has 498 independent living units and a total of 820 units in all.

Apartments in the five new buildings would range in size from 1,150 square feet to 1,750 square feet, according to plans filed by the company.

Westminster Canterbury is seeking to rezone the site from a mix of office and business uses to a R-6C general residence district (conditional) designation in order to build the expansion. It’s also filed a corresponding provisional use permit, which is required for life care facilities in the county; that permit would apply to the entire 51-acre WCR property.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to hear both cases Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. Once it has made a recommendation, the county’s Board of Supervisors will weigh in with a final decision.

A rendering of one of the five proposed apartment buildings that would be part of the expansion of Westminster Canterbury Richmond. (Courtesy WCR)

A rendering of the proposed 10-acre expansion of Westminster Canterbury Richmond, which would take place on the eastern edge of the existing community and border I-95 (shown as the northeastern border in this image). (Courtesy WCR)

Henrico’s Comprehensive Plan, which serves as a guide for future land use, recommends an urban mixed-use designation for the site. But in their assessment of the proposal, county planners recommended approval of the plans, suggesting that an expansion of the community would be appropriate and actually could spur urban mixed-use development on the remaining former shopping mall acreage.

They have recommended, however, that as part of the provisional use permit, the total number of residences on the 51-acre site be capped at 1,000.

WCR last expanded in 2002, when it built a number of individual living cottages on its site.