Westminster Canterbury Richmond's expansion plans approved

Henrico's Board of Supervisors Feb. 11 approved plans for the expansion of the Westminster Canterbury Richmond senior living community in the county's Northside.

WCR is expanding onto 10 acres that formerly housed part of the Azalea Mall (which was demolished in 1999) between Dumbarton Road and Brook Road adjacent to I-95. WCR bought that 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.

Supervisors approved WCR's request to rezone the site from a mix of office and business uses to a R-6C general residence district (conditional) designation and its corresponding provisional use permit, which is required for life care facilities in the county; that permit will apply to the entire 51-acre WCR property.