Fried chicken tender concept to fill Forest Hill hole left by Dunkin’

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Posted on 8/26/2021 by Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense

Jeff Nicklas and Mark Sweeney have been in the restaurant business for over 60 years, working as franchisees for Shoney’s, Captain D’s and Sonic. They have 30 locations between the three chains throughout Central and Eastern Virginia.

In 2019, they launched a restaurant concept of their own called Go Bird. Offering fried chicken tenders in the form of baskets and sandwiches, Nicklas said Go Bird has done well in its initial market of Portsmouth.

Now, about a year and a half since the first Go Bird hatched, the brand is coming to Richmond.

Nicklas confirmed they’re preparing to open a Go Bird at 6801 Forest Hill Ave. on the city’s Southside. Go Bird is leasing a 1,500-square-foot, drive-thru compatible space that was left vacant by a Dunkin’ store in early 2019.

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Developers pay $12.5M for Lacy’s 3.3-acre tract on Arthur Ashe Blvd.

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Posted on 7/14/2021 by Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense

A new high mark has been set for land on a per-acre basis in the Scott’s Addition area.

The 3.3-acre assemblage at 1117-1209 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. sold earlier this week for $12.5 million, city records show.

The buying entities are tied to D.C.-based Level 2 Development and SJG Properties, who are planning a major mixed-use project for the site. The seller in the deal was local investor Ed Lacy, who’d owned many of the parcels for decades.

At about $3.8 million per acre, the deal marks the highest sales price on a per-acre basis in the neighborhood in recent memory.

The previous high mark for the land in and around Scott’s Addition was $3.6 million per acre, set last year by South Carolina’s Greystar when it bought a whole city block at 1601 Roseneath Road. It paid $8.6 million for the site, where it’s planning a 350-unit mixed-use project with locally-based Capital Square.

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Manchester may, at long last, be getting a grocery store

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Posted on 11/30/2020 by Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense

With a planned high-rise apartment and commercial project as the lure, Manchester could finally get its chance to hook a neighborhood grocery store.

A new mixed-use development expected to stand 12-16 stories is in the works at 201 W. Commerce Road, on a roughly 1-acre plot owned by Brent Graves, a former owner of Taylor & Parrish Construction.

While still in the planning stages, the project would look to house 250 apartments and about 25,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

For that commercial space, Graves said his group has been in discussions with a couple grocery store tenants, though nothing’s been finalized. If he is able to bag one, he said it’ll help guide the rest of the project’s design.

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