New Apartment Complex Planned for Richmond’s Walmsley Area
A Norfolk-based developer is planning a $46 million apartment complex in Richmond’s Walmsley area. The Lawson Cos. Submitted plans this month for 172 apartments at 3601 Hopkins Road, a 5-acre site located across from Thomas C. Boushall Middle School and between Warwick Road and Walmsley Boulevard.
The proposed development would consist of four 4-story buildings and include a clubhouse and amenity space. Access to the complex will be from Hopkins Road, connecting to the north with Kinwick, a 140-home development currently under construction by HHHunt.
The site is adjacent to existing single-story houses, and Lawson’s application to the city notes that the proposed four-story height “will not overwhelm nearby single-family and townhome residential uses.”
This project is located approximately a mile east of another Lawson development, Refuge, a planned 180-unit complex off Snead Road in the Piney Knolls area. That project received city council approval last fall and is slated to begin construction later this year.
According to Lawson spokesman Dan Hankin, the Hopkins Road project is in its early stages and will be similar in style to the Alexander at 1090 apartments on German School Road. Rents for the Hopkins units have not yet been finalized, but Hankin stated they would be set at 80% of the area median income.
The Lawson Cos. Is under contract to purchase the property from Kingdom Life Church Inc., which acquired the land in 2018 from Good Hopewell Baptist Church for $150,000. The city assessed the land this year at $140,000.
Hankin indicated the project cost is estimated at $48 million. The company is collaborating with engineering firm Timmons Group and attorney Preston Lloyd of Williams Mullen, who is representing Lawson in the permit application process.
If the special-use permit is approved, construction is projected to begin in mid-2027, with the apartments expected to be ready for occupancy in late 2029.
This development adds to Lawson’s growing portfolio in the Southside of Richmond. The company is also developing 700 West 44, a 144-unit income-based apartment complex near Westover Hills Boulevard and Midlothian Turnpike, scheduled to open this year. The View at Belle Isle, a 116-unit building at the corner of Hull Street and Commerce Road in Manchester, is currently under construction and expected to open this spring. Lawson’s previous projects in the city include the 200-unit Foundry Apartments along the interstate near Virginia Union University.
The Hopkins Road site was identified as a potential development opportunity due to its Neighborhood Mixed-Use designation within the Richmond 300 plan, according to Hankin. “As we evaluated potential opportunities in the area, the Hopkins Road site stood out as a location where Lawson could help to advance that vision by delivering much-needed affordable housing, while remaining compatible with the surrounding community,” he said.
