Iconic bank building to become apartments

January 24, 2012
By Carol Hazard / Richmond Times-Dispatch

One of Richmond's first skyscrapers is being converted into apartments.

The First National Bank building at Ninth and Main streets is undergoing a $30 million renovation to turn it into 154 apartments on the upper 18 floors and commercial space on the ground level.

The apartment building is expected to open later this year, a spokesman for Drucker & Falk, a Newport News-based real estate management company, said Monday.

"The goal is late November or the first part of December," said Andrew Chisholm, director of mid-Atlantic multifamily for Drucker & Falk.

The one-, two- and three-bedroom units will range from 562 square feet to 2,235 square feet. Rents have not been determined, Chisholm said.

Features will include a resident social lounge, game room, fitness center and secured-access, private-garage parking.

Nearby is the Residences at the John Marshall, a 238-unit apartment building in the former Hotel John Marshall, which opened in late December. Those units, also one-, two- and three-bedrooms in a landmark building, rent for $755 to $2,900 a month.

"There seems to be a need for more apartments in that part of downtown west of Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom," Chisholm said.

"Everybody is excited about the project," he said. "It's really a neat building."

"The First National Bank Building dating from 1913 is the first skyscraper in Richmond, and a wonderful example of turn-of-the-century Neoclassical Revival architecture," according to the National Park Service.

"Nineteen stories tall, the building crowned the city's skyline until its height was surpassed in 1930. Constructed using early steel-frame technology, the bank combines a monumental scale with fine detailing."

The property is owned by Rushmark Properties in Fairfax, which bought it in 2000 for $9.5 million. The most recent tenant was BB&T Corp., which moved into Riverfront Plaza in 2010.

BB&T moved to consolidate three main operations — a bank branch, BB&T Capital Markets and Scott & Stringfellow — into one location and into a new and more efficient building, said S. Anderson "Andy" Hughes, Central Virginia regional president for the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bank.

Hughes said he had not heard about the plans to convert the building into apartments, but said the building itself is beautiful and impressive with ceilings on the first floor about 25 feet high.

The renovation began in December. Hitt Contracting of Falls Church is the contractor and Commonwealth Architects from Richmond is doing the design.

"One of the things we like about these projects is repurposing them, bringing new life to old buildings," said Robert C. Burns, associate principal with Commonwealth Architects.

The bank space on the first floor will be maintained in its pristine condition with its marble detailing and plaster ceiling vaults and details, Burns said. That space will be available for a commercial tenant.

The clock on the corner of the building will be refurbished.

One of the biggest challenges has been retrofitting the space for modern mechanical systems, he said.

Historic tax credits are being used to offset the cost of renovations.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

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