A vacant warehouse fronting Route 5 and the Capital Trail sits on the parcel. (Mike Platania photos)
A 21-acre property near Rocketts Landing has changed hands in a deal between the state and an out-of-town developer.
Last week, the assemblage at 421 Old Osborne Turnpike sold for $2.5 million to an entity tied to Cleveland-based development firm DiGeronimo Cos., Henrico County records show.
The plot, which also includes parcels at 503-890 Bickerstaff Road, sits just east of Rocketts Landing, with frontage on Route 5 and the Virginia Capital Trail.
DiGeronimo bought it from the Commonwealth of Virginia, which formerly used it for some Virginia Department of Transportation operations. A pair of vacant warehouses totaling about 25,000 square feet are on the site, along with fenced-off paved and grassy areas.
The property had been on the market for years until the Sept. 29 sale. JLL’s Jimmy Appich, John Simmons and Creighton Armstrong had the listing, and Commonwealth Commercial’s Ben Bruni and Michael Mayhew repped DiGeronimo in the sale.
Henrico most recently assessed the property at $1.5 million. It’s zoned for industrial use and had been marketed as an “infill industrial or outdoor storage opportunity.” According to Federal Emergency Management Agency data, the entirety of the site is in either a 100- or 500-year floodplain.
A former VDOT warehouse is on the property’s northern end.
DiGeronimo did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and no plans have been filed for the site.
Per its website, DiGeronimo develops mixed-use, industrial, retail and student housing projects, and it also has in-house general contractor, environmental remediation and demolition divisions. Most of DiGeronimo’s projects are in its home region of northeast Ohio, where the firm was recently announced as part of the development team for the Cleveland Browns’ new NFL stadium.
VDOT spokespeople were not available for comment by press time.
Right next to 421 Old Osborne Turnpike is one of the parcels on which Fulton Yard is planned to rise. North Carolina-based developer Zimmer Development Co. has been plotting Fulton Yard since 2019. The phased development would include over 500 apartments and 100,000 square feet of commercial space.
Zimmer received county approval for Fulton Yard in 2019 and acquired the land in 2020, but work has yet to begin. Managing partner Landon Zimmer said last week that they are “looking to begin construction in the near future.”
Read More: State-owned Rocketts-area acreage sold to Ohio real estate firm for $2.5M
