Factory Conversion Gets Green Light

The Petersburg Planning Commission has given unanimous approval to the Franklin Development Group of Richmond to go ahead with the second phase of its conversion of the old Brown and Williamson cigarette factory.

The first phase of the project is the conversion of the so-called A/B building at the corner of Wythe and Perry Streets into 150 loft-style apartments with commercial and retail space on the ground floor.  That's about twenty percent complete.

The second phase involves the 79 thousand square foot Brown Building, in the 300 block of Brown Street.  Honeywell Corporation leases 39 thousand square feet of that for a research lab; another 20 thousand square feet will become a senior health care facility operated by Riverside Medical Center of Newport News, which already runs its PACE program in a similar building in Richmond’s Manchester area.

There will also be 26 market-rate apartments and parking for at least 93 vehicles. There are four more phases to come, and the whole project, according to the Progress Index, is tentatively scheduled to be completed in about five years.

John Ogle, WCVE News

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