Developers have swooped into Scott’s Addition, bringing a second wave of vibrancy to this once-sleepy section of Richmond.
In 2010, the historic tax credits started the ball rolling, on two partially finished warehouse buildings. Scott’s Addition — map below — has benefited from millions of dollars in private investments in the past couple of years. The first property, 1 Scott’s Addition, is a two-building complex and the second Urban Farmhouse Market & Café. Because of the growing population, it has led to a snowball effect of breweries, restaurants, gathering spots and offices announcing plans to locate there.
“We’re seeing a second wave of businesses and entrepreneurs,” said Roger Bouchard, president of the Scott’s Addition Boulevard Association and owner of Cutshaw Automotive.
“We’re starting to become a well-rounded neighborhood.”
Scott’s Addition was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, making it easier to claim historic tax credit projects.
The transformation of Scott’s Addition, said H. Louis Salomonsky, principal of Historic Housing, is the power of two forces: historic tax credits and the city’s real estate tax abatement program. “They have created enormous subsidies to facilitate development of those properties,” he said. Developers use the tax credit program to offset the cost of otherwise prohibitively expensive renovations on historic, often vacant and dilapidated, buildings. And the tax abatement program gives developers a break on the value of improvements for up to 10 years.
Businesses began moving from downtown to Scott’s Addition in the 1900s because of its proximity to transportation, including streetcars, railroad and highways and some early businesses included National Biscuit Factory (Nabisco) in 1923, Chevrolet parts depot warehouse and training center in 1929, Binswanger Glass Factory in 1946, the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. plant in 1953, and the Seaboard Bag building in 1956.
Fast Forward to 2015. Home to more than 1,000 new apartments, as well as restaurants, breweries, coffee shops, and a number of attractions, the Scott’s Addition area and the Boulevard corridor is the place to be.