The Alexandria City Council has approved a plan to convert a vacant lot and a one-story barbershop in the Parker-Gray Historic District into five four-story townhomes.
Despite a 6-0 approval from the Planning Commission, Council deferred the plan last month to have more discussions with the property owner about keeping neighborhood-serving commercial businesses on the site. A representative of the property owner told Council that the most interested buyers were townhome developers.
Council approved the proposal on Saturday, allowing for the construction of five four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom homes with one-car garages and roof decks at 724, 726 and 728 N. Patrick Street.
Tanner Scales of Feldman Ruel spoke before Council as the broker for the seller, and said that the same family has owned the parcel since the 1950s. The current owner is Jeffrey Schonberger, principal of D.C.-based Alturas Real Estate Interests LLC.
Eric Bernstein and Kirby Holdings are reportedly buying the property with the intention of building the homes, which will be directly across the street from the Charles Houston Recreation Center.
“The operating expenses across the entire city have increased, and therefore they’re no longer able to keep the property as-is,” Scales said. “They wanted to pass this on to the third generation as sort of a legacy project for their family, and unfortunately for them, they’ve had to make the painful decision to ultimately market the property for sale. A little bit about the marketing process — we went out to a wide range of buyers. The only real tangible interest we got, which was a lot, was from townhome developers.”
The 3,650-square-foot 728 N. Patrick Street property was assessed at $430,500 in January; the vacant 4,400-square-foot property at 726 N. Patrick Street was assessed at $630,600 and the 2,200-square-foot lot at 724 N. Patrick Street was assessed at $164,000, according to city property records.
City Councilman John Taylor Chapman voted against the proposal, along with Council Members Jacinta Greene and Abdel Elnoubi. Chapman said he wants to keep businesses in the city.
“I think we are coming to, and have been in, a critical space where we continuously say we are losing more economic activity in the city,” Chapman said. “Having a property that then has to switch residential [from] commercial, for me, strikes at a very personal tone because of that ongoing conversation.”
