Douglas Development buys vacant Dominion office tower for hotel-housing conversion

Dominion’s Eighth & Main tower has been mostly vacant in recent years. (BizSense file photos)

Dominion Energy and Douglas Development have done a deal downtown that’s set to add hundreds of apartments – and hotel rooms – to Richmond’s Financial District. 

Earlier this week the D.C.-based developer purchased Dominion’s Eighth & Main office tower for $19.5 million, city records show. 

Douglas is planning to convert the 20-story building at 707 E. Main St. into 200 hotel rooms and 290 apartments. The plans, confirmed by Managing Principal Norman Jemal, would revitalize a 1970s-era tower that’s been mostly vacant in recent years, since Dominion consolidated its downtown workforce at its newer 600 Canal Place tower nearby. 

The sale included a parking deck at 620 E. Cary St. and a 0.1-acre parking lot at 720 E. Cary. 

Norman Jemal

The sale closed Dec. 10, city records show. Douglas bought the property for just over half of its most recent assessed value of $38.3 million. 

Combining hotel rooms and apartments in a single building isn’t a new concept for Douglas. Jemal said the developer has completed similar projects in other markets.

“This building happens to be extremely large, and we believe in diversifying the offering,” he said. 

He said his firm, which keeps a Richmond office, tracked the Eighth & Main building for years. The 340,000-square-foot office tower was previously targeted by local developer Genesis Properties for an all-residential conversion, but those plans fell through last year. 

Genesis’ plans included building another high-rise on top of the parking deck at 620 E. Cary. Jemal said Douglas is planning to keep the parking deck as-is and pursue historic tax credits to help renovate the Eighth & Main tower.

The deal also included a parking deck on East Cary Street.

CBG Building Co. is the general contractor and Fillat+ Architecture is the architect. Jemal said the aim is to begin construction in mid- to late 2025 with a roughly two-year build-out. 

Douglas Development’s story in Richmond began in the mid 2000s when it started purchasing properties, mostly in the Arts District and downtown areas.

Its first major local redevelopment was the apartment conversion of the 23-story Central National Bank building on East Broad Street, which was followed by apartment conversions of the former Virginia DEQ office and Stumpf Hotel on Main Street. Douglas also has picked up some low- and mid-rise buildings around the Arts District and Monroe Ward that it’s been working on. 

Jemal said he thinks Richmond is in a “spectacular renaissance” and Douglas is excited to grow its local presence. 

“We’ve been successful downtown. We’ve been active down there and we’re excited to be there in an even bigger presence,” he said. 

Though the Douglas deal takes much of Dominion’s available downtown real estate off the market, one notable chunk remains in 701 E. Cary St., the city block-sized lot where the energy company once planned a high-rise office tower and then a green space with electric vehicle parking spots and chargers. Both proposals have since been scrapped.

Earlier this year Dominion reopened the sidewalks and traffic lanes around the 2-acre plot, but the future of the block remains unclear. 

The Eighth & Main deal is the latest between Douglas and Dominion. In 2011, Douglas sold the Richmond Plaza building to Dominion, which later demolished it to make way for 600 Canal Place.

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