$98M Richmond apartment building to break ground in Q3

A $98 million luxury apartment building, The Ace Apartments, will be the newest addition to Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood.

The 1.7-acre project will have 295 luxury studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments that will average 753 square feet per unit, and 85% of the units will have balconies. The development’s plans also call for a 7,500-square-foot courtyard, a 4,500-square-foot club room and a swimming pool, as well as more than 13,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Located at 1201 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd., The Ace will be seven floors — five of wood construction and a mezzanine over two floors of concrete.

Chicago-based Cresset Partners, Washington, D.C.-based Level 2 Development LLC and Washington, D.C.-based SJG Properties formed a joint venture to develop the property and expect construction to begin in the third quarter of this year. Developers expect initial occupancy beginning in the first half of 2025.

The venture is Cresset’s first from its third Qualified Opportunity Zone fund, launched in June 2022. Maryland-based Sandy Spring Bank and New York-based Five Star Bank have committed a $58.4 million construction loan for the development.

Fortune-Johnson, a Georgia-based contractor with four previous projects in the greater Richmond area and an office in Midlothian, is the project’s general contractor.