Downtown Richmond Gets New Luxury High-Rise

The Locks Tower. Image courtesy of PRG Real Estate

The Locks Tower, a 12-story, 237-unit luxury building constructed along the historic Haxall and Kanawah Canal in downtown Richmond, Va., has been completed. Developed by WVS Cos. in partnership with PRG Real Estate, The Locks Tower is part of the partners’ new luxurious multifamily sub-brand, Elevated Properties.

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The $58 million apartment tower is one of four sister properties within the Elevated Properties sub-brand. The others are The Locks, Circa Apartments and South Falls Tower, all luxury properties. The Locks Tower is the first purpose-built, high-rise apartment building in the city in decades and is part of the Locks apartment community developed at the site of the former Reynolds Metal Co., where the other multifamily dwellings are low-rise adaptive reuse apartment buildings.

The high-rise offers one- and two-bedroom floorplans as well as nine penthouses. The units have gourmet kitchens, spa-inspired bathrooms, wood floors, in-unit washers and dryers, unobstructed city views, private balconies, a rooftop pool, sky lounge, state-of-the-art fitness center, private courtyard, bike storage and a pet washing station. The Locks Tower is steps from the business district as well as popular fine dining, shopping and entertainment venues such as Shockoe Slip and the Shockoe Design District. The James River, Kanawah Canal, Richmond’s Canal walk and Brown Island are a short walk from the property and offer outdoor activities year round.

C&F Financial Corp., the holding company for C&F Bank, signed a long-term lease for about 8,700 square feet at The Locks Tower—the building’s entire commercial space. It will be the bank’s first downtown branch and is expected to open in early 2020, according to richmondbizsense.com.

PRG Deals

PRG Real Estate, a Philadelphia-based multifamily real estate investment and management firm, will be the property manager of The Locks Tower. In addition to Virginia, PRG owns and manages more than 10,000 apartment homes throughout the United States including in Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina and North Carolina. 

In recent years, PRG moved from a total focus on value-add multifamily properties because of the lower returns and added new ground-up developments to its portfolio. The Locks Tower is one of several new construction projects in the development pipeline within the next 12 months for PRG and WVS. The partnership expects to complete three more luxury rental communities in the greater Richmond and Hampton Roads areas of Virginia within 12 months.

Their partnership dates back to at least June 2014, when PRG and WVS teamed up to develop South 16, a 157-unit mid-rise apartment community in Roanoke, Va., with one-, two- and three- bedroom units. The team also converted a historic 1800s horse stable into a restaurant and Starbucks. The property is close to major employers including the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute and the 1,187-bed Carilion Clinic.

PRG has also been buying and selling other properties this year. In April, PRG sold Saddlebrook at Tates Creek, a 181-unit, garden-style community in Lexington, Ky., to Engel Realty Co. Hunt Real Estate Capital provided a $13.1 million Fannie Mae DUS conventional multifamily loan to Engel to finance the acquisition, according to Yardi Matrix data.