.jpg)
Lexington Seeks New Proposals
By Joseph Haney
Lexington is looking for additional proposals for development on the former Virginia Department of Transportation property on Waddell Street.
At its regular meeting last Thursday, Lexington City Council unanimously approved an amendment to its contract with Echelon Resources Inc. that would allow the city to put out a new request for proposals for potential developments on the property.
The city sought proposals for development of the property last year, and Echelon was the only developer who submitted a proposal.
The company presented the city with a plan to build two multi-story apartment buildings on the property and to use part of the first floor of one of the buildings as a commercial space, utilizing the city’s recently developed Planned Development – Mixed Use zoning district. The developers told the city at the time that the plan was to develop the VDOT property in conjunction with a parcel of land on Spotswood Drive, which they also have under contract.
See VDOT
,
page 5 In the months since receiving the proposal and awarding the contract, Echelon has not begun development of either property, citing market conditions and construction costs.
At last Thursday’s meeting, City Manager Tom Carroll presented an amendment to the contract for the VDOT property for Council to consider, noting that the city would be “well served” by seeing if “there is any other developer that would be interested in exploring a different housing product than we initially contemplated in 2023.”
Echelon, he said, would be able to submit a different proposal for the site for consideration.
“We’re going to – at least the way I’m drafting it right now – leave it up to the developers to tell us what they think will work best for them at that site and for us to review that,” he said. “It could be multifamily, it could be townhomes, it could be single- family, [or] it could be something I haven’t thought of.”
The request for proposals will likely be finished and ready to go out this week, with the city receiving and beginning to review proposals by mid-October and to approve a new one, if any are submitted, by mid-December.
The amendment also amends the deadlines for Echelon to have the VDOT property rezoned from October of this year to March of 2025, and will extend the due diligence period to July 24, 2025. Those dates would also apply to the Spotswood contract.
If the city selects a different proposal for the VDOT property, it will refund the $10,000 of earnest money that Echelon has put toward the property.
Council member Chuck Smith made the motion to approve the amendment and Council member David Sigler provided the second.
