The building has sat vacant in recent years after Animal Motel closed. (Mike Platania photos)
A stretch of the city’s Northside is continuing to attract developer interest, as a mystery group is looking to bring 10 floors of new construction to the neighborhood.
Two five-story mixed-use buildings are being planned to rise at 2412 and 2423 N. Lombardy St., according to a rezoning request filed last week.
The proposed new structures would replace a derelict building that had formerly been home to Animal Motel at 2412 N. Lombardy St., as well as a row of car garages, dealerships and parts shops across the street at 2423 N. Lombardy St.
The two plots sit near the three-way intersection of Lombardy Street, Overbrook Road and Seminary Avenue – an area that’s drawing developer interest this year. On next block to the north is 2500-2536 N. Lombardy St., which Northern Virginia-based firm Sugar Mill Construction is looking to redevelop into a six-story mixed-use building with apartments and commercial space.
The plans for land to the south were laid out in a rezoning request that was filed last week on the day after the city’s Planning Commission gave the thumbs-up to Sugar Mill’s project.
The buildings on the eastern plot total about 14,000 square feet and have car-related businesses operating in them.
It’s unclear who exactly is behind the latest proposed project. The rezoning application was filed by Roth Jackson attorney Jennifer Mullen, who didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time. It’s similarly unclear how many units each building would have or how many square feet the commercial space would be.
The land is currently owned by an entity tied to Atallah Mahases, who couldn’t be reached.
The project is seeking B-7 Mixed-Use Business District zoning, a designation that’s intended to, “encourage appropriate infill development on undeveloped land, promote adaptive reuse of vacant or underutilized buildings and enable redevelopment of properties,” according to the city code. The maximum building height under B-7 is five stories.
In the rezoning application, Mullen writes that redeveloping the two sites “is an opportunity for a pedestrian-oriented development serving the community with ground floor commercial uses and quality residential housing in the area on the North Lombardy corridor.”
The two sites total 1.8 acres and all of the buildings currently there would be razed to make way for the project. City records show Mahases bought the Animal Motel site in May for $650,000, and the 2423 N. Lombardy St. parcel in 2016 for $627,000.
The rezoning request is not yet listed on a Planning Commission agenda.
Meanwhile, Sugar Mill’s special-use permit is scheduled to be voted on by City Council at its Oct. 10 meeting.
