Infill homebuilder to replace Libbie-Grove apartment building with new $1M townhouses

Richmond BizSense | By Mike Platania

Published January 14, 2026

The aging apartment building sits behind the building housing restaurant Palani Drive on Libbie Avenue. (Mike Platania photo)

A 1960s-era apartment building in the Libbie-Grove area is being eyed for demolition as a busy local homebuilder looks to bring more townhomes to the area. 

Center Creek Homes is planning an eight-unit townhome development at 5706 York Road, where York Court, a 3-story, 18-unit apartment building, currently stands. 

Greg Shron

The structure, which dates back to 1963, is located near the intersection of Libbie and Grove, just north of the Westhampton on Grove development. It’d be razed to make way for two rows of four townhomes.

Center Creek has been among the busier infill developers in the city in recent years with projects along Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Cary Street near the Fan and Quioccasin Road in Henrico. The company is a locally-based homebuilding division for D.C.-based private equity firm Center Creek Capital Group. 

Despite being slightly less than half an acre, the plot on York Road is a larger parcel that’s few and far between in the Libbie-Grove area, COO Greg Shron said.  

“As soon as I saw the site for the first time, I thought … how do we do something that is creative and pushes the envelope a little bit in terms of density, and also highly desirable and marketable?” Shron said. “It’s not an easy parcel size to come across in the neighborhood.”

Each of the planned townhomes would reach 3 stories with four bedrooms, a two-car garage and an option for a rooftop terrace and elevator. He said empty nesters are likely to be the prospective buyers, and that they’re currently modeling the units to be priced around $1.3 million. 

A A conceptual drawing of the townhomes. (City documents)

Shron said Center Creek is under contract to purchase the property, which is currently owned by an entity tied to Paul Dickinson of Richmond. City property records show the Dickinson family has owned the property since 1967 when it paid $146,000 for it. It was most recently assessed at $2.6 million. 

Winks Snowa Architects is the project architect and Bowman Consulting group is the engineer. Center Creek is the general contractor. 

The property is zoned UB Urban Business, which doesn’t allow for single-family residences, so Center Creek is seeking a special-use permit for the project. Shron said they’re reviewing the proposal with the city’s planning staff and have already met with the neighborhood associations in the Libbie-Grove area. 

“We seem to have, knock wood, general support for the project. It helps that we are replacing an older, not terribly attractive building, and that we are reducing the number of dwelling units,” Shron said. 

Center Creek is working on a larger townhome development a couple miles to the east at 3923 Grove Ave. The firm is looking to renovate a 200-plus-year-old home on the site and build about a dozen townhomes behind it, but that project also requires a special-use permit. Shron said the city planning commission recommended approving the project in October, and that the firm is now refining some of the project’s design before it goes to city council for final approval.