Grandin Village Residents Push Back on Proposed Four-Story Mixed-Use Project

More than 130 residents packed the Roanoke Planning Commission hearing Wednesday night to weigh in on a proposed four-story mixed-use building at the corner of Grandin Road and Memorial Avenue, a project that has become the most contentious development fight in Grandin Village in at least a decade.

The proposal, brought by Richmond-based developer Shockoe Real Estate Partners, would replace a one-story commercial strip anchored by a former dry cleaner with a 68-unit apartment building over ground-floor retail. Shockoe is seeking a special-use permit to exceed the corridor’s three-story height cap.

Grandin Village Community Association President Amy Liu, speaking for the association, told the commission the neighborhood supports infill housing in principle but believes the project as designed is too large for the intersection. “We are not a neighborhood that says no to growth. We are a neighborhood that says not like this,” Liu said.

Several residents cited traffic at the already-congested five-way intersection of Grandin, Memorial, Westover, and Brandon as their primary concern. Others said they worried the height of the building would cast the adjacent single-family homes on Arden Road into afternoon shadow for much of the winter.

Shockoe principal Caleb Mendez defended the design, noting the building had already been reduced from an initial six-story proposal and that the development would include 10 income-restricted units affordable to households making up to 80% of area median income. “We have listened. We have redesigned. We think this is the right building for this corner,” Mendez said.

Not all of the public comment was opposed. Several younger residents, including a handful of Hollins University students, spoke in favor of the project, citing the neighborhood’s tight rental market and the long waitlist for existing apartments along Grandin Road.

“I have three roommates right now because I can’t find a one-bedroom I can afford within a mile of Grandin Village Grocery,” said 27-year-old public-school teacher Jamal Turner. “Every one of us saying yes to this project is saying yes to someone staying in this neighborhood.”

The commission deadlocked, voting 3-3 on a motion to recommend approval. The project now advances to City Council without a recommendation — an unusual outcome that Planning Commission Chair Hubert Adams said he could not recall in his eight years on the body.

“I want to be clear: this is not a vote against growth,” Adams said after the meeting. “It’s a body that couldn’t agree on the right shape of growth at this corner.”

City Council is expected to take up the proposal at its June 2 meeting. In the interim, the neighborhood association said it would host two community conversations in May to try to bridge gaps between residents and the developer.

“This is the conversation that will define the next five years of Grandin,” Liu said. “We have to get it right.”