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Overgrown lot gives way to green construction
Overgrown lot gives way to green constructionBy Betsy Parker
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
It's a place at the intersection of transition, literally: It's where Warrenton transitions from leafy residential to the bustling bypass business district. It's where downtown Culpeper Street transitions to the tony Springs Road. It's where Shirley Avenue transitions to Broadview. Commerce intersects residential. Old intersects new.
Within sight of the historic Warrenton Horse Show Grounds and in the shadow of downtown's historic district, a long-forgotten, overgrown residential lot has been rezoned commercial and is being prepared for development.
Agent Charlie Ebbets of Long and Foster handled the 2007 sale of the 3/4-acre lot at the corner of Springs Road and Shirley Avenue. Warrenton developer Marcus Bulmer of Virginia Piedmont Homes bought the land with a view to creating new commercial space to serve Fauquier's growing business community.
The lot had been "a tangle of weeds and trees, but otherwise empty" for as long as Ebbets can remember, at least 60 years, he said.
Though a half-dozen rental houses are adjacent along Shirley, and houses abut it on Springs Road, the corner lot has long sat unused.
Bulmer previously purchased the Legends Restaurant building downtown, turning the space into office condos; one was recently sold to a law group, with three others still available.
The lot is being offered for $2.9 million, Ebbets said, but the price could increase, or decrease, depending on what the builder places on the site.
"He's looking at 7,000 to 9,000 square feet of office space," Ebbets said, explaining that it might be built for medical, general office or mixed use.
Warrenton architect Albert Hinckley Jr. will design the project, using as much green technology as possible, Ebbets said. Local firm Carson-Ashley is handling site engineering.
The site plan must meet approval from the county. Ebbets said building may begin this spring, but warned that permitting can take as long as a year.
A cluster of medical and mixed-use office buildings, with advertised vacant space, are catty-corner across Shirley Avenue from the site. Ebbets was philosophical about the wisdom of adding to the glut of commercial space.
"This will not be your standard brick office building," he said. "The design will be traditional, but not bland. It will be all-new construction using the latest technology and green design and construction. It will offer something different."
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