WILLIAMSBURG – The WVS Companies, a developer based in Richmond, specializes in urban projects. Its most well-known ones are Rocketts Landing and The Locks Tower in the capital’s downtown area.
Richard Souter admits the company’s project on Merrimac Trail in Williamsburg, where the George Washington Inn and Conference Center used to sit, doesn’t fit into that mold.
“This was a deal that just kind of fell on our doorstep, and it just seemed like a really neat opportunity,” said Souter, a partner in the company for 18 years.
The first phase of The James on Merrimac Trail apartments is scheduled to open by Memorial Day, with the entire project being finished by the Fourth of July. When complete, it will consist of 95 one-bedroom apartments and 30 two-bedroom apartments.
Souter said with the building being C-shaped, it seemed logical to divide it into three phases.
“It’s 125 units, so it’s not a particularly big building,” he said. “It lays out very nicely where you can bring in sections.”
Having three-quarters of the apartments one-bedroom is typical nowadays, Souter said.
“It skews that much toward ones,” he said.
The average size of a one-bedroom apartment is around 750 square feet; for a two-bedroom, it’s about 1,200. The starting price points are $1,100 and $1,500, respectively.
“Those are market rates for that neighborhood,” Souter said.
Amenities include a resort-style pool, state-of-the-art fitness center with a private yoga room, business center, multimedia/game room, dog wash, and a bike storage.
Souter liked the challenge of redesigning instead of building from the ground up. The latter takes about two years once ground is broken, but for The James, it is taking less than half that time.
“When you inherit a structure like that, these projects go very quickly,” he said. “It’s been a year since we bought it.”
However, before breaking ground about six or seven months ago, the company had to do a lot of design work to convert the former 250-room hotel into half that number of apartments.
“It was just a neat opportunity to do a quick turnaround,” he said.
