@UtilityBuddy: 300 blk 21st St, alley between 20 and 21st, Broad & Marshall closed all month for manhole work. Noisy digging next week.

According to the Richmond Police Crash Team investigation, Bruce Lee Carter, 47, of Richmond was walking in the 400 block of North 8th Street around 2:15 a.m. when he was hit by a 2006 Mercury Milan. The driver of the Mercury Milan left the scene of the accident in the vehicle. Carter, who was found lying in the roadway, was taken to VCU Medical Center, where he died.

About 30 minutes after the accident, officers patrolling the Shockoe Bottom area observed a Mercury Milan with front-end damage traveling in the 1800 block of East Cary Street. The officers, alerted to the accident in which Carter was struck, quickly initiated a traffic stop to question the driver, identified as Andre U. Vaughan.

Andre Vaughan

416 N 33rd Street, Richmond, VA 23223
Execution of a certain deed of trust-original principal amount: $158,760
Borrower: REO-Assets Mgmt
Foreclosure date: November 10, 2011 at 2:15 p.m.
Trustee: Shapiro & Burson

805 N 29th Street, Richmond, VA 23223
Execution of a certain deed of trust-original principal amount: $60,770
Borrower: Vernon Davis
Foreclosure date: November 3, 2011 at 2:15 p.m.
Trustee: ALG Trustee

307 N 21st Street, Richmond, VA 23223
Execution of a certain deed of trust-original principal amount: $147,600
Borrower: Jefferson Wells
Foreclosure date: November 3, 2011 at 2:15 p.m.
Trustee: ALG Trustee

812 N 35th Street, Richmond, VA 23223
Execution of a certain deed of trust-original principal amount: $196,500
Borrower: Evelyn Richardson
Foreclosure date: November 17, 2011 at 2:15 p.m.
Trustee: Shapiro & Burson

1127 N 33rd Street, Richmond, VA 23223
Execution of a certain deed of trust-original principal amount: $119,050
Foreclosure date: November 9, 2011 at 2:45 p.m.
Trustee: Evans & Bryant

Edwin Slipek looks at the recent development along the 21st Street corridor in this week’s Style:

No local precinct has undergone so remarkable a transformation as Shockoe Bottom’s eastern edge, where North 21st Street slams hard against the weed-infested and dramatically steep cliff of Church Hill. [...] …. as in-fill they provide much-needed urban density and establish intriguing architectural tension between two abutting but radically different districts. On the one hand, atop restored Church Hill, there’s the human scale and understated elegance of mostly 19th-century structures. On the other, anchoring the Bottom like ballast, are solid and muscular warehouse-scaled buildings.

[...]

Despite some architectural missteps, these ambitious residential projects signify a major step in replanting a neighborhood where past generations imposed demolition. These apartment buildings also validate the Herculean preservation efforts, begun in the late 1950s, to restore once-dilapidated Church Hill. With that historic neighborhood’s successful renewal, things on its periphery have been invigorated, including Tobacco Row, Fulton Hill, North Church Hill and Union Hill. But Shockoe Bottom was the slowest to make a comeback.

PREVIOUSLY: Development will bring almost 500 new apartments to Shockoe Valley (5/31/2010)

912 N 21ST ST RICH / CrossStreet: CARRINGTON ST FIRE, HOUSE / STRUCTURE On Scene 8:08 PM HOUSE ON FIRE IN THE SAME BLOCK OF 22AND AND VENABLE…COMPL NOT SURE IF ANYONE IS INSIDE

Photo above by John Sydnor, below by robertelves

The Fugitive Task Force has arrested Joel M. Hicklin, 18, of the 1600 block of North 21st Street, in connection with the homicide of Tyler A. Franks.

Franks, 45, of the 3600 block of Chamberlayne Avenue, was found suffering from a gunshot wound in the 3600 block of Chamberlayne Avenue around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 14, 2010. He later died of his injuries.

Richmond Police say the first incident happened in the 1900 block of Redd Street around 6:00 p.m. Friday. [...]

Then, about nine and a half hours later, police say they responded to the 900 block of North 21st Street, and found another person shot twice in the upper body. That victim was taken to VCU Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Seen either of these cats?

II recently lost my two cats due to a maintenance man leaving my back door open. One is named Lola, she is a brindle looking cat, pretty chubby, but very loveable, and the other is Tupac, Most adorable all black cat in the world. He has not been fixed yet, so those will still be there. I live in the area around 21st street [near M Street].

Collapsing and long-imperilled, the vacant circa 1905 brick Victorian at 814 North 21st Street on the edge of Union Hill has been demolished in recent days.

Daniel posted this photo at Discovering Urbanism: The kinds of places we used to build and says:

I snapped this photo of the Church Hill neighborhood in Richmond the other day and immediately wanted to live there.

George Wardwell is a painter out of Maine who has captured a few local views:

It’s hard to say what catches my interest, because that changes day-to-day. I am fascinated in the hand of man on the landscape, whether it’s buildings, bridges, highways or factories.

Wardwell works from photographs. He spent a month wandering around Richmond several years ago looking for things to paint, and has spent a weekend here each year for the past couple of years. He says that “I’ve been toying with the idea of finding a fall-down
warehouse in Richmond to spend some time in each year to paint. Although I live in Maine, I can’t muster up much enthusiasm for painting lobster boats and lighthouses”.

Virginia Fire News has info on a small fire on 21st Street that displaced 3 people:

On June 3, at 0726 hours Richmond Fire was called to the 1800 block of North 21st Street for a reported house fire. Rescue 1 arrived on scene just ahead of Q-11 reporting a 2-story wood frame house with smoke showing on from the D side on Division 2 [...] No one was home at the time of the fire. The fire was brought under control at 0738 hours. The fire is under investigation at this time. The Red Cross is assisting the family of 3 with accommodations.

Two worn but super-affordable houses for sale: 914 North 21st Street at $19,900 and 1203 North 24th Street at $29,900.

Inspired by the Richmond Slumlord Watch post on the city’s Vacant Property Registry, I started digging around the ownership of some vacants near by. I quickly ran across variations of the same name: some sort of investment group and “c/o Stacy Martin”.

Searching the city’s Parcel Mapper by name then turned up that both Premier Investment Properties Llc C/o Stacy Martin and Clayton Investment Group Llc C/o Stacy Martin each own over 50 houses across the city, many of them vacant. Stacy Martin also turns up on Tower Building Properties Llc C/o Stacy Martin, who own more than 30 houses across the city.

To state this directly: collectively these 3 companies c/o Stacy Martin own ~140 houses, 90+ of which are vacant, most of them in the East End.

As RSW points out, Stacy Martin is a real estate agent at West End real estate firm Hermitage Realty, Donald Lacey’s firm. Donald Lacey, you might recall, took a buch of invester money to fix up houses but instead apparently burned through millions on vacation homes, boats, and expensive cars.

Here is where it starts to feel kind of personal and a touch wicked: these companies own at least 15 vacant houses within 4 blocks of my house, including one directly behind me. They own 3 on the 2300 block of Fairmount Avenue and another in the 2200 block. They own 3 more vacants on the 1200 block of 24th Street and one each in the 1110 and 1300 blocks. The own vacants on the 1200 and 1300 blocks of 22nd Street and the 1300 block of 21st Street. None of these house are being renovated.

None of the houses are apparently for sale. Few if any have seen improvement in the past 5 years other than the boards that went up over the windows. These century-old frame houses are let to sit and age and slowly degrade.

These companies, together with the notorious Bayou Properties, easily own 80% of the vanant houses in almost a half-mile radius of my house. These 3 companies c/o Stacy Martin are the anti-BHC, if you will, single-handedly stalling any progress towards rebuilding the physical fabric of the community.

Unlike Lawrence Oliver’s Bayou Properties, these investment groups at least seem to have a handle on how to keep up with the basic maintence on the properties. None are outrageously overgrown, none are strewn with trash or appear to be the center of illicit activity. They are, though, dead spots in a neighborhood fighting to fight the good fight to reverse decades of decline and abandonment.

Beyond this pocket of vacancies in Fairmount, these three companies own almost 100 properties in the East End (many of which are vacant, of course).

Each marker on the map below represents a property owned by one of the 3 companies connected to Stacy Martin. Zoom in and scroll around to get the full effect or check out the big map

The yellow houses above are the vacants in Fairmount that initially caught my attention. The blue markers indicate properties in the East End listed to Premier Investment Properties Llc C/o Stacy Martin. The green markers indicate properties in the East End listed to Clayton Investment Group Llc C/o Stacy Martin. The red markers indicate properties in the East End listed to Tower Building Properties Llc C/o Stacy Martin.

Tobias J. Young, 18, of the 1000 block of  North 21st Street, was arrested without incident by First Precinct officers Wednesday night. Young has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Questions about the charges against Young should be directed to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.

This investigation is ongoing. Richmond Police is still working on official confirmation of the victim’s identity. Anyone with further information on this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.

The crooked house on Marshall is in the process of being fixed, setting the scene for a great before&after one day. There is still this wonderfully leaning house on 21st Street; are there other gravity defying houses in the area?

In addition, a 74-unit apartment complex is planned a few blocks to the east, at 21st and Broad. [...]

The 21st and Broad Apartments would consist of four floors of apartments above a ground floor that would include a lobby and commercial space. The project also would have below-ground parking, according to plans filed with the city.

Preliminary reports of at least one man shot after a gun battle in the street at 21st and Leigh Streets. Some folks are saying 2 down. One man was taken away in police custody. Crowd says 9 shots fired.

All of ACORN’s plans to save 814 North 21st Street have fallen through. The owner is now willing to sell for as little as $15,000 to avoid demolition.

ADDRESS: 814 N. 21st Street

STATE & FEDERAL HISTORIC DISTRICT: Union Hill

BUILDING PERMIT: Active and in place, ready to continue work for complete renovation
FLOOR PLANS: Complete and Approved for construction by the City of Richmond
HISTORIC TAX CREDITS: Application approved for the Part 1, Evaluation of Significance and preliminary approval for reconstruction plans for the rear section of the house
ENGINEERING: Complete for the house and the retaining wall to the north

The rear of the house has been partially removed in order to stabilize this section. The north wall can be reconstructed and tied in with the remaining south and west walls, and construction of interior framing can commence after this reconstruction. There is a failing retaining wall that will eventually have to be braced or replaced.

This brick Italianate house is located in the Union Hill State & Federal Historic District. The
owner must sell and will entertain any offer. A.C.O.R.N. has worked to save this house and initially arranged the sale to the current owner through our Option Property Program in 2007.

SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY
There is no time to waste in continuing work on this historic house in Richmond, Virginia to compete its restoration and save another unique piece of history.

For additional information or to make an offer, please contact David Herring (804) 644-5040 or Jeffery Kuhn at (540) 250-5773.

1803 North 21st Street

300 block of North 21st Street

814 North 21st Street
(city GIS info)

Asking price is $72,000 (or, possibly, best offer). Call ACORN at 422-2148 for more information.

Look for more info and photos on the ACORN site next week.

Residential

• 910 West Clay Street-L&Z Historic [Carver]
• 500 N. 29th Street/The Peay House-Atlantic Crest Company [Church Hill]
• 725 N. 22nd Street/The Canon House-Fine Carpentry of Virginia [Union Hill]
• 305 North 21st Street/The Archer Armstrong House-Hystoric Properties One [Church Hill]
• 2804 East Franklin Street/The Cochran House-Lynn & John Cochran [Church Hill]
• 612-614 N. 23rd Street-Jewels, LLC [Union Hill]
• 15 West Lancaster Road-Northside Renovations, Inc. [Battery Park]
• 1750 & 1752 West Leigh Street-Elderhomes Corp. [Carver]
• 1021 West Clay Street-Silver Construction [Carver]
• 1200 North 36th Street-Sarah & Corey Widmer [Oakwood-Chimborazo]

Commercial

• 1005 East Main Street/Bank & Vault-Mo Roman [Downtown/Financial District]
• 1129 Hull Street/The Bankuet Place-Laura Bryant [Manchester]
• 2600 East Grace Street/St. Patrick’s Place-St.Patrick’s Place, LLC [Church Hill]
• 220 East Marshall Street/Marshall Street Villas-Emerson Builders Group [Downtown]
• 1840 West Broad Street/Atlantic Motors Building-Sauer Properties, Inc. [Broad Street Corridor]
• 2004-2014 Idlewood Avenue-John T. West IV [Randolph]
• 1630 West Main Street/The Trolley-Blackwood Development Company [Fan]
• 1901 West Cary Street/Johannas Design Group-David Johannas [Randolph]
• 2625 East Broad Street/Captain Buzzy’s Beanery and Apartments-Howard Kellman [Church Hill]
• 2104 East Main Street-Corey Properties [Shockoe Bottom]
• 302 North Goshen Street-Clachan Properties [Carver]
• 525 East Grace Street/The Berry Burk Building-Berry-Burk, LLC [Downtown]

Infill

• 1912 East Broad Street/Bill Lafoon [Church Hill]
• 720 West Franklin Street/Brandt Hall-VCU [Fan]
• 100-108 West Jackson Street /Jackson Commons-Walker Row Partnership, Inc. and Miller & Associates [Jackson Ward]
• 603-603½ N. 23rd Street-Better Housing Coalition [Union Hill]

nbc12 is carrying the story. Also, in a comment on the original post, chpn reader bob provides much more information:

At 10:08 a.m., Dec. 15, police responded to a call for a shooting in the 2100 block of W. Clay Street. Upon arrival they discovered a black male with gunshot wounds to the hand and leg. The victim was transported to VCU Medical Center and treated for injuries that were not life threatening.
The victim says he and other workers were at a construction site when they saw two black males attempt to steal tools from their truck. The workers exchanged words with the two black males. The victim says it was at that point that one of the black males turned and shot at him.
Shortly after this incident two black males matching the description of the suspects were spotted and questioned. One of the two males admitted to being involved in the shooting. A gun, ammunition, and crack cocaine were confiscated. It was determined the second individual being questioned was not involved.

Contractors working to breathe new life into Church Hill find their own lives at risk as one of them is shot in the leg during a confrontation with a would-be thief. The man was shot near Jefferson Park at the corner of 21st and Clay streets 10 AM Thursday morning.

The article link has video and a picture.