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Remodel of Decades Old Apartment Building Finished in Sugar Bottom!

Local developers have finished the remodeling project of a decades-old apartment building in the Sugar Bottom area!  Located at 3005 E. Franklin St., John Humphries, Matt Jarreau and Casey White converted eight units into a dozen upscale apartments and added six new single-family homes!

Click here to read a more in-depth article about the decent development by RichmondBizSense! Click here to read an article we released in 2017 regarding development in Sugar Bottom!

34 comments

Renate Duggan Morehouse 01/08/2020 at 1:10 PM

Granted I have only been in RVA a few years but I have never heard of Sugar Bottom.

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Gale Bowles Giegerich 01/08/2020 at 1:28 PM

My mother grew up on Church Hill and I went to school there at St. Patrick’s for 12 years. She said that when she lived on CH in the 20s, 30s and 40s that everyone knew to stay away from Sugar Bottom. It was where lots of prostitution took place, hence the name. I drive through there when I go up to the hill now and I hadn’t seen where the houses had been torn down. Must have been a fast project. Or, it’s been longer than I feel that I went through there. Anyway, that’s the story I was told about the place and the name. I assume it’s correct but if anyone knows another tale I’d love to hear it. 🙂

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William Bagby 01/08/2020 at 1:15 PM

Those are the wrong homes you’re showing in this pic. The remodeled apartments is across the street

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Telly Keys 01/08/2020 at 1:16 PM

William Bagby Thought so.

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Kiet Vo 01/08/2020 at 1:51 PM

What?! William Bagby thank you for saying. We’re headed over right now to fix this. My fault, sorry folks!

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Church Hill People's News 01/08/2020 at 2:51 PM

Should be good now!

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Dana Bagby 01/08/2020 at 1:41 PM

What’s the hold-out on those old green apartments? They’d be beautiful if tastefully renovated.

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MaReesa Dawn 01/08/2020 at 1:48 PM

I have been here 35 years.. never heard of sugar bottom.
Brooooooooo killin me ???

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Jay Mass 01/08/2020 at 2:00 PM

nawh… been named Sugar bottom since before i was a youth

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Steven Summerville 01/08/2020 at 1:58 PM

These are actually pretty nicely done. I remember work being done on these when I was a little kid haha. Also – Sugar Bottom? Any connection to the “sugar pad” at Rockett’s? I.E. – sugar shipments being delivered to Richmond for distribution throughout the state.

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Jay Mass 01/08/2020 at 2:01 PM

The name Sugar Bottom been around for years. They tried to bury the name because of the history.

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Althea Hinds-Catlett 01/08/2020 at 2:54 PM

I love that name, “Sugar Bottom!” 🙂

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Allen Reynolds 01/08/2020 at 5:07 PM

Althea Hinds-Catlett love the name. H8 the history

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Althea Hinds-Catlett 01/08/2020 at 5:38 PM

Allen Reynolds I don’t know about the history…will look it up. Thanks.

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Jameson Guinness 01/08/2020 at 5:44 PM

Althea Hinds-Catlett well, it’s better than Bloody Bottom (which it has been called) or Bloody Run (which it was named after an Indian massacre).

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Althea Hinds-Catlett 01/08/2020 at 5:54 PM

Jameson Guinness Ohhhh…Sad. Why was it renamed to “Sugar Bottom?”

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Jameson Guinness 01/08/2020 at 5:57 PM

Althea Hinds-Catlett born and raised in Richmond and my family has been in the area since 1609 and I can’t answer that!

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Althea Hinds-Catlett 01/08/2020 at 5:59 PM

Jameson Guinness Possibly to seer those that don’t know away from the horror of it being the site of a massacre?

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Jameson Guinness 01/08/2020 at 6:00 PM

Althea Hinds-Catlett as good an explanation as any.

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Jameson Guinness 01/08/2020 at 6:12 PM

Mark, want to weigh in about “Sugar Bottom?” I can do the ghosts of the tunnel in my sleep but I don’t remember the story of Sugar Bottom.

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Sarah Robinett Grant 01/08/2020 at 9:37 PM

Its the old red light district

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Althea Hinds-Catlett 01/08/2020 at 9:39 PM

Sarah Ohhhh. Thanks for the clarification. 🙂

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Leon Buckminster Lewis 01/08/2020 at 3:38 PM

Steve Sehika holy….

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Leon Buckminster Lewis 01/08/2020 at 3:40 PM

They say they’re $1150 now, isn’t that double what they were?

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Elizabeth Doyas Steen 01/08/2020 at 3:59 PM

Better than the old name of Bloody Run due to the dueling grounds being in that area. Also might be a site of an Indian battle with John Smith.

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Gene Baskette 01/08/2020 at 6:05 PM

That place was a mess for years, glad to see it has been remodeled!

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Dana C. Kuchem 01/08/2020 at 7:13 PM

According to this article “Tucked between Libby Hill and Chimborazo Park, Sugar Bottom is known as one of Richmond’s red-light districts during the Civil War era.” Maybe that’s where the “sugar” comes from? https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/01/07/remodeled-apartments-round-out-sugar-bottom/

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Rachel Woolwine Davis 01/08/2020 at 9:48 PM

Way to go Matt Jarreau!!

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David Darnell 01/08/2020 at 11:00 PM

Glad to see this but out of character for Church Hill

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Lee Thomas 01/09/2020 at 7:50 PM

To the writer:

I intend this to be helpful, so please don’t take this the wrong way. The headline for this article doesn’t seem to work, grammatically. I’m not sure if it’s technically correct, but it makes it sound as if the renovation has been going on for decades, when the intent was to say that the building was decades old. I suspect the stumbling block here was that you were looking for a positive way of describing the project, and didn’t want to use words like “crumbling,” “slum,” or “decrepit.” But you probably also felt like you couldn’t describe a (formerly) cinderblock apartment complex that originally looked like it was built in the sixties or seventies “historic.” I’m just speculating, of course, but in any event, “Remodel of Decades Old Apartment Building…” sounds a bit clunky, but the meaning is more immediately clear.

Again, not trying to be mean or discouraging – I think CHPN is a volunteer enterprise, and I sincerely appreciate your efforts! I took the time to write this because I opened the article expecting a story about a renovation gone terribly wrong (there’s a brick rowhouse/doublehouse on a corner of 21st street in Shockhoe bottom that’s been under renovation for, allegedly, 30+ years… can’t think of the cross street, but I digress). Anyway, keep up the good work!!!

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Kiet Vo 01/09/2020 at 8:00 PM

Hi Lee, thank you for the comment and title recommendation! I went ahead and changed it; you’re right, it’s much more concise. You’ve basically read my mind, I didn’t want to reflect the building in a negative way, so I tried my best to convey in a more positive light. Please feel free to offer any critique or recommendations in any articles, especially the ones by me! I’m a green journalist, so I am always looking for feed-back.

Again, thank you for commenting and giving your advice. It’s invaluable!

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Freda Green-Bolling 01/09/2020 at 9:35 PM

I rode by there yesterday…to see for myself. Thanks for sharing!

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Kiet Vo 01/10/2020 at 12:26 AM

Of course :). Thank you for reading and commenting!

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Juliellen Sarver 01/14/2020 at 10:34 AM

There used to be several riverfront warehouses in the Rocketts area of Fulton. Rocketts was the name of the community where Stone Brewing is now, not the the current Rocketts Landing area. One of those warehouses was used mainly for sugar used in the tobacco/cigarette industry. That might have had something to do with the name of Sugar Bottom originally.

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