NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The former Greyhound station property off Brambleton Avenue in Downtown Norfolk has been sold to make way for a mixed-use, roughly 220-unit apartment building called “Houndstooth.”
Norfolk City Council voted unanimously (with Vice Mayor Martin Thomas Jr. abstaining on PH-3) on Tuesday to approve the sale of the former bus station property and seven additional parcels of adjacent land on Granby Street and Monticello Avenue to Breeden Investment Properties, Inc. Vice Mayor Thomas, who is listed as the registered agent for the owner of the adjacent parcels, abstained.
The agreement includes a price of $750,000 specifically for the Greyhound space at 701 Monticello Avenue, which is currently valued at just under $1.7 million, property assessment data shows.
The purchase agreement for the other properties (718, 724 and 730 Granby Street, and 723, 727, 729 and 731 Monticello Avenue) though amounts to $5,250,000 total, above the roughly $2 million total assessed value for those properties.
The purchase and development agreement also “contemplates a grant to Breeden to offset a portion of the purchase price for the adjacent property.” A decision on that grant will be considered by council at a later date, according to council agenda documents.
The Breeden Company is a Virginia Beach-based developer behind several other Norfolk developments, including the Gravity apartments off Waterside Drive and Aspire at Church Street.
Houndstooth, which is still in the planning phase, is expected to have five floors of apartments over mixed-use on the first floor. Developers are also looking to incorporate the facade of the former bus station, first built in 1942, into the project.
After the historic Greyhound station closed in 2019, plans originally called for it be a new center for visual and culinary arts at Tidewater Community College, but things fell through. The city also briefly used the space for a homeless shelter.
The development comes as Norfolk tries to breathe new life into its arts district, the Neon District. That includes a $10.6 million streetscape and infrastructure project that started this week.
“A residential development is one of the best uses for the site,” said Mary Miller, president and CEO of the Downtown Norfolk Council, about Houndstooth. “More density will help the district, increase safety with more foot traffic on the street, and support a wider range of businesses in the district.”
