Developers Charles Macfarlane and Sam McDonald have applied for a special use permit to build a six-story apartment building on East Main Street east of downtown. Current zoning allows for only five-story buildings.
The Main 2525 proposal has many things to like, including 7,400 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, underground parking for 241 vehicles, and amenities such as a swimming pool, rooftop terrace and lounge with city skyline views. That’s standard mixed-use development, it’s what the market demands, and it’s what increasingly sets the city of Richmond apart from neighboring Henrico and Chesterfield Counties.
But here’s what caught my eye: The project will provide indoor bicycle storage.
The development would be located on the edge of Shockoe Bottom and about two miles from downtown Richmond, so it is within easy bicycling distance of tens of thousands of jobs. The number of cyclists on the road in the Richmond region seems to be increasing, but only slowly. Main 2525 would address one obstacle to greater bicycle usage — bicycle storage.
Think about it. If you’re paying $950 to $1,575 per month for an upscale apartment, the last thing you want is to stash your bicycle inside the apartment. But you don’t want to leave it outside where it would be exposed to the elements or might get stolen. Secure, indoor bicycle storage would be a meaningful amenity.
That feature may be commonplace in new apartment buildings these days, and I just haven’t noticed because I’m a suburban homeowner. Regardless, if I were young and looking for an apartment, the prospect of having bicycle storage would grab my attention.
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