Baking Up A Rebirth

With the opening of the Nolde Bakery Condominiums, Church Hill welcomes new neighbors and customers.

Kent Jennings Brockwell, Richmond.com, Wednesday, September 20, 2006

It has been several decades since Church Hill was enveloped in the warm, sweet smells of the Nolde Bakery but area residents and businesses will soon smell something much sweeter wafting from the bakery - revitalization and commerce.

Though at one point in its history the historic Richmond bakery employed about 800 workers who also lived and shopped in the area, the Nolde compound is making its return to prominence in the neighborhood, this time as the 77-unit Nolde Bakery Condominiums complex, which opened in late July.

Originally built in 1926 as the then-new home of the Nolde Brothers Bakery, the series of buildings at 26th and Broad streets stood vacant for many years when the bakery moved out in the 1970s. Later, some of the buildings were occupied by Goodwill Industries, but for the most part, the old bakery was a void in a once thriving neighborhood that fell into disrepair for several decades but has been slowly been returning to its yesteryear prominence.

While Church Hill has been through phases of self improvement in the past, some say the return/renovation of the Nolde Bakery could be a definitive sign of the new Hill.

For obvious reasons, Hometown Realty's Mark Meitz is one of those people. As the primary realtor for the Nolde units, Meitz may seem a little biased regarding the renovation of the bakery, but as a former history teacher, he seems to be as interested in bringing new life to the historical area as he does about selling condos, which start at around $200,000.

"When you talk about what separates us here [from other new condo projects in Richmond], the surrounding neighborhood is probably the biggest deal," Meitz recently said while showing one of the units facing Broad Street. "This is not just an apartment building. This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the country. Going back to when I was teaching history, if I said, 'Give me liberty,' even if [the students] weren't passing their [Standards of Learning] tests, they could finish that quote. And you can see St. John's [Church] right out your window."

Since the renovation started in April 2004, almost $20 million has been spent by Marathon Development Group to reinvent the massive old-school bakery into modern living quarters for the thirty-something young professional crowd. However, new amenities and marble countertops aside, the building still has kept much of its bakery-esque appeal inside as well as out. From the glazed tan terracotta bricks (think elementary school cafeteria) in some units to the original metal fire doors in the lobby that still have bread recipes scrawled on them, the Nolde Bakery spirit continues to carry farther than just the name on the outside of the building.Advertisement
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Outside, other than the new parking garage, the developer painstakingly worked to keep much of the bakery's original charm. Marathon project manager Brennan Raab said while keeping the exterior intact was important for the historical cohesiveness of the neighborhood, it was also important for the development company to rake in valuable historical renovation tax credits. Neither keeping the historical cohesiveness nor renovating an industrial bakery into upscale condos was an easy task, however, Raab added.

"From a construction standpoint, from taking on a transformation of a bakery and industrial building, you have to be flexible and you have to act quickly in your decisions to cover a lot that you don't originally anticipate," he said. "There were a lot of structural items that had to be dealt with because this building was really over-engineered for residential capacity. There were a lot of extra beams and columns that we ended up having to take out to make the living rooms more livable because there was an oven or a mixer over top 20 years ago that is no longer there."

Now, with all the extra beams removed and 18 units already occupied, the Nolde Bakery is in business again and some residents in the area are already singing its praises.

"I can tell that I have got some new customers," said Bob Buffington, president of Captain Buzzy's Beanery, which is about one block up the hill from the new condos. "I think it is fantastic. It won't affect density because it was a fully functional space, but at the end of the day, it is nice to see it being used again. The captain says, 'Welcome aboard!'"

Buffington, who admits that he believes Church Hill is "the center of the universe," said he hopes that the new condos, once fully occupied, will draw other business owners to look toward Church Hill like he did when he opened his coffee shop in 2003.

"I looked to see how Richmond was growing and Church Hill needed some coffee and some more commercial businesses and I wanted to get in here first," he said. "People are looking at Church Hill but some are afraid to take the steps. But the Nolde project might help to inspire more businesses."

Buffington might be right. Just across Broad Street from the born-again bakery, several formerly vacant storefronts have construction company signs out front and brown butcher paper covering the windows - telltale signs of renovation.

Maybe the Nolde Bakery Condominiums will prove to be the best thing to happen to Church Hill since, well, sliced bread.

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306 N. 26th Street
Historic Church Hill
Richmond, VA 23223
(at E. Broad & 26th St.)

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