Hotels, restaurants coming to Henrico Sports and Events Center site

The new Henrico Sports and Events Center, which opened late last year, is surrounded mostly by asphalt and dirt at the former site of Virginia Center Commons mall in Glen Allen.

Not for long.

Shamin Hotels will build two hotels and two restaurants adjacent to the arena, in keeping with initial concept plans for the site, company and county officials announced during a press conference there April 25.

The company, which owns nearly 80 hotels on the East Coast, already has 19 in Henrico and is building its 20th in the Varina District. The two hotels at the arena site will be a four-story, 85,000-square-foot Residence Inn and a five-story, 75,000-square-foot Home2 Suites. Both are slated to open in 2026. Details about the restaurants have not yet been released.

Much of the landscape at Virginia Center has changed, and rapidly, in recent years. The mall closed in October 2022, nearly two years after The Rebkee Company purchased the site with plans to build residential properties across some of its former footprint. Nearby residential construction along Brook Road also has sprouted, to meet increased demand in the region. In total, about 2,500 homes, apartments or townhomes have been approved either at the Virginia Center site or within about two miles of it.

Shamin Hotels CEO Neil Amin told those in attendance Thursday that the region was the strongest hospitality and retail submarket in Metro Richmond in 2008, just before a recession hit. He believes it’s well on its way to regaining that status.

“Clearly, this area has tremendous potential,” Amin said. “It has the bones to really achieve greatness, which it will. Being close to 95, being on 95, a sea of travelers, a sea of visitors, being close to Innsbrook Corporate Center, being close to the airport, close to downtown, it’s a premier location for people to live, people to visit, and of course people to spend money that improves the quality of life of all of our county residents,” Amin said.

The arena already attracts thousands of visitors each month and will host numerous local, state and regional events on an ongoing basis, bringing visitors to the county and helping Henrico boost its already strong sports tourism initiatives.

The six-acre site on which Shamin will build its new properties also is only about five miles from the planned GreenCity ecodistrict development at the intersection of I-95 and East Parham Road (which will house a 17,000-seat arena) and less than four miles from Glover Park in Glen Allen, which also attracts youth and adult sporting events from throughout the region.

Henrico’s success attracting tourists “allows Henrico to thrive above its peers,” Henrico Economic Development Authority Executive Director Anthony Romanello said. “We love tourism, we love sports tourism. Folks come here, they stay in our hotels, they eat in our restaurants, and we don’t have to educate their children. It’s a great combination that really helps build our economy.”

The county realized visitor spending of $1.7 billion last year, Romanello said, ranking it first in the Metro Richmond region and fifth statewide. Nearly 6% of all visitor spending in the state occurred in the county, he said.

The Virginia Center region “is quickly becoming one of the most dynamic and exciting areas in Henrico County,” said Fairfield District Supervisor Roscoe Cooper, III.

“Just wait – this area will soon be unrecognizable as the shopping center it once was,” Cooper said. This entire area is being transformed with housing, businesses, services and amenities, including access to the Fall Line Trail. What we’re seeing is a realization of the vision outlined by residents of this community.”

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