RICHMOND, Va. — A local developer and restaurateur are teaming up yet again, this time taking a bite out of a busy stretch of East Broad Street downtown.
Richmond-based Monument Cos. last month purchased the Sunny Men’s Wear building at 326 E. Broad St., principal Chris Johnson confirmed.
It paid $1.02 million in the deal, which closed June 15, according to city records. The building was assessed at $576,000.
“We moved very quickly on this deal,” Johnson said. “We went to contract on the building on May 19.”
Preliminary plans call for the three-story, 18,000-square-foot building to be converted into 20 apartments on the second and third levels. The ground floor, which now houses Sunny Men’s Wear, will be closed and converted into a restaurant run by Chris Tsui’s Richmond-based EAT Restaurant Partners.
Tsui’s company, which soon will have nine restaurants in its portfolio, is partnering with Monument Cos. on redevelopment costs, estimated at $3.6 million. Virginia Commonwealth Bank is financing the project.
“We’re still developing a concept for the restaurant,” Tsui said. “We want something that is going to fit in with the area.”
The two companies are frequent collaborators – they partnered on the Wong Gonzalez building at 412 E. Grace St. Monument Cos. renovated a number of EAT Partners’ restaurant locations as well, including Foo Dog in the Fan and Boulevard Burger & Brew in Scott’s Addition.
