Medium-density housing like this is envisioned for the 1,059-acre Carmel Church tract. Visit the Photo Place

Brothers push Caroline plan

Two brothers want to develop a more than 1,000-acre tract at Carmel Church as a mixed-use project anchored by a train station

Date published: 11/13/2009

By Cathy Jett

A1,059-ACRE TRACT of mostly undeveloped land at Carmel Church could become a vibrant, mixed-use development anchored by a commuter rail station.

Key features would include office and industrial space, residential neighborhoods, a big-box center and a park. Land also would be set aside as possible sites for a library, a school and county offices.

Owners Tommy and Litton Thompson, who are brothers and business partners, have submitted a request to Caroline County to rezone the property for planned mixed-use development. They hope it will come before the Planning Commission in a few months.

"It's certainly an exciting project in an amazing, unique location right in the center of the Golden Crescent [which stretches from Northern Virginia down Interstate 95 to Richmond and then east on Interstate 64 to Hampton Roads], and has amazing possibilities," said Tommy Thompson, who owns Virginia Land Investments in Richmond with his brother.

The Thompsons bought the land, which lies mainly in the area bounded by I-95, U.S. 1, State Route 207 and the North Anna River, about seven years ago as an investment.

"It was [about] 1,000 acres of industrial land with four miles of I-95 frontage and rail going through it," said Thompson. "We didn't have any idea of the potential for it."

Caroline County officials, however, had identified the land as a prime site for a train station and approached the brothers about developing it. Reedy Church District Supervisor Maxie Rozell also put together a subarea planning commission to decide what should happen in Carmel Church, one of the county's three primary growth areas.

"Caroline County is really interested in preserving its rural areas, and wanted to adopt a smart-growth policy in a growth area," Thompson said. "We worked with them to come up with a new-urbanist, high-density plan. We thought it was just an exciting vision for what could happen to the land."

The Thompsons hired Dan Sloan, a McGuireWoods lawyer and national counsel for the U.S. Green Building Council, to help draw up the plans for a sustainable development they're calling Carmel Church Station.

Follow us on

Read more stories about Caroline
Date published: 11/13/2009