Residents and businesses on Bragg Boulevard can expect to see new development in the area in the coming years following the purchase of 37.25 acres of land by private real estate developer Van Metre Companies based in Northern Virginia. 

TradeMark Properties represented the most recent property owners, 3701 Limited Partnership, in the sale. They said the land listed as address 3910 Bragg Blvd sold for $4.75 million dollars and the deal closed on Aug. 4. 

“We were very excited to find a quality buyer that is looking to enhance the Bragg Boulevard corridor,” said Shelley Bhatia and Mike Keen, the two brokers for the deal. “It was a pleasure working with the seller on this deal as they were actively involved and made the process smooth and easy from the beginning. We see the amazing growth in the Fayetteville market and believe this development will be a great addition to the area!” 

The previous owners, the Shamdasani family, owned the land since the early 1990s and put the property up for sale a little more than a year ago. They are the previous owners who facilitated the building of the Villagio Apartments, bringing in a number of teams together to bring high quality housing to the area back in late 2008 to early 2009. They later sold the property around 2018 to new owners with the hopes they could continue development. 

“Timing is everything in real estate, and we thought it was time to go ahead and sell the Villagio, bring some new skill sets into our community, so they can carry on with the next phase of the Villagio where they could do another over 130 some units to complete the whole development,” said one of the previous owners, Rajan Shamdasani. 

The family has also sold off portions of the land to other businesses such as E-Z Auto and the City of Fayetteville who plan to build a fire station. The Shamdasani family also assisted in the sale of both the Villagio Apartments and the adjoining properties to new owners, the Van Metre Companies. 

“Frankly, it was very sentimental to our family, because we’ve had it for such a long time and it’s such an important part of Bragg Boulevard corridor. However, the folks that now own it, the Van Metre Companies, we are very glad that it’s in their hands.” said Shamdasani. “We met multiple offers from folks who were going to parcel it out and we were not seeing anyone really present a cohesive plan for the entire tract so we decided to hang onto that piece of property. Sentimental reasons aside, Van Metre Companies saw the value in the location and the community and Bragg Boulevard.”

While it is still too early in the acquisition process to say for sure what will be going on the 37.25 acres, the land already has set zoning in place. According to zoning information listed on the Geographic Information System through Cumberland County, as of 2021, the land is currently zoned as a Community Commercial District and a Mixed Residential 5 District. The allowed zoning includes the potential for retail, service and office uses and a variety of residential housing. Also allowed under an MR-5 zoning ordinance are complementary institutional uses such as churches, post offices and police substations, as well as day care facilities and limited small scale retail sites.

According to Group President of Investment Properties Mike Barrett with VMC, the company entered the Fayetteville market in April of 2021, and currently owns Village on the Lake and Stonegate Apartments in Spring Lake, Hunters Glen in Sanford along with the Villagio. Now they also have the ability to grow the Villagio with the same goals set by the Shamdasani family and continue development that has already begun. 

“The original plan for the Villagio was to build the building that is currently there and then behind it almost an identical type building. So not only do we have the 36 and a half acres that we purchased from Rajan,” said Barrett, “...if you look at Blanton Road which is the road that goes down and dead ends at Villagio, The plan as I understand it from the city is that they’re going to continue that road on through, and then you’ll have the firehouse out front.” 

The Van Metre Companies specialize in a number of areas including high end real estate development, construction and in the management of apartment, retail and office investment properties. Their expertise also extends into historic properties, apartments, and commercial buildings including office and retail space, and private home building. 

“Now we're talking apartments, doing a phased in approach. Really, in Fayetteville right now, there’s not a lot of new deliveries coming in the next couple of years in the pipeline,” said Barrett. “We feel that Fayetteville continues to grow and that the North Carolina market, a lot of people are moving in that general area. So the combination of all those things made us think we could be successful there, and build a nice product that could help the community.” 

Barrett says that the company is still weighing their options while they continue to examine things like pricing, construction costs, zoning requirements but they know they will have the support of the city when the light turns green. 

“The great part about the City of Fayetteville is, it doesn’t take a lot of time from when we want to do something and through zoning and through permits and all of that, they’re very building friendly. So we think we’ll get support to move rather quickly when we’re ready.”