Published October 2026 · Written by the Mission Realty Team.
No dataset tells you which Richmond-area neighborhoods are “built around a town center,” so this guide uses things you can check yourself: the street the shops sit on, what the county approved, what is open today and what is still being poured. We named only places where a county document, a developer release or local business reporting backs the description. Order runs from most finished to least finished and is not a ranking of which is best.
A four-question test: town center or shopping center with houses nearby?
Plenty of listings say “walk to shops.” Many of those shops sit behind a parking lot on a four-lane road. Run any neighborhood through these questions before you trust the label.
- Is there a main street? A real center has a street with storefronts facing the sidewalk, not a parking field with a row of tenants at the back.
- Do people live above or beside the shops? Apartments, condos or townhomes should share blocks with the retail, not just back up to it.
- Does the county treat it as one place? Look for a mixed-use zoning district or an approved master plan. Henrico, for example, has an Urban Mixed-Use district that requires a minimum commercial or office share.
- Could you do a normal Tuesday without a car? Coffee, a meal and one errand within a few blocks is the minimum. For the grocery piece specifically, see our guide to neighborhoods where you can walk to a grocery store.
By that test, the picks below sit on a spectrum. One is mostly built. The rest are phases in progress, and we say plainly what is open and what is a plan. Four of the five are in Henrico County, and one is in the city of Richmond.
Mostly built
West Broad Village in Short Pump: the most complete example
West Broad Village sits in Short Pump along West Broad Street. Henrico’s Henrico planning staff report on the last West Broad Village parcel says the original development covered 115 acres under a 2006 provisional use permit, is zoned Urban Mixed-Use inside the West Broad Street Overlay District, and had reached its 884-unit residential cap by 2015. Richmond BizSense has described Old Brick Road as the development’s main street, with retail and restaurant tenants on it and a 135-room Aloft hotel that opened in 2009.
That documentation is what makes it the “finished” pick: the county measured it, the residential total was reached, and the street exists. The staff report also notes the commercial piece must stay at 25 percent or more of the square footage in Urban Mixed-Use projects.
Still building
Libbie Mill: a mixed-use neighborhood in phases near Staples Mill Road
Libbie Mill sits in Henrico, off Staples Mill Road, Bethlehem Road and Libbie Avenue, with its commercial street on Libbie Mill East Boulevard. Richmond BizSense in April 2026 that Gumenick Properties calls it a 90-acre neighborhood, that the developer “continues to build hundreds” of apartments and townhomes, and that tenants include Shagbark, RVA Bakehouse, The Brass Tap, Yellow Umbrella Provisions and Blue Ridge Cyclery, with an ACAC gym coming into the former Lumber Liquidators office building. Only one retail space remained at Tanner Row.
Libbie Mill does not have its own page in our directory, so see Henrico County and the nearby Tuckahoe page, plus Near West End on the city side.
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Rocketts Landing: riverfront blocks along East Main Street
Rocketts Landing is in the city of Richmond on East Main Street, beside the James River and the Virginia Capital Trail. Richmond BizSense reported in December 2025 that developer WVS Cos. has built it out since 2005, with hundreds of apartments and townhomes plus restaurants and office space in both new and reused buildings. The next building at 4401 E. Main St. is a six-story, 184-unit apartment building with structured parking and no commercial space, with construction planned to start in early 2026, so check the current status.
Rocketts Landing has no page of its own in our directory. For the surrounding streets, read our Church Hill, Shockoe Bottom and Manchester pages.
Innsbrook: an office park adding a retail village and apartments
Innsbrook is the clearest case of an older office park being rebuilt as a mix, just east of Short Pump and near Glen Allen. Richmond BizSense covered the approval in June 2025 that the 22-acre North End site at Nuckols Road and Interstate 295 would hold three residential buildings and a “retail village” of four single-story buildings at Nuckols Road and Lake Brook Drive. A 2021 rezoning allows up to 600 apartments, 100 condos, a 150-room hotel and 55,000 square feet of retail.
Midtown64: the newest, and the furthest from done
Midtown64 replaces the former Genworth campus at 6604 to 6630 West Broad Street, at the interchange with Interstate 64. Richmond BizSense reported in April 2026 that demolition had started and that the half-billion-dollar plan includes four apartment buildings (about 1,000 units), nearly 200 for-sale townhomes, two hotels, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and office space linked by new roads and pedestrian plazas. The first phase should include the retail space, about 250 apartments and 110 townhomes, with the whole project expected to take about eight years.
How to use this list
If you want a town center you can use now, West Broad Village is the only one here that is largely complete, and Libbie Mill has a working street with more homes arriving. If you want newer buildings, Midtown64 and the later phases of the others suit you, and our guide to built after 2010 covers the wider market. If your priority is the street itself, our look at neighborhoods with sidewalks and streetlights shows where the walking is easy outside these cores.
Pair a tour with a lender conversation early. Our featured lenders page lists local options, and buying with Mission Realty explains how we work with buyers.
Your saved search for these neighborhoods
We will filter a saved search to West Broad Village, Libbie Mill, Rocketts Landing, Innsbrook and Midtown64, and send you homes as they come on the market.
Frequently asked questions
Do these neighborhoods carry extra fees on top of the mortgage?
It depends on the specific building or section, and we have not verified fee structures for these five communities, so we are not going to guess. Before you write an offer, ask for the association declaration and current budget, and ask whether any special assessment or district charge appears on the property tax bill. Ask the seller or builder for those documents; the answers differ between a condo building, a townhome section and a single-family section inside the same development.
How do I find out what is planned next door to a home I like?
Start with the county. Henrico publishes rezoning staff reports and planning agendas, and the report quoted above is an example of what a request for a single parcel looks like: acreage, zoning district, proposed unit count and road access. Then ask the seller or builder for the recorded plat and the phase map, which show what is already approved around the lot.
What does mixed-use zoning actually require?
In Henrico, the staff report above says Urban Mixed-Use developments must put at least 25 percent of their square footage in commercial or office use. That is a county rule you can check in the case file. When a project needs exceptions, Henrico handles them through a provisional use permit, while Chesterfield issues conditional use permits.
Can I buy a detached house in a town-center neighborhood?
Rarely. The residential pieces in these cores are mostly apartments, condominiums and townhomes. Even the last West Broad Village parcel, as proposed in the 2018 staff report, paired three five-story condo buildings with 13 single-family style condominiums rather than traditional lots. If you want a yard, look at the surrounding areas such as Glen Allen or Tuckahoe and treat the town center as a short drive or walk away.
Is Trader Joe’s confirmed at Midtown64?
No. Richmond BizSense reported in December 2025 that sources said a deal was signed, and its April 2026 follow-up said it did not confirm the deal. Treat the grocery as a likely anchor, not a promise, and ask the developer’s leasing contact for the current tenant list before you rely on it.
Why is there no Chesterfield County pick?
We looked at Hallsley, Brandermill and the Commonwealth Centre area and could not verify a town center with homes next to it from a developer, county or news source. Hallsley’s own community site describes shopping at nearby centers such as Westchester Commons rather than a core inside the community. That is a reason to leave them out, not a verdict on those places; see our Chesterfield County hub for what each area offers.
Should I wait for a still-building core to finish before I buy?
There is a trade. Buying early means construction noise, changing sight lines and shops that may not have opened yet. Waiting means the lots, buildings and views you want may be gone. The practical middle path is to buy only what is built and occupied now, read the approved plan for the rest, and visit at the hours you would actually live there, including a weekend evening.
How can I be told when a home comes up in one of these areas?
Set up a saved search on our property search for the areas named in this article. If you also want to see homes in the newest phases, our page on new construction homes in Richmond lists builders working around Richmond, and featured lenders can walk through financing before you tour.
Written by the Mission Realty Team. Real Broker LLC, 3701 Cox Rd, Richmond, VA 23233, (804) 601-4960. Meet the team.
