A Reston-based restaurant group is expanding into Richmond as the Diamond District moves from ballpark construction toward its planned mix of housing, offices and retail. Thompson Restaurants has signed a lease for its first Richmond Makers Union location at 1781 Encore Ave., a 0.6-acre site off Arthur Ashe Boulevard and the second restaurant commitment announced for the broader development.
The lease was first reported by Richmond BizSense. Diamond District Partners began talks with Thompson Restaurants in fall 2025 and recently completed the agreement. Financial terms and the lease length were not disclosed. Makers Union is planned for about 4,000 square feet in the Gateway Retail Building beside the entrance to CarMax Park; the restaurant is expected to employ about 80 people.
Thompson Restaurants, based in Reston, has spent more than three decades operating restaurants in the Washington area. The company runs 14 concepts across more than 70 locations and previously operated a Matchbox in Short Pump from 2016 through 2020. It is part of Thompson Hospitality, founded by Warren Thompson and described as the largest Black-owned food-service and facilities-management company in the United States.
Why Makers Union Chose Richmond
Alex Berentzen, chief operating officer of Thompson Restaurants, said the company had been looking for a way back into Richmond. He pointed to the city's population growth, employers, universities and food culture as reasons the Diamond District fit the company's first expansion beyond Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Thompson Restaurants introduced Makers Union in 2019, and the concept now has six locations. Berentzen said the pub's versatility has contributed to its success, with a menu built around salads, grain bowls, burgers, sandwiches, steak, fish and pasta entrees, alongside lunch, dinner, weekend brunch and a full bar.
Connie Jordan Nielsen and Reilly Marchant brokered the lease. Fultz & Singh Architects is designing the 20,000-square-foot Gateway Retail Building, which has about 10,800 square feet available for future tenants. Diamond District Partners expects to start construction in the first quarter of 2027, but a general contractor has not been selected; the building is projected to take about 16 months once work begins.
A Second Anchor Tenant and More to Come
Makers Union will occupy one of the Gateway Retail Building's two end spaces, with the other going to EAT Restaurant Partners, which plans to open a sports bar there. Richmond-based EAT Restaurant Partners, known for concepts including Boulevard Burger & Brew and Wong's Tacos, signed its own lease for 5,215 square feet in May 2026, as previously reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Together, the two tenants are shaping the retail building into what looks like the district's primary dining hub outside the ballpark gates.
Berentzen also said Thompson Restaurants is nearing a lease for its Milk & Honey Southern concept at an undisclosed Richmond-area site. The company is separately open to a joint venture involving a bakery or café in Richmond.
Legal Fight Still Clouds the Parcel
The Gateway Retail Building site is also part of a broader dispute involving the Richmond Flying Squirrels' ownership group, Diamond District Partners and the city. Managing general partner Lou DiBella has argued that EAT's planned sports bar could compete with concessions at CarMax Park, and he reportedly sought to buy the parcel from Diamond District Partners.
In September, DiBella and the Flying Squirrels' ownership sued the City of Richmond and the Economic Development Authority over project delays, according to Richmond BizSense. The case followed a federal defamation suit DiBella filed in May 2026 against Thalhimer Realty Partners lead developer Jason Guillot. The disputes involve control of the parcel, delays and potential concession competition, leaving the legal and development questions unresolved as restaurant leases move forward.
The District Taking Shape Around the Ballpark
CarMax Park opened in April with capacity for 9,585 fans and a reported construction cost of roughly $110 million to $135 million, according to BaseballParks.com. It replaced The Diamond, the 40-year-old Arthur Ashe Boulevard stadium where the Flying Squirrels played from 2010 through 2025 after relocating from the Connecticut Defenders.
The ballpark is the centerpiece of a planned $2.4 billion, 67-acre redevelopment. The first phase is slated to include 730 market-rate apartments, 161 workforce-housing units, a 180-room hotel and a multitenant office building, per REBusinessOnline. The Richmond Economic Development Authority transferred the 18-acre Phase 1A parcel to Diamond District Partners for $11.4 million in March 2025. Developers have also planned Dōma, a 280-unit apartment project with projected monthly rents of $1,700 to $3,100 and a 453-space shared parking deck.
What the Ballpark Model Shows
The Richmond EDA says Phase 1A combines six acres of public infrastructure, including streets and parks, with approximately 12 acres designated for private development, according to the agency. That split helps explain why the Gateway Retail Building's schedule remains conditional: Diamond District Partners has targeted groundbreaking for the first quarter of 2027, but still has not selected a general contractor.
Other minor-league ballpark projects offer comparisons but not a direct forecast for Richmond. Smart Cities Dive reported that Fayetteville, North Carolina, began building Segra Stadium in 2017 as the anchor of a $100 million revitalization project before the stadium opened in April 2019; the surrounding redevelopment there followed within an established downtown. In Sugar Land, Texas, Constellation Field opened in 2012 for an independent minor-league team and was later upgraded when the Houston Astros brought a Triple-A club in 2021, a different ownership and league context from Richmond's project.
