Fredericksburg shoppers who have spent years driving up to 50 miles for Trader Joe's groceries finally have a store coming to their own backyard. A newly closed $29 million land deal off Fall Hill Avenue will turn a 37-acre former farm into a mixed-use development anchored by the region's first Trader Joe's, alongside hundreds of new homes and a stretch of commercial space.
The transaction, first detailed by Connect CRE, closed with Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite selling the 34.2-acre Ulmanor property along with two adjoining parcels on Briscoe Lane. Ulmanor, described in the report as one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts of land in Fredericksburg, sold for $27 million, while the two smaller Briscoe Lane parcels — spanning roughly three combined acres — brought the total deal past $29 million, according to the Fredericksburg Free Press. The outlet's price breakdown puts the 2.185-acre parcel at 1700 Briscoe Lane at about $1.58 million and the 0.815-acre parcel at 1740 Briscoe Lane at roughly $591,000.
Brokers Ben Keddie, Brian Cunningham, and Allison Graves of Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite listed and sold the properties, per Connect CRE. Keddie called Ulmanor “a great example of the kind of large-scale, institutional-quality investment expected to increase in the region,” a comment that speaks to how rare a parcel this size has become in the corridor.
What's Actually Getting Built
The development team splits responsibilities across three national players: Greystar will lead the multifamily component, Lennar will develop the residential portion, and Regency Centers will oversee the commercial side, according to Connect CRE. The full build-out, per the Free Press, calls for 365 apartments, 240 single-family attached homes, and 50,000 square feet of commercial space anchored by Trader Joe's.
That density represents a dramatic shift from what the land could have supported before. Under the site's former Residential-2 zoning, the Ulmanor property was capped at just 68 single-family detached homes, but the FXBG Advance reports the rezoning now approved allows for 605 total residential units alongside commercial space. The Fredericksburg City Council voted 5-0 in September 2025 to approve the conditional rezoning from Residential-2 to a combination of Commercial-Highway and Planned Development-Residential, along with a special exception permit, the outlet reported.
Roads, Parking and a New Boulevard
Getting all that traffic in and out of the site required its own set of approvals. The Free Press reports the project will include a new connecting road named Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard Extended, featuring two signalized intersections and a 10-foot-wide multi-use trail. The council also approved a parking special exception allowing 1,306 total parking spaces across the site, exceeding the standard municipal requirement of 946 spaces, according to FXBG Advance's coverage of the September 2025 vote.
Those infrastructure additions matter given where the site sits. The 3430 Fall Hill Avenue location directly adjoins Central Park, described by Linton Hall Realtors as one of the largest retail power centers on the East Coast, and it sits across Fall Hill Avenue from Celebrate Virginia, home to Virginia Credit Union Stadium and a Wegmans. Assembling the property and locking down municipal entitlements took roughly two and a half years from initial contract to closing, Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite noted, reflecting the complexity of the rezoning and land assemblage involved.
Ending a Long Trader Joe's Drought
For years, the closest Trader Joe's options for Fredericksburg-area residents sat in Richmond, Charlottesville, or Northern Virginia cities like Fairfax and Alexandria — trips of roughly 50 miles each way, according to Northern Virginia Magazine. Trader Joe's corporate communications confirmed plans for the Fredericksburg store in January after city site plan filings revealed a proposed 13,085-square-foot grocery building at 3430 Fall Hill Avenue, the magazine reported.
The anticipation stretches to the college crowd as well. Students from nearby University of Mary Washington previously drove over an hour to reach a Trader Joe's, according to The Weekly Ringer, which reported that the Fall Hill Avenue site near Mary Washington Hospital has become a heavily anticipated hub for both students and the surrounding community. With the land deal now closed and entitlements secured, the project moves toward construction on ground that spent decades as one of Fredericksburg's last large open tracts.
