Church Hill's Restaurant Boom Comes From Inside the Neighborhood

Church Hill has opened, rebuilt, or changed hands at four food and coffee addresses in the past two years. And in every case, the person behind the new sign already had a business, a following, or a job just a few blocks away.

That's a very different story from "hot neighborhood attracts outside investment." And if I were advising someone buying or selling a home here, I'd pay attention to it.

At first glance, the stories look like classic neighborhood momentum. A coffee shop finally fills a two-year vacancy. A pasta chef's five-year pop-up is inching toward a permanent home. A beloved bakery comes back after a fire, while another business opens nearby rather than waiting for it to return. And a six-year kitchen run at Church Hill's seafood restaurant comes to an end, but the restaurant itself keeps going.

Put it all together and you could easily call it a boom.

Look a little closer, though, and there's something more interesting happening: Church Hill's own people are reinvesting in Church Hill.

I've spent 25 years selling homes across Richmond's East End and Southside, and that's the kind of thing I watch closely. A comp sheet can tell you what houses are selling for. It can't tell you whether the people who already live and work in a neighborhood believe in what comes next.

When they keep putting their own money, time, and reputations back into the place instead of moving on, that tells me something. That's not hype. That's staying power.

The Coffee Shop That Finally Filled a Two-Year Gap

Church Hill North had been without a coffee shop since Rise closed in 2024. That changed in late March, when Peaberry Coffeehouse opened at 1301 N. 32nd St., just a short walk from Oakwood Playground.

And it's hard to miss.

There's the bright blue exterior, the mustard-yellow sofa, rose-colored velvet seats by the windows, and even a wheelchair lift out front. Inside, the menu is just as playful, with drinks like a cookie butter shaken espresso and a banana bread latte.

But the part of the story I find most interesting isn't the decor. It's the owner.

Peaberry is Alexa Schuett's fourth address in the neighborhood. She's owned Liberty Public House since 2019, when she took over the longtime restaurant in the historic East End Theatre building. She also built Riverbend Roastery and opened Chimbo Sandwich Shoppe.

Now she has Peaberry.

One owner. Four storefronts. All within walking distance of one another.

And, according to Schuett, the idea for Peaberry came from a Riverbend regular who wanted something closer to home.

That's not someone discovering Church Hill for the first time. That's someone who already knows the neighborhood, and keeps finding reasons to invest in it.

A developer betting on a hot neighborhood looks for the next block to discover. Alexa Schuett already had three businesses on this one. That's a very different bet.

A Five-Year Pop-Up, Still Building Its Front Door

Another name Church Hill food lovers have been watching is Oro, chef Laine Myers' handmade-pasta project.

Myers spent years selling pasta at Richmond farmers markets, including a regular Tuesday table at Birdhouse Market in Union Hill. She moved into rotating pop-ups at Hatch, the culinary incubator that also launched Cobra Burger, and a brick-and-mortar at 2000 Venable St. was being discussed as early as 2024.

The timeline has shifted more than once, though, and the space is still under development rather than open as of this writing.

But here's the thing: you don't have to wait for the front door to open to eat Oro.

Myers has continued a monthly ticketed supper club, with two seatings a night that fill quickly through her social accounts. She's also partnered with Sub Rosa Bakery for preview dinners.

Before Oro even has a permanent storefront, its chef is already woven into the neighborhood's food scene.

That feels very Church Hill to me.

Myers didn't rush to sign a lease and hope people showed up. She spent five years building a following at farmers markets and pop-ups, worked the line at Metzger Bar & Butchery a few blocks away, and gradually built the demand for her own kitchen.

Five years at a folding table, and she still hasn't rushed the lease. When Oro does open, it won't feel like a stranger's restaurant. It'll feel like the neighborhood's chef finally getting her own kitchen.

When the Kitchen Changes but the Address Doesn't

Not every story this year has been about a new opening.

In May, chef Matt Brusca left Alewife after six years running the kitchen and headed for Parish Restaurant & Bar in Monroe, Louisiana.

But Alewife didn't go anywhere.

Chef-owner Lee Gregory opened the seafood restaurant at 32nd and Marshall in 2018 as his first solo venture. Going into its eighth year, it remains a fixture on Richmond's best-restaurant lists, and chef Grayson Tharrington remains in the kitchen.

That distinction matters.

A chef leaving after six years is turnover. It isn't necessarily trouble.

And for a neighborhood, the fact that Alewife is still serving dinner on that corner may matter a whole lot more than who happens to be running the line this season.

The Bakery That Came Back, and the Block That Didn't Wait

The clearest example of Church Hill's staying power may be Sub Rosa Bakery.

A fire tore through the building at N. 25th Street and Jefferson Avenue on Nov. 24, 2024, forcing owners Evin and Evrim Dogu to close. It was actually the bakery's second fire since opening at that address, the first came in 2013.

Sub Rosa reopened just over a year later, on Dec. 16, 2025.

The rebuilt bakery came back with a new electric deck oven shipped from Italy in place of the original wood-fired hearth, while the bakery's own stone-ground flour milling continued throughout the rebuild.

But what happened during that year may say even more about Church Hill than the fire itself.

Pizza Bones, just a few doors away, temporarily stopped making its own pizza so it could bake Sub Rosa's bread, with the proceeds going toward the rebuild.

And while Sub Rosa's corner sat dark, a new coffee-and-florist concept called FABLE opened up the street, pairing espresso with flowers under one roof.

In other words, the block didn't freeze while one of its best-known businesses was gone.

People kept moving.

When your neighbor bakes your bread for a year to help your business survive, and someone else opens next door without waiting for you to come back, that's more than a real estate trend. That's what a neighborhood looks like when people are invested in its future.

So What Does All of This Actually Mean?

Put these stories next to each other and the usual "Church Hill is booming" story starts to feel a little incomplete.

A boom suggests outside money discovering a neighborhood and rushing in.

What I'm seeing looks more like reinvestment from within.

Alexa Schuett didn't arrive from somewhere else to open Peaberry. She already had three businesses nearby.

Laine Myers isn't parachuting in with a restaurant concept nobody has heard of. She spent five years building a following, showing up at farmers markets and other neighborhood kitchens before building toward her own place.

Pizza Bones didn't simply watch Sub Rosa deal with a devastating fire. It changed its own operation to help its neighbor get through it.

And while Sub Rosa rebuilt, FABLE took a chance on the same block rather than waiting for the neighborhood to return to "normal."

For someone thinking about buying a home here, I think that matters more than a walkability score.

A new sign in Church Hill is often not a stranger's sign.

It's more likely to belong to someone who already has equity, a reputation, a customer base, or a job a few blocks away, and who has decided that this is the place where they want to put the next chapter of their business.

You see that same spirit around the neighborhood's gathering places: the dog park and community garden at Chimborazo Park, the river views from Libby Hill Park, and the Church Hill Association's calendar of community events.

Those things aren't separate from the restaurant story.

They're part of the reason the restaurant story keeps happening.

People already have a reason to be here. And increasingly, they have a reason to invest here, too.

A Weekend That Uses All of It

If you want to understand what I mean, don't just read about it. Spend a Saturday here.

Start with coffee at Peaberry before the tables fill up.

Walk through Chimborazo Park, and yes, take the dog through the dog park, before the afternoon heat kicks in.

Have lunch or an early dinner at Grisette near 32nd and Marshall, or head to Metzger Bar & Butchery for Flammkuchen.

Stop by Sub Rosa for whatever's still left in the case, or swing by FABLE if you'd like your coffee with a side of flowers.

Then finish the day at Libby Hill Park, watching the sunset over the James.

You don't have to know who owns each business or how long they've been working toward opening their doors.

But once you do know the stories, the neighborhood looks a little different.

Church Hill isn't simply a place being discovered.

It's a place the people who know it best keep choosing.

And that may be the most encouraging sign of all.

Common Questions About Church Hill's Restaurant Scene

Sources: Axios Richmond, Richmond Magazine, Style Weekly, RICtoday, Richmond BizSense, 12 On Your Side, OutRVA, and the Oro and Sub Rosa Bakery social accounts for pop-up and event details. Oro's brick-and-mortar opening date has not been formally announced as of publication.