A boarded-up 1921 building finally coming back, and a porch concert series that outgrew its own name. Both were started by people who walk these blocks every day.
Two of the biggest stories in Woodland Heights this year came from residents, not outside money. A pair of longtime locals bought the long-vacant building at 3318 Semmes Ave. to turn it into restaurant space and two apartments, and Porch Night, the neighborhood's free concert series, wraps its 2026 season on Sunday, Oct. 18.
3318 Semmes Ave., built in 1921 and empty for decades.
"It's been vacant as long as I can remember." That's how Michael Kucera described 3318 Semmes to Richmond BizSense this spring. Kucera has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. He's a residential agent and investor by trade, but this purchase was personal.
I've sold homes in Woodland Heights, Forest Hill and Westover Hills for more than 25 years. I call them the Hills and Heights, and they share a trait I keep coming back to. The best things here tend to get built by the people who already live here. This year proved it twice.
A Building With a Long Résumé
The building went up in 1921 and started life as a pharmacy, first the Early Drug Store and then the Semmes Avenue Pharmacy. Through the 1970s and '80s it cycled through restaurants: The Country Key, The Alibi and Don't Worry Be Happy. For a stretch it was a foosball parlor. Then it stopped being anything at all.
A pharmacy, three restaurants and a foosball parlor walk into a building. The punchline took about 40 years. 😄
It sits at a good spot, too. The building is near where Semmes meets Forest Hill Avenue, right where Woodland Heights runs into Forest Hill. It's a few doors from the neighborhood's busiest cluster of restaurants (more on that below), which is a big reason it never made sense for this corner to stay dark.
What's Planned at 3318 Semmes
Kucera and his longtime friend Justin White, who owns Advanced Plumbing, closed on the property at the end of April for $343,000. It had come on the market in December at $349,900, so it sold just under asking after about five months. They filed preliminary permits right away, and in May the city's Board of Zoning Appeals approved the special exception they needed. The building had sat empty so long that it lost its right to be a restaurant by default.
The plan is specific. The 1,700-square-foot ground floor becomes a shell space they'll lease to a local restaurant operator. The basement gets storage and bathrooms. Upstairs becomes two apartments, a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom. The old two-story deck comes out and gets replaced, and White planned to apply for a special-use permit for patio dining facing Semmes.
White estimated the buildout at $200,000 to $300,000, with Obsidian Inc. and O'Neil Engineering Services handling design and engineering. They were aiming to finish in late summer or early fall, which is about now. The owners said they'd been talking with local, established restaurateurs, but no lease was signed as of the spring, and I haven't seen an operator named since.
The project had at least one notable supporter at the zoning hearing. Mark Baker of Baker Development Resources, a Southside resident who was there on other business, spoke in favor. He told the board he'd toured the building when it was listed, called the job intimidating, and said the owners deserved credit for taking it on. When a land-use consultant who's seen the inside calls a project a heavy lift, I believe him.
The best buyer for a tough old building is often someone who's lived nearby long enough to refuse to stop noticing it.
The Fork Is Already a Restaurant Row
White and Kucera framed this as restaurant space for a reason. The building is a short walk from Laura Lee's at 3410 Semmes, WPA Bakery, Thirsty's and Crossroads Coffee. Back in 2016, when Laura Lee's opened, neighbors started calling the meeting point of Semmes, Dundee and Forest Hill avenues "The Fork." It's been working its way toward a restaurant row ever since, without anyone formally naming it one.
A vacant building surrounded by four busy food businesses was never really dead weight. It was an obvious gap. It just took someone with local knowledge, and a little nerve, to fill it.
Porch Night Runs on the Same Logic
A host porch, a band, and half the block on the sidewalk.
A few blocks over, the neighborhood's other big story of the year runs on almost the same model. Porch Night is a free, volunteer-run concert series that a group of neighbors started in spring 2023. For its first three seasons it was called Tiny Porch. This summer the planning team renamed it, partly because "tiny" no longer fit and partly to set it apart from NPR's Tiny Desk. 🎸
The format hasn't changed. Three host porches each feature two sets, so six acts in all, on one Sunday evening a month from June through October. Food trucks park nearby. The performers volunteer their time, and the only ask is that you tip them in cash or by Venmo.
Organizers built a boundary into the idea on purpose. Every host porch has to sit inside Woodland Heights' roughly one-square-mile footprint, from Canoe Run Park to Forest Hill Park and from Riverside Drive to Bainbridge Street and Forest Hill Avenue. Visitors from outside the neighborhood are asked to walk, bike or take a GRTC bus instead of driving in. There's an RVA Bikes dock at Carter Jones Park. The whole point is a walkable evening, and the rules are written to keep it that way.
Like the Semmes building, Porch Night wasn't commissioned by the city or bankrolled by an outside promoter. Its sponsors are about as local as it gets, including River Copper Works, Studio Two Three, the Westover Hills branch library, and Councilmembers Stephanie Lynch and Sarah Abubaker.
The Season Finale Is Sunday, Oct. 18
If you've never been, the last show of 2026 is your chance until next June. It starts earlier than the summer shows, with the first set at 4 p.m. and the last wrapping up around 7.
807 W. 31st St. The 419 at 4 p.m., then Portico at 5.
912 W. 30th St. Counterpoint at 4:30 p.m., then Blue Orpheus at 5:30.
909 W. 32nd St. The Lisa Stano Medley at 5 p.m., then Tristan Dougherty and The Heart Pines at 6.
Food. Bikini Panini and The Sippin' Spot, on Chesterfield Street between W. 30th and W. 31st.
Bring cash for tips. If the weather turns, organizers post any cancellation on the Woodland Heights Facebook and Instagram pages at least two hours before start time.
Sunday Mornings Start in Forest Hill Park
The South of the James Market, every Sunday morning in Forest Hill Park.
None of this happens apart from the neighborhood's regular rhythm. The South of the James Market sets up in Forest Hill Park every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round. It's a producer-only market, so the person selling you tomatoes grew them. On a Porch Night Sunday, plenty of neighbors do the market in the morning and the porches in the evening without ever moving the car. 🥕
The park is also one of the easiest ways into the James River Park System. The Reedy Creek entrance on Riverside Drive is a short walk or ride from the neighborhood and opens onto the South Bank trails, which local runners and cyclists treat as an extension of their own block.
What This Means If You're Weighing the Hills and Heights
Woodland Heights started as a streetcar neighborhood in the 1890s. The porches came standard, and the neighbors still use them.
Vacant buildings get bought all the time. Neighborhoods throw concerts. Parks host markets. What stands out in Woodland Heights this year is how consistently the people doing the buying and the organizing turn out to already live there. That matters if you're thinking about buying here. Neighbors who invest their own money and Sunday evenings in a place tend to stick around and keep improving it.
My advice for buyers is simple. Don't judge Woodland Heights from listing photos. Come walk it on a Porch Night Sunday, grab coffee at The Fork, and see how the blocks actually feel. And if you already own here and you're thinking about selling, this is the kind of momentum worth putting in front of buyers, with real names and real addresses behind it.
Common Questions About Woodland Heights
What is going into 3318 Semmes Ave.?
Owners Justin White and Michael Kucera are renovating it with restaurant space on the ground floor and two apartments upstairs. They plan to lease the restaurant space to a local operator, which hasn't been announced.
When is the next Porch Night in Woodland Heights?
The 2026 season finale is Sunday, Oct. 18, starting at 4 p.m. at 807 W. 31st St., 912 W. 30th St. and 909 W. 32nd St. The series returns next June.
Is Porch Night the same as Tiny Porch?
Yes. The series ran as Tiny Porch for its first three seasons and was renamed Porch Night in summer 2026. The format is the same.
Where should I park for Porch Night?
Organizers ask visitors not to drive in. Walk, bike or take GRTC, which has stops near every host porch, or use the RVA Bikes dock at Carter Jones Park.
When is the farmers market in Forest Hill Park?
The South of the James Market runs every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round, in Forest Hill Park at 4021 Forest Hill Ave.
Sources: Richmond BizSense on 3318 Semmes Ave. (May 14, 2026) and Laura Lee's (Sept. 2016); CVR MLS listing #2532696; porchnight.org schedule and FAQ; South of the James Market listing via the Virginia Farmers Market Association. Business plans, event schedules and hours can change. Check with organizers and businesses before visiting.
