Have you noticed the south end of The Current finally has its lights on again? If you walk or bike past 414 Hull Street on your way to Legend Brewing's patio or the Buttermilk Trail, you've probably clocked that the ground floor space that sat dark for almost two years now has a line at the counter most weeknights. What you might not have clocked is that only half the building woke up. The other half is still dark, and it's dark on purpose.
That split tells you more about where Manchester actually stands right now than either half does on its own.
The Space That Killed Richmond's First Food Hall
Hatch Local opened inside The Current in 2022 as Richmond's first and, so far, only food hall. It ran for about two years before closing in 2024. The building's owner, Richmond-based developer Lynx Ventures, was left with roughly 8,000 square feet of ground-floor restaurant space split across two sections, one on the south end near Benchtop Brewing's taproom and one on the north end below the building's offices. Both sat empty for the better part of two years while Lynx looked for the right operators.
That's a long stretch of dark storefront on a corridor that's otherwise been adding apartments and townhouses steadily since Manchester's historic district got its designation back in 2002. If you live nearby, you likely walked past those windows more times than you can count without anything changing behind them.
The South Half Got Its Answer in July
Otto Eats and Catering, a Turkish and Mediterranean fast-casual concept that started in Charlottesville in 2020, signed on for the 3,500 square foot south section back in February. It opened July 13, taking over the wing next to Benchtop's taproom. The menu runs on döner kebab, build-your-own bowls and wraps, falafel, halloumi, and borek rolls, and everything on the regular menu comes in under $15. There's also a full bar with a Turkish coffee martini and an orange blossom old fashioned, plus a happy hour on weekdays and two hours of free parking with validation, which matters on a block where parking is not a given.
Lynx principal John Gregory had been waiting for the right fit for that space since Hatch closed. "It was unfortunate that the food hall closed down, but we always knew that this was the right space for some great food options," he said when the lease was announced. Otto's owners, Haldun Turgay and Ali Sevindi, had already been catering events in the Richmond area for a while before signing the lease, which is part of why they felt confident opening a full location rather than testing the market first.
Two Halves, Two Timelines
| South wing (414 Hull St) | North wing | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 3,500 sq ft | 4,500 sq ft |
| Hatch Local era | 2022 to 2024 | 2022 to 2024 |
| Vacant | Nearly two years | Nearly two years and counting |
| Current status | Otto Eats and Catering, opened July 13, 2026 | Still seeking a tenant |
| Target concept | Fast-casual counter service | Sit-down restaurant |
The North Half Is Still Waiting, and That's the Interesting Part
Most people who noticed Otto's opening probably assumed the whole vacancy problem got solved at once. It didn't. The north section, about 4,500 square feet, is still empty, and Gregory has said the building's leasing team believes that space calls for a different kind of tenant entirely, something closer to a full sit-down restaurant rather than another counter-service concept. That's a real estate decision as much as a culinary one. A landlord who fills a hole with the first available tenant gets a different building than one who waits for the format that fits.
So the story on Hull Street this summer isn't "the food hall vacancy got fixed." It's that one specific kind of restaurant problem got solved quickly once the right fast-casual operator came along, while a second, harder problem is still being worked. If you've been wondering why half the building looks finished and half still looks like it's between chapters, that's why.
The Filling-In Happened From the Office Side, Too
While Otto was settling in over the summer, The Current picked up a very different kind of tenant. Nashville-based architecture firm Gresham Smith signed a lease in late August to move its Richmond office, nineteen employees, from Truist Place downtown into a 6,200 square foot suite on The Current's second floor. The firm has been at 919 East Main Street since 2019 and is aiming to move into Manchester in early 2027. Gresham Smith will join PlanRVA and Koalafi as office tenants in the building, and Gregory said the lease reinforces what he's been seeing across the neighborhood. Gresham Smith's Richmond office leader, Krystal Anderson, said the firm is looking forward to being in a building in a neighborhood that's growing with more amenities.
That detail matters if you live in Manchester, because it means the building's momentum right now isn't only about food. An architecture firm moving nineteen jobs across the river is a bet on where people want to work, not just where they want to eat lunch. The Current still has about 5,300 square feet of office space open after the Gresham Smith deal, so there's more of that story left to tell.
What Changed on Hull Street This Summer
Restaurant turnover on this corridor didn't stop just because Otto opened. Red Hibachi and Beer, also on Hull Street, closed around the same stretch of summer. That's the kind of thing that can make a strip feel unstable if you only track it one closure at a time. Zoom out and the picture looks less like decline and more like the normal churn of a corridor that's still filling in unevenly, one lease at a time.
The rest of what's already running kept running the whole time. Legend Brewing Co., one of Virginia's oldest craft breweries, still has its riverside patio a short walk from The Current. Croaker's Spot is still serving its longtime soulful seafood a few blocks down Hull Street. Art Works still hosts five galleries and more than seventy-five artist studios with its monthly openings. Bolos Eatery, paired with Blackwell and Brainstorm Brewhouse, and Gold Lion Community Cafe both keep their own event calendars running most weeks. If you want to get outside, Ancarrow's Landing still offers the easiest kayak put-in and one of the better fishing spots along this stretch of the James, and the Buttermilk Trail and Floodwall Park connect Manchester to the rest of the James River Park System without much of a detour.
None of that changed while the Hull Street restaurant math shifted underneath it. That's worth remembering the next time a single closing or opening makes it feel like the whole neighborhood is either taking off or falling apart. Manchester right now is doing both things at once, in different corners of the same buildings, on different timelines that don't have much to do with each other.
If you're already living in Manchester, the practical version of all this is simple. There's a new lunch option with genuinely good parking, one closed hibachi spot to cross off your list, and a north-facing storefront at The Current that's worth watching if you're curious what kind of restaurant Lynx eventually lands for it. The office lease is the quieter story, but it's the one that says more about where the neighborhood is headed over the next year than any single restaurant opening will.
If you're weighing what any of this means for property values or timing a move in or out of Manchester, that's a longer conversation, and it's one Hank Cosby has been having with buyers, sellers, and landlords across Powhatan and the Richmond suburbs for years. Reach out when you're ready to talk specifics.
