Ben Keddie and Heather Hagerman with Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite recently closed on the sale of The Free Lance-Star’s HQ in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The 90,000 SF building at 616 and 620 Amelia Street and its parking lot at 700 and 710 William Street which total 2.85 Acres were sold for $5,575,000.

The property was sold to local developer William J. Vakos Jr. who has not released any plans for the property which is the largest assemblage of land in the Downtown Fredericksburg area in the recent history. Sandton Capital Partners, owner of Free Lance-Star Publishing Inc., says that the newspaper plans to continue business operations in the building for another year.

Interest for development opportunities in Downtown Fredericksburg has recently spurred numerous redevelopment projects, many of which are on the William Street Corridor.   The first was Amelia Square, a 22 unit, Luxury Townhome development between Amelia, William and Winchester streets which is in its final phase. Amelia Square also features the Sedona Taphouse restaurant which opened in October.

This past February, an office building adjacent to the Free Lane-Star HQ was purchased by Wack Cos. who is planning a mixed-use project called Liberty Place, on the 1.42 Acre property that will feature 44 luxury condos and 55,000 SF of commercial space being a mix of retail, restaurant and office space.

JON Properties is also well underway with their project, Parkview, which broke ground in April. JON properties purchased a 0.33 Acre parking lot at the corner of Prince Edward and William Street and are developing a 4 story mixed use building that will include the Community Bank of Chesapeake on ground level and luxury residential units above.

Although Vakos hasn’t released any plans for the Free Lance-Star building the increased demand for new downtown residences and commercial space will provide great potential for the property.