By the end of this summer, The Boathouse at City Point will open in Hopewell marking the fourth location for the southern seafood restaurant.
By the end of this summer, The Boathouse at City Point will open in Hopewell marking the fourth location for the southern seafood restaurant. The Boathouse has three other restaurants in Midlothian at Sunday Park, Rockets Landing and most recently, a location in Short Pump that opened this past June.
Restaurateur Kevin Healy also owns tequileria Casa del Barco downtown and “table to farm” dining program, Dinner in the Field.
According to the release put out by The Boathouse, it’s part of a $7 million riverfront development plan in partnership with the City of Hopewell.
“The Hopewell Assistant City Manager approached us about the project in mid 2015,” Healy said in the news release.
The Boathouse at City Point, located at 701 W Randolph Rd., will go between the marina and Beacon Theatre which Healy said has been part of the city’s effort to revitalize that area.
“The city is going through a revitalization mode, they resurrected the Beacon Theatre and are doing it as a event venue…they have reinvested in the city marina, they’re going to be building a river walk,” he said.
This new restaurant will be a 6,000 square foot venue with an outdoor patio area overlooking the confl ux of the James and Appomattox rivers.
It will seat over 130 people inside and 64 outside. The Boathouse at City Point’s menu will be similar to the other others, featuring “classic coastal elements”. So I guess expect those delicious shrimp and grits, oysters, mussels, lobster and crab cakes.
Healy said the City of Hopewell has been working to get really another thriving restaurant in that spot for the last year and a half. For over 30 years, a restaurant called The Navigator’s Den sat right on the bluff overlooking the conflux of the Appomattox and James rivers where Healy’s restaurant is going to go, but it has remained dormant the last 12 years.
“It’s a really pretty spot on the bluff…it’s a spectacular view,” he said.
The new restaurant will hire approximately 75 new sta ff members from the Hopewell community according to the release.
Now some of you might be wondering why Hopewell? Well here’s what Healy had to say about opening a location there:
“The potential for greatness is high and we are delighted and honored to be a part of its renaissance. “Every community has its tipping point. “With Rocketts Landing and Casa Del Barco on the Canal Walk, those communities were at their tipping point. With the Beacon Theatre, and the development in Southern Chesterfield, this time is a tipping point for City of Hopewell.”
Stay tuned for updates on the new restaurant.
