Other · Virginia

Former Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building at River Ridge Mall

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedRetrofit builtLynchburg, VA

Completed 2016 Marriott hotel retrofit at River Ridge Mall; no further opportunity (retrofit already built). · summary, model-written

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Site profile6 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Place

30,000+ vehicles a day on an adjacent road

This site: 49,475 on 501 fhwa-hpms · all sites with this

County lost 10%+ of retail establishments since 2012

This site: -12% census-cbp · all sites with this

Interstate or freeway within 600 m

This site: 501 fhwa-hpms · all sites with this

Shrinking county

This site: -1.1% census-acs · all sites with this

Strategy

Redeveloped

This site: Residence Inn by Marriott record · all sites with this

New use

Hotel

This site: …new_use field newtypes-extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

Status	Retrofit builtWikipedia no source
Strategy	RedevelopedWikipedia no source
New uses	hotelWikipedia no source
What is there now	Residence Inn by Marriottnewtypes-extraction reported
Retrofit year	2016newtypes-extraction reported
Redeveloper	Marriottnewtypes-extraction reported

Links out

Every link is built from an id this record holds (parcel number, filer CIK, Wikidata item, Census tract, coordinates) or from the name and city typed into a search. Nothing here is a guessed address. Search links are marked search in their source note; commercial listing links are marked for search engines not to follow. Hover a link for why it is here.

Official records (3)

government and regulatory records for this site, built from ids on the record

Lynchburg city (51680) profile (data.census.gov)from site.county_fips 51680
FEMA flood map (NFHL) at this pointfrom site.lat/lon
EPA ECHO facilities within 1 milefrom site.lat/lon

Reference (4)

encyclopaedic and research references

Wikipedia articlefrom site.wikipedia
Wikidata item Q15272714from site.wikidata_qid
Wikimedia Commons photos within 500 mfrom site.lat/lon
Retrofitting Suburbia (book site)from constant

Place (8)

map and street views by coordinates

Google Mapsfrom site.lat/lon
Street Viewfrom site.lat/lon
Bing Mapsfrom site.lat/lon
Apple Mapsfrom site.lat/lon
OpenStreetMapfrom site.lat/lon
Walk Score at this pointfrom site.lat/lon
Transitland mapfrom site.lat/lon
USGS National Mapfrom site.lat/lon

Market (1)

listings and owner pages; commercial, so search engines are told not to follow

LoopNet: for sale in Lynchburg, VAfrom site.city + state → search

News (2)

news searches and archived pages

Google News: “Former Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building at River Ridge Mall”from site.name + city → search
Bing News: “Former Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building at River Ridge Mall”from site.name + city → search

Planning (1)

the jurisdiction's own pages

Lynchburg, Virginia on Wikipediafrom city_wikipedia.json (Wikipedia API)

History and original facts

County	Lynchburg city
Census division	5 · South Atlantic
Notes	Draft from Wikipedia, model-extracted, unreviewed: A former Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building was redeveloped into a Residence Inn by Marriott.

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, year opened, original developer. Know it? Tell us.

Planning

No zoning change, subsidy or policy tool recorded for this site.

Site context

Housing permits, Lynchburg (Independent City) (VA), 2024	240 units in 5+ unit buildings, 0 in 2–4, 232 single-family; 2023: 0 in 5+Census BPS
Other atlas sites nearby	1 within 10 km, 1 within 25 km: Former Macy's location at River Ridge Mall (0.0 km)computed
Retail trade in the county, 2025 (BLS QCEW)	5,590 jobs in 318 establishments; average annual pay $35,088; employment location quotient 1.19; employment -3.6% on the yearBLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 44-45, private
Jobs located in the tract, 2022	4,029 jobs; 1,625 in retail trade, 1,368 in accommodation and food (workplace blocks summed to tract 51680001601)Census LEHD LODES8 WAC 2022
Upward mobility (Opportunity Atlas, 2010 tract)	children of low-income (25th percentile) families reached the 44th income percentile as adults; 2.1% incarcerated at the 2010 count (413 children in the sample); born 1978–83, measured 2014–15Opportunity Insights
Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract)	low-income, low-access tract (1 mile urban / 10 miles rural); 14% of residents more than 1 mile from a supermarket; poverty rate 28.2%; median family income $43,051; 384 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS
Schools	Lynchburg City Public Schools (PK-12); 2 public schools within 1 mile: Sheffield Elementary; Lynchburg Regional Governor's STEM AcademyNCES EDGE
Elevation	841 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP
Storm events in the county, 2016-2025	80 county-logged events: 37 thunderstorm wind, 13 flash flood, 10 heavy rain, 8 hail; $29,145,600 property damage reported; forecast-zone events (most flood, winter and heat) not countedNOAA Storm Events
Homes for sale in ZIP 24502, 2026-09	median list price $298,425 (-0.9% on the year); 145 active listings; median 45 days on market; 22% with a price cutRealtor.com Research
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 2023	339 establishments (-12%); 6,212 jobs (-17%)Census CBP
Housing market in the county	typical home value $243,511 (+0% 1 yr, +28% 5 yr); typical rent $1,270/mo (+2% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)	49,475 vehicles a day on 501 (freeway or expressway, 2 lanes); 1,706 trucks; 31 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

Retrofit completed in 2016: Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building redeveloped as Residence Inn by Marriott hotel.

Why. Confirmed as first on-site hotel at River Ridge Mall (per narrative). Retrofit status is 'built' with no further opportunity score (opp_score: 0.0, reason: 'retrofit already built').

Where it stands. Located within River Ridge Mall (opened 1980), owned by Liberty University. Mall anchors include JCPenney, Belk, Dick's Sporting Goods. No other hotel in mall per narrative.

For a planner

Zillow data shows 28.5% housing value growth (5y) in Lynchburg County (51680).
Mall retail establishments declined 12.2% (2012-2023), but mall remains operational with current anchors.

For a developer

No active opportunity (retrofit already built).
Peer redevelopments in VA (e.g., Macy's at same mall, Coliseum Mall) show similar 'redevelop' strategy but no hotel conversions noted.

What we do not know yet

Original building construction year unknown (only mall opened 1980).
No parcel size or retrofit cost data provided.
No details on hotel occupancy or financial performance.

Generated by qwen3-30b-a3b-64k:latest on Dell 5820 RTX 3090 (Ollama, qwen3-30b-a3b) from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.

Similar sites

Former Macy's location at River Ridge Mall, Lynchburg, VA · Big boxes · same strategy: redevelop; also in VA; 0 km away
Coliseum Mall, Hampton, VA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in VA
Cloverleaf Mall, Richmond, VA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in VA
Cloverleaf Mall, Chesterfield County, VA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in VA

Elsewhere on the web

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

retrofit already built

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

Background

River Ridge Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Lynchburg, Virginia. Opened in 1980, the mall features JCPenney, Belk, Dick's Sporting Goods, TJ Maxx, and Regal Cinemas as its primary anchors, with HomeGoods, and Planet Fitness serving as secondary anchors. Three restaurant outparcels include Red Lobster, Taco Bell, and a local restaurant named Shakers, with a fourth outparcel being developed as a 7 Brew that will open in 2025. A Residence Inn by Marriott is the mall's first on-site hotel. The mall is owned by Liberty University and is managed by the Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) group. == History == River Ridge Mall opened in 1980 with Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

2016 Retrofit: redevelop

Sources

River Ridge Mall · CC BY-SA 4.0
1 quoted sentence
former Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building

Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "Former Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building at River Ridge Mall, Lynchburg, VA." Record n-453b4b3c1b, imported, unreviewed. Built on the public Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed. https://retrofitatlas.org/other/va/lynchburg-former-montgomery-ward-tire-auto-building-at-river-ridge-mal/ (accessed 2026-10-21).

BibTeX

@misc{retrofitatlas_lynchburgformermontgomerywardtireautobui,
  title = {Former Montgomery Ward Tire & Auto building at River Ridge Mall, Lynchburg, VA},
  author = {{Retrofit Atlas}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://retrofitatlas.org/other/va/lynchburg-former-montgomery-ward-tire-auto-building-at-river-ridge-mal/}},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Record n-453b4b3c1b, release 2026-10-21, tier: draft. Built on the Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed on the record. Accessed 2026-10-21}
}

How to cite, versioning

Link back

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