If you haven’t seen the ginormous hole in the ground on Richmond Avenue just east of Greenville Avenue, take a walk or drive by. It’s guaranteed to hold your attention for a few minutes. It’s the former 1.25-acre site of Pietro’s, the long established neighborhood Italian restaurant that served its last meal in February 2017.

Purchased by RangeWater Real Estate earlier this year, the Atlanta-based multifamily developer has done some serious excavation.

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COVID-19 craziness didn’t delay work on the project, said Nick Wilhelmson, who covers Texas markets for RangeWater out of its Dallas office. “Construction was deemed an essential business, and we really haven’t missed a beat,” Wilhelmson said.

(Image courtesy of RangeWater Real Estate)

The excavation is the start of an eight-story multifamily project with 236 units and three levels of underground parking. The building will be mostly one- and two-bedroom apartments with some studio units in the mix. No three-bedroom units are planned, nor is ground-floor retail. Completion is expected in the spring of 2022.

RangeWater’s website notes that “the first three stories of the predominantly brick building will feature apartment units reminiscent of walkup brownstones that are more commonly found in Chicago and New York City, with a generous setback for the floors above the first three levels facing Richmond, honoring the lower scale of surrounding existing buildings.”

In addition, “the project will feature a sky terrace amenity area at the southwest corner of the building with unobstructed views of downtown Dallas and a sunken private pool terrace that will offer a quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of the vibrant Lowest Greenville urban neighborhood.”

RangeWater is also constructing a 240-unit multifamily project at Ross and Peak. Residents should be moving in by the second quarter of 2021.