Gaslight Landing May be Last of its Kind in Occoquan, Final Home For Sale

OCCOQUAN, Va. — All but one of the town homes in the Gaslight Landing project have been sold.

The Victorian-style homes have popped up along the bank of the Occoquan River in Occoquan over the past 10 years. Construction of the first 10, 3-story homes with complete with a covered parking deck, and some with boat slips to access the river, began in 2006. Many sold at or above $1 million.

A stalled economy forced the builder to halt construction of the final 10 homes in 2007, but it picked back up again in 2012 and now the final home in the project is now on the market for just under $1 million.

“We always had the wherewithal to build all of the homes, we were just waiting for the market had come back strong enough to allow us to continue to build,” said Mark Granville-Smith, of Classic Concept Builders, Inc.

The company specializes in building custom homes on one-acre lots in Prince William County. While the Gaslight project was stalled, Granville-Smith sold another custom built single-family home in the mid county area for between $700,000 and $800,000. It was a trigger to restart the Gaslight project.

Modled after the “painted ladies” of San Francisco, the homes look as if they have been apart of the Occoquan landscape for decades. They’re so unique, said Granville-Smith, he’s not sure they could be duplicated anywhere else.

“The houses sit so well with the Town of Occoquan, in a different setting, I’m not so sure they would fit with something that is not in the historic district like Occoquan,” he said.

A project like this in Occoquan may be one of a kind, especially because it’s in the historic district along Mill Street.

“I find it very rare that anyone would prefer to see townhouses in the historic district,” said Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta.

Porta, who was not on the council when Gaslight Landing was approved in 2006, said a mixed-use development complete with homes and retail stores would have been a better fit.

The Gaslight Landing homes sit on what was Prince William Marina, which is now located just outside of Occoquan with its storefront on Va. 123 at Old Bridge Road.  Porta points out there are several other riverfront properties that are ripe for development in the town.

“I’m sure people are glad that they are being finished, but if anything else like this comes in I’m sure it would face opposition form residents and business owners,” said Porta.

Construction of the  final few homes in Gaslight Landing will be complete this summer.