RICHMOND, Va. — A year after a local convenience store and bowling alley magnate threatened to build an 18-story building to tower over VCU’s new Institute for Contemporary Art, the school’s real estate arm has dropped nearly $4 million to secure the site.

The VCU Real Estate Foundation last week purchased the former Sunoco station at 600 and 606 W. Grace St. from Steve Uphoff for $3.78 million.

University spokesman Mike Porter confirmed the deal.

“VCU Real Estate Foundation, a separate, private entity, bought the property as a part of its mission to identify, acquire, develop, and manage strategic real estate assets for the exclusive benefit of VCU,” Porter said in an email. “The Real Estate Foundation has been interested in this property for a long time. The opportunity arose and it acted accordingly.”

Porter added that the foundation will work with the university as it undertakes the master planning process to determine the ultimate use for the property.

The parcels, which total nearly half an acre, were most recently assessed at a combined $765,000.

VCU owns much of the surrounding real estate and has spent millions to secure all the land adjacent to the ICA. The Uphoff site was the lone holdout.

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