jbjust

That is awesome news. The more businesses we get downtown the more it makes sense to live here and the more restaurants/entertainment venues we can draw. I bet the Rocketts Landing and Vistas On The James folks are giving each other high-fives this morning. But why will it only be 8-10 stories?

Apologies for not having a picture of the right wing, I just took these with my camera phone and thought I had one of the left, center, and right. It looks like I have two pictures of the left wing instead, with one being a bit closer look than the other, which was broadened to include a view of the escalators. If you mentally flip the second picture above you have a picture of the right wing of the new terminal, except that the only ticket counter was Jet Blue I think. Definitely lots of room for expansion. If you're worried about the lack of passengers, keep in mind that this was taken at 8:50 a.m. Sunday morning.

It is huge compared to the existing ticketing area. Clearly lots of room for growth in the number of carriers. Was happy to see that early on a Sunday morning there were as many folks in line for Jet Blue as any of the other carriers.

I've got two or three pictures that I took from the inside of the main terminal on Sunday. If somebody can post them I'll email them to you.

The new baggage claim area is up and running. Unfortunately, it took nearly 45 minutes for our bags to get unloaded this morning. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.

I drove to the airport at 1:00 p.m. today to catch a flight only to discover that EVERY parking spot in each of the two garages was full, even the rooftop lots. I was forced to park on the surface lots, but even though were probably 50 spaces away from being filled up. Great news for the airport, but construction on new garages has to begin soon.

Here is the address on their web site. This is just near Cox Road. MeadWestvaco Headquarters 11013 West Broad Street Glen Allen Virginia 23060-5937 USA T: (804) 327-5200 www.meadwestvaco.com

If that thug didn't have a concealed carry permit, how would gun control laws have changed anything Burt. It wouldn't hurt for you to educate yourself on the correlation nationwide between crime and the stringency of gun control laws. D.C. has an absolute ban on handgun ownership -- really helps out there doesn't it?

I agree, I just hope that its final design does not create some monolithic huge building that isolates itself from the surrounding neighborhood like most of the museums on the National Mall.

Not to play devil's advocate, but why exactly would you like us to have a growth rate like Charlotte, Baltimore, or Atlanta? I moved here from D.C. precisely to get away from the terrible traffic and sprawl and I would rather be in downtown Richmond than Baltimore or Charlotte. In my opinion, Richmond's growth rate is something to be emulated more than D.C., Atlanta, or Charlotte. Steady gradual growth will give our area the ability to not outgrow our infrastructure. There is nothing about Baltimore I wish to emulate.

It does in nationwide size, but not in Virginia size.

When is the announcement supposed to come?

That's awesome. It burns me up that the smart tag folks have to navigate through all of the people that can't be inconvenienced to get a smart tag. Seriously, why is it that so many people that commute regularly through tolls don't have smart tags? The RMA certainly does a poor job advertising it. There should be a big billboard explaining how to get a smart tag and describing the 10% smart tag discount.

You can't get inside the ticketing hall yet, but I don't think you would see those letters from the inside since the backing behind each letter appears to be opaque. The earlier renderings I saw made the RICHMOND look like it was stained glass or something but that's not the case.

Pretty good for a cameraphone picture, huh?

Just sent it

I flew into the airport today and saw that they've got the RICHMOND sign up on the terminal. Doesn't look nearly as cheesy as in the renderings I saw. If somebody knows how to post a picture I can email the picture I took today.

Tried to go visit the newly reopened New York Deli in Carytown after reading the write-up in the T-D this weekend. Was glad to see that it was backed out the door on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Good sign. Ended up going elsewhere because we didn't feel like waiting.

I've been out of town, but my wife just told me that there was an article in Mondays Metro Business section stating that a boutique hotel will likely be built in that "empty spot" I mentioned beside the Dick's Sporting Goods at Short Pump. Did anybody else see this story? I can't find it online.

My favorite is the Thai Cabin, just next to Runaway Gormay. It's got the best Pad Thai in the city in my opinion. Also the sandwiches at Christie's (just a block down on Cary) are very good and cheap.

I didn't want to suggest that this was a full-fledged Starbucks. It's a notch below an airport Starbucks, and it CLOSES AT 3:00 p.m.!!!

I was thinking more about the huge vacancy in One James Center where the Wachovia used to be. 4,200 square feet is pretty big for a coffee house, but judging from the lunch lines at Wendy's there is more than enough demand for something.

This might not be common knowledge, but there is a very small Starbucks in the Main Street lobby of the SunTrust building. I still don't understand, however, why there isn't a huge Starbucks somewhere in downtown (there certainly are enough vacancies in James Center).

Thanks for the welcome everybody. I've lurked for almost a year now and decided it was time to get off the bench.

gntrphoo, I thought that article indicated there is less and less available space in the suburbs and even less than in the city.