ric75

Raleigh is over-hyped. It's a cool town but the downtown is fairly small and a lot less dense than Richmonds. How they get the attention I'm not sure but Richmond sorely needs better marketing. We have the goods but not enough people know it.

I'd like to hear more about him. I'm not terribly thrilled with the candidates so far and if Pantele throws his hat in the ring that would just be another candidate for the status-quo.

It's the nation's economy in general... it's not hitting us nearly as hard as it is some cities. I think downtown overall is still advancing despite a weak economy.

I'm with ya on that Brent. I drove all the way down Broad today to see what was going on and noticed the sign. Such a nice looking building for such a crappy store. Can't we relegate them to suburban strip malls? Lots of road and utility work was going on on Broad in the CBD. Made getting thruugh a chore. Got to see the National sans exterior scaffolding and it looks good. Can't wait till those water lines are fixed or buried and they put their marquee up.

I urge everyone to contact Council and the Mayor and urge them to do whatever it takes to keep Monroe here. Though the system that has brought us so much success would still be in place if he leaves, it would still strike a blow to the morale of the City if we lose him. On the other hand keeping him from going to a larger city would be a boost for Richmond.

I got to take a peek inside Sheba, the new Ethiopian restaurant opening on 17th Street in Shockoe Bottom. I have to say the place looks great and sooo much better than it did when it was Wildcats. The guy that was working on the place that let us take a quick look thinks it will be open in the matter of a week or two. Can't wait to try out the food! Also in Bottom news, there's a new Thai restaurant on 17th. Haven't had a chance to sample it yet though we did look at the menu. None of the regular menu items were over $10 so if you're looking for a deal that seems to be a good spot to try. Anyone have word on the Papa Ningo expansion? I looked inside there a while back and it seemed to be progressing well but haven't heard any news.

Looking forward to hearing more details such as condo layouts, square footage, and prices. I love that location. Easy access to everything downtown as well as the Fan and river. Now I just need to cross my fingers they offer something in my price range

It won't matter what they change their name to. They are still a suburban county and will always be known as a suburb of Richmond. Kind of like Cary and Raleigh.

Man I really want to believe that... this long delay has me skeptical but I hope your right!

Some excellent news I just found from the blog Veronica's Test Kitchen... Acacia will be reopening at 2601 West Cary which is one of the nice looking but long vacant/neglected buildings just a block or two East of the Boulevard. With such a high profile place moving there surely the neighboring buildings will get tenants soon. Great news for Carytown east

Yeah Sunday wasn't a happy day for me basketball-wise. VCU lost in the final seconds, VT lost in the final seconds, and the hoo's managed to win one. I swore off the NCAA's that day but maybe I'll have a change of heart by the time they come around

Is anyone else irritated with the tone City Council is taking with this marina project? They all seem to be asking "Why should the City be spending money on trivial matters like a public marina when we could make a quick buck by selling this to private developers?" Hope I'm not the only one that feels this way. Richmond marina: $17.7 million

My gosh. Could they possibly have more parking in there? Well it's certainly Chesterfield's loss that they made this project so car centric but I guess they are catering to what the people want. Lots of parking for over sized SUV's and minimal effort (aka walking) to get to the stores. I don't think Richmond is ever going to have to worry about competition from Chesterfield in the urban fabric category.

Yeah I had heard about Cafe Gutenberg but not Acapella's. Gutenberg is for sale and hopefully can find a good owner to keep it running. Can't imagine the Bottom without it. Also heard that Carytown Wine and Beer will be closing. Perhaps we're seeing the results of market over-saturation and an ailing nationwide economy.

Thanks coupe. I'll have to head down there one day and see what's going on demo-wise.

Just wanted to draw attention to my above post again. I guess either everyone is shaking their head wondering how I completely missed a widely known and discussed project or no one is familiar with it?

I got my copy of Creative Workspace the other day and noticed a fairly big development going on in Manchester from 203 to 207 Hull Street. I searched here but couldn't find anything about it. They call it the Paper Company (formerly Cauthorn Buildings). Demolition is supposedly already underway on this development. The project includes one 4 story, 58,000 sf warehouse, a 1 story, 4,000 sf with Hull St. frontage, and a 21,000 sf, 3 story warehouse. All this is supposed to be converted into 79 loft apartments and 12,000 sf of commercial space. Does anyone have the scoop on this? I haven't been down Hull in a while to notice if there is any demo going on.

Just seemed like the shots weren't falling for VCU even when they were right under the basket. They did pretty well from 3-point range but they also missed a ton of free-throws which was completely their fault. GMU was sinking everything. Was that the second matchup of the season? I think VCU still has a slight edge in the conference.

A pretty evenly matched game... thank the rim for the victory lol

Thanks for that tip nhughes. I don't think anyone had heard anything about that place except that the piano bar was off the table. Lots of great infill happening in the Bottom. With this momentum maybe we'll see a day in the near future with NO abandoned storefronts down there

Thanks coupe. I haven't driven down Main in a while. Looks so strange without the buildings there! Sure hope they get on construction quickly once demo is done.

Well you can claim the sky is falling out there in CA but we'll keep chugging along over here. While people are upset over this, no one here is hitting the panic button. Overall things look rosy. Changes are happening in City government (though not as quickly as we'd like), citizen involvement is on the rise, and private investment and infill continues downtown.

burt, some friends and I visited Infuzion Saturday night. It has two different entrances, one for the club and one for the lounge/restaurant side which is where we went. The interior is gorgeous and laid out well. Once you enter, there is a small private room to the right. Farther down and to the left is the lounge with couches and deep chairs surrounding each table and a small stage with a piano at the end of the room. Across the hall from there is the bar area. If you continue down the hall there is a security guy and a sliding glass door that connects you to the club area which I didn't see the inside of but I hear it's pretty big and they have a state of the art sound and light system. There were some issues getting our drink orders right but kinks are to be expected. I liked the overall feel of the lounge. Definitely an upscale addition to Richmond's club scene.