Blackbird Fly

The bridge connecting the peds inpatient tower to the main hospital will not drop off. Connection with the main hospital will be mandatory for allowing for quick personnel movement between the peds tower and the main and even to transport patients for imaging such as MRIs. It will also make it faster/more pleasant to move between buildings to take advantage of the main’s cafeteria/restaurants, laundry services etc. I can’t recall if the new tower will include a new peds ED or not, but if not the bridge will also be mandatory for transport patients being admitted. Overall, I agree it does look nice in the renderings.

https://president.vcu.edu/media/president/assets/pdfs/agendas/board-of-visitors/BOVWebsiteAgenda.pdf VCU’s Capital Plan for the next five years Includes budgets for upcoming buildings and the athletics village. Some images included at the end of the document.

This will allow pediatric patients to be transported from our pediatric ED (next to adult ED) to the pediatric hospital if they are admitted, so it will certainly be utilized.

Having independent cities and counties kills regionalism. A lot of other central cities would get infrastructure like arenas and convention centers paid for through county taxes, to which multiple municipalities contribute. A good example of this is Phoenix which is surrounded by 6-7 suburban municipalities which are all within Maricopa County. This allows them to pay for regional commodities together.

It connects to Sanger Hall, a non-clinical research and lecture building, then it spans Marshall to the western-most side of the main hospital building.

These distribution centers are a good opportunity for people in our metro area without college educations. You can't have a city that exclusively offers white collar or otherwise high skill jobs.

Here is the corresponding Google Earth image for comparison. I'm excited to see more renderings, if they make sure to engaging ground level commercial/retail space foot traffic could be phenomenal here with MCV campus, Biotech corridor, and the transit station. I really hope this happens!

Sorry, I guess I worded that confusingly. The second image is an additional rendering from the 11th street perspective that I hadn't seen before--it is definitely the same building.

During Alumni weekend at the medical school they had these two renderings displayed, the second one we’ve not seen yet.

AvePoint has been terrifically enthusiastic about Richmond so far. They are already exceeding ALL of the benchmarks they proclaimed from their initial announcement in Feb 2016: http://richmondbizsense.com/2016/02/01/tech-firm-plugs-in-at-riverfront-plaza/ I love that Levar was at their office opening courting all of the Microsoft executives about Richmond's potential as a livable tech industry base. Our city really screams tech, it's probably only a matter of time before VCU expands its programs to widen the pipeline for more local tech companies (sounds like they were impressed with local talent already). Not to mention tech companies typically have an insatiable need for artists which is Richmond's main commodity.

The hotel situation in Richmond has improved dramatically over the last few years, but I'm in disbelief that there is still no hotel in Carytown, Museum District, or the Fan. When my family comes to visit, I'd love to have them stay in my neighborhood and there is no place nearby.

I agree with preserving the viewshed of the James (that's the one that named Richmond), but when you are looking west it is an urban view. If that building had nice architecture regardless of how tall it was it would have enhanced the nice urban view from Libby Hill Park.

I am very excited about the prospect of HGTV adding "Richmond Rehabbers" as a new show on its network. The show would follow the Cobblestone Group, a local husband-wife team who rehabs properties all over the city. At this point they have filmed a pilot episode which will air in May multiple times, and depending on reception, may be picked up for a 13-episode season. The Bizsense article features interviews from the couple and I love what they're saying; they say they will do their best to highlight Richmond's charm and resurgence as well as featuring local businesses! Here is a link to the article: http://richmondbizsense.com/2017/03/09/local-house-renovators-ready-for-tv-spotlight/ I'm very excited about this prospect raising our profile as a destination for tourism and potentially getting more people interested in moving to the city. I'm kind of familiar with HGTV shows and I have never seen one that highlights a city to the level they are talking about with this one. For example, "Property Brothers" follows two brothers (one real estate agent and another contractor/carpenter) who help families buy houses with the intention of fixing them up to suit their needs. All of its episodes are in Toronto, but they pretty much never mention it and generally de-emphasize the city. This show on the other hand has Richmond in its title and the husband-wife team express that they want to highlight Richmond and make it hyperlocal! This is a huge opportunity; let's cross our fingers that the show will be picked up for at least 1 season. Also, make sure to watch it and tell your friends/family too!

I think the design calls for white, but the rendering looks great and I love the cantilevered glass rooms! Will be a statement in Church Hill.

Maybe if we get more emails to [email protected] she will see the excitement this idea could generate!

I recently sent the following email to Richmond's public art director, Ellyn Parker ([email protected]). She is the the city official who will decide how our ~$2 million of current public art funds will be spent. She has already used $1 million plus of the original sum on two projects (the giant rings which adorn the south side of the Tyler Potterfield Bridge (~$200,000) and the Maggie Walker Statue/Plaza (currently under construction cost: ~$1 million)). She has recently been seeking public input for ideas regarding future projects. Here was my email and idea for the best use of the funds: Hello Ellyn, I had an idea for a very splashy public art project. What do you think of the possibility of teaming up with a downtown building owner to add an architectural crown to one of our tallest buildings. On the Richmond development forums every time a new tower is announced, a lot of us wait eagerly to see the renderings hoping that the new building will be tall and include an architectural crown or spire. Something that would break up the monotonous rectangular buildings that make our skyline feel blah. I don't think it's a stretch to consider a crown or spire public art, in fact the Chrysler Building's Art Deco crown is my favorite piece of eye candy in NYC. A very realistic example of what a retrofitted crown on one of our buildings could look like is Cincinnati's Great American Tower. It has an open steel-framed rotundous crown, and such a structure could easily be added to one of our buildings. Here is the building for reference: This building was transformative for their skyline and serves as a punctuation both day and night. Anyway, please consider the idea. It may not be feasible, but it would be a splashy project that would change Richmond's skyline and excite a lot of the city. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What do you guys think of this idea? It would be amazing not to have to wait a decade to add a crown to Richmond's skyline! By the way, I received an email back from her immediately saying she thought it was a great idea and that she would get in contact with some people.

I'm excited for you guys this is a seriously cool project! I've only lived in Richmond (and VA) for three years, but I am becoming quite fond of Norfolk from my limited travels there--I love DT and Ghent. This coupled with your convention center/Hilton tower and other waterfront projects I keep seeing are really cool. I really get Baltimore Inner Harbor vibes from DT Norfolk, but with continued focus on the area it could really become better in my eyes (with less of the sketchy third world crap you see in Baltimore with all of the scammers). I can't wait to visit again this spring and summer and see all the progress. Don't forget to visit Richmond too, we've got great momentum up this way as well! Cheers to Virginia's urban crescent getting stronger!

This page has aerial views of Monroe Park prior to starting the renovation and two dates after (late December and in January) and there are a significant amount less trees and it appears more to be removed. http://wiki.thisdangcity.com/Monroe_Park_Renovations?mc_cid=573cc7cedd&mc_eid=[UNIQID]

The new dorms facing Monroe Park should have included restaurant space/retail to engage the park. It would be cool if it ended up being like Rittenhouse Square.

Done with Kanawah Plaza, on to Monroe Park!

Progress update on the BofA building downtown.

Here are some photos of the new Bank of America facade. It will definitely improve the attractiveness of the building.

Where is the new School of Education building set to be placed? The website says it is intended to "bridge the gap between the Institute for Contemporary Art, private development, Broad Street and the Monroe Park campus". It got me excited that it might be slated for the old Hess gas station lot on the SE corner of Broad and Belvidere. I'm in love with the design of that EDU building; VCU is really stepping up its architecture game with this and the recent Cabell renovation.

At least they appear to be perpendicular to each other in the rendering; that along with the difference in height would probably make it better than you think. I agree, if it wasn't done right it would be a disaster for our skyline aesthetic.

RVA fashion scene highlight: http://distinctionhr.com/2016/05/richmond-fashion-scene/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=email_this&utm_source=email