eandslee

December statistics are finally in (they came in late this evening). Not bad for a December…but dang, so close to 400K. For the Calendar Year, RIC ended up at 4.755M passengers. Again, so close to 5M! Maybe next year. Still growing at a great clip. Hope this trend continues!

I agree. Looking forward to many good things CoStar will do for the City of Richmond and the region!

I'm not surprised by this. Richmond will be the CoStar Research HQ, but the overall HQ will remain in a larger city where travel is easier...plus, I'm sure many who work at the HQ already have homes in the DC area and do not want to move. Still, the preponderance of the employees will be in Richmond. It is very similar to what Capital One has done. HQ in the DC area, operations HQ in the Richmond area.

That's right! I forgot about all the support businesses and jobs this would generate! The second and third order of effects could be massive. Oh man, we have to win this thing!

You and me both, man! This is a huge opportunity to rebuild every old state and city building in the downtown area, which is long overdue...and the hotel...oh, the hotel which could be a nice iconic signature tower downtown! That is...IF the city can get its act together, which I don't have a lot of faith in. There's no reason why we still don't know anything about the status of this development yet. Are the developers who submitted plans still on board with what they proposed? Honestly, City Center should already have a groundbreaking date! Why the big delays from the city? Huge red flags to me. My inkling is that this development is probably as good as dead, unfortunately. All the city's resources have been used up to get the baseball stadium built. Frustrating.

Yeah, the potential for 5,500 higher-paying jobs is what this could bring over the next 10 years...in the tri-cities area! That's not small peanuts. While not a "big fish," it is big fish-ish! Either way, this would be a HUGE win. Yep, the airport is where my mind first went when I read this, so you were reading my mind!

Wanted to post this yesterday, but couldn’t. Congratulations! Looks like RVA is the new NOVA! Also Axios Richmond posted a follow-up article (also linked below): https://cardinalnews.org/2024/01/29/new-population-estimates-show-a-rural-renaissance-while-fairfax-county-loses-big/ https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2024/01/30/richmonds-population-growth-northern-virginia

Wow! I didn’t know that the pharmaceutical manufacturing business in the tri-cities area could have such effect. This really could be game-changing for the area! Just need to win the additional funding!! Application submission by end of February and we should know by end of year! Fingers are crossed! Read all about it here: https://richmondmagazine.com/life-style/health/pharmaceutical-manufacturing-hub/?utm_content=280157053&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-350808887428

Thanks for the heads up on this, but dang...only 127 on that big plot of land almost seems to be a waste. It doesn't appear that there will be much density here. 127 units will be what...like 3 stories?

...AND we are back in business, folks! Man, that day and a half of the site being down was a killer for me! That's just proof that I'm addicted. I think I need to start, and attend, a UP Anonymous. LOL!

An awesome photo of downtown I found on Facebook. She’s pretty!

Love it! Couldn’t agree more!

Did any of you know that Richmond has a new American Basketball Association team?! I was confused when I read that the team will be playing home games at Huguenot High School because frankly, I didn’t even know about the team! How did this fly under the radar? It’s not NBA, but hey, it’s something and it gives basketball lovers another team to watch. Anyway, just thought I’d provide the PSA if you didn’t know already: https://realabaleague.com/aba-returns-to-richmond-va-for-the-2024-2025-season/ https://southrichmondnews.com/2024/01/22/new-pro-basketball-team-will-play-home-games-at-huguenot-high/

I’m just excited to hear that they want the transfer station to be a part of a lager mixed-use development! I’ve always envisioned the bus transfer station on the ground level of a 30+-story mixed-use tower. Sounds like they didn’t talk about how big the mixed-use development would be, but it has the potential to be huge! When you consider retail, residential, a hotel, office space…depending on how much of each component is included, it could be a significant structure. Mixed use also just makes sense. You’ll want a variety of “destinations” right there where there should be a lot of people to help buoy the transfer station. It should be the center of much activity and movement. The only thing I’m a bit worried about in their plan so far is that they are only looking at 10 bays. Seems a bit small considering the Pulse N/S route could be going through there, plus any room for expansion. Build it for the future! It wouldn’t take that much to add 5-8 more stalls to account for future growth. I would just hate to see it obsolete shortly after it is built.

To be completely honest, I don’t even watch or listen to any news (MSM or any other media). I just can’t in this town - it would drive me bonkers because it’s all around me and it’s just too emotionally charging and destructive to my mental state. I just try to stay away from all the politics that drives one way of thinking or another. Instead, I think for myself and what makes sense. I don’t need anyone to tell me how I should think. My thoughts are based off of my personal experiences. I get that I wouldn’t pay the same today that I would have several years ago, but these last several years have been especially painful (more so than any time in recent memory)…for whatever reason (you all can draw your own conclusions on who or what is to blame…I’m not trying to point fingers; this is not the forum for that). With that said, I stand firmly beside you in the hope that things get better: that inflation drops and is controlled, interest rates fall enough to make a difference, etc. so that developments in RVA will ramp up more than now and so that developing in RVA is a more attractive proposition to developers! We’ve got so much more growing to do and we cannot afford these sped bumps that slow growth down. I hate to see great proposed projects just die in the vine (like the Admiral), but things have to pencil and that is less likely to happen in an economic environment that is not conducive to projects penciling. The environment still has some changing to do. My hope is that it happens sooner than later!

Copy your response, but you've outlined exactly why everything costs so much more these days than before the pandemic. I can speak from personal experience and I tell you - I'm not paying less for ANYTHING these days! It sucks! Also, in my experience, I've seen that once a product or service increases in price it rarely, if ever, comes back down to where it started before the price spike. No doubt we are still in a situation where inflation is above the normal average (anything above the average in my book, is not acceptable). As for construction labor, a shortage of laborers (labor demand) and demand for increased salary/labor pay (due to inflation) has increased the cost of construction (amongst other factors). Once someone is paid a certain rate, they will not do the same job for less than that highest pay rate (I wouldn't either). So don't expect labor costs to go down, ever. I just hope it doesn't increase any more for a very long time. All of this is due to the crazy inflation we've seen in our country over the past several years. I'm just speaking from personal experience and bottom line: it costs me way more to live day-to-day than it did in 2019 and I have not felt much, if any, relief. To me, that translates to mean that inflation still affects (negatively) my buying power. The same applies for any development project out there and is a reason why it still costs way more than it used to!

Does Richmond even have connecting flights? I don’t think so, but maybe that’s why it’s #1! Ha! It’s positive publicity, so I’ll take it! https://nypost.com/2024/01/23/lifestyle/these-10-airports-are-the-worst-for-connecting-flights/

Spot on!

Thanks for posting! It is indeed exciting to see this get off the ground! This will have a huge impact on the quality of life in the Richmond Metro area, not just downtown. This is an asset to really brag about and could play into the decision matrix of folks and businesses when considering a move to Richmond! Bravo! On a side note, will our moderator change the title of this tread to “Riverfront Amphitheater?” Thanks!

That’s the power an interest rate has, even .001% can move the cost needle up quite a bit. Not to mention out of control inflation. It’s not surprising to me.

Have we heard about this one yet? Also, this is from a new publication that focuses on Southside Richmond. Bookmark it! https://southrichmondnews.com/2024/01/25/sixty-new-apartments-proposed-for-hull-street/

Your analogy probably makes sense to some, but I don’t follow it because I don’t know those sports athletes, but I get your point…and you’re right - I know RIC is barely a blip in the commercial aviation world. It just doesn’t have enough passenger traffic to be anything significant enough to matter. I’d like to see that change. Would love to see RIC become a relevant airport and one most people in the US know about. Something akin to what happened in Austin, TX. To go from “where is Richmond?” to “Oh! Richmond - great airport and my, how it’s grown!” is my dream at this point!

Very well stated! You even brought up points I didn't and feel the same about. I see your point and I agree 100%. RIC is very important (maybe even CENTRAL) to the local business community - there is absolutely NO DOUBT about that!

This is so ridiculous! Heard it may be a long shot to get built though. Crazy! Wonder if they would share some height with Richmond?