Hike

Agree on not making it easy for non residents in these areas, no public access anywhere. I think there was a lawsuit filed in Duck complaining about no public beach access. In-laws owned ocean front in Duck until about 5 years ago, rented through Twiddy, we went in March with them some for getting the season ready, loved it that time of year, was sad when they sold it.

Going to OBX was a game changer when the expressways went in and this should be similar. Corolla and Duck will see more traffic, that will be good for their bottom line though growth on this stretch is difficult. Wonder how these areas will be impacted and how that will be handled when they’re feeling pressure to grow. Did work at the Sanderling, in the way back machine, would have been nice to have the bridge then, was always late to meetings and nearly got fired once because we were late, bridge could have saved that headache.

When I worked in Manchester there was no Potterfield bridge, man, that would have been nice. I walked over to Hull street, on to the flood wall, up to the Manchester bridge and back down to porter street, was a decent loop during lunch. As for Dominion, the building looks good from a distance, get up close and it’s out of scale, no street presence, the crown looks unfinished from some angles, glad to have the building, but it has issues.

The audacity of breathing life into this sad looking corner, do they dislike sandwiches, I think they don’t like sandwiches. Think about that, a sandwich next door, just walk outside and get one, eat it there, walk it home and eat it, eat it on on the way home, so many options, man, I want a sandwich right now, wish there was one next door.

I guess it could have been lunch and what’s going on is mostly still just pushing dirt and not a huge crew? Still, seems strange considering other projects I’ve seen at this phase and have seen trades tripping over each other.

Nice daily walk location! It seems odd to me there’s no activity, thought it would be wide open getting this project rolling.

Yeah, saw this too, just shook my head and thought man, the continuing saga of the baseball stadium. I thought like you did, can’t there be some exception knowing a new park is very close. But yeah, it’s not like we didn’t know for years, maybe they can come up with some compromise that could reduce this cost, since it’s all just going right in the landfill shortly, we hope so anyway.

Unfortunately, that train left the station, so to speak. With the current set up, I like how both stations are used, but yes, Staples Mill is a bad out.

RVA has 2 locations that are pretty nice spots for a train station. If they kept Amtrak here, then what to do with the beautiful train station in Shockoe? The science museum seems like a good fit in this building where the train shed in the bottom tried for years to be something else and really struggled. Now that it’s being used for train service and hopefully even more so, I think it worked out ok. Also, some green space relief (once fully developed) on Broad street seems ok to me too.

I think it’s the tree size, these are all young trees, once mature, which unfortunately could take decades to look like what is shown on the renderings and in the video, should look a lot different. I’m not sure of the variety, they could mature quicker, but will still take years, until then, it’s going to look like the corporate walking path you mentioned. Video from their website - https://youtu.be/IBf0UHBTyxo image from the video of the park illustrating mature trees.

Practicing my email to the GC. Dear Whiting Turner, We here at UP RVA are very interested in watching the progress of the Costar construction project. Please consider installing a job site camera for the benefit of viewing the work that is taking place. As you can see from the photos above, exhibit 1, we’re using other companies webcams to “peek” at the project and by doing so, it’s causing frustration due to the camera not being directly on the project anymore. We understand there’s some cost and inconvenience to installing a webcam, though the owner may find this advantageous and offer some assistance in setting this up. In conclusion, we hope you’ll find it in your heart to help this group of avid development followers by installing this in the very near future, we believe it will be a win win for all parties involved. Thanks in advance and our best regards, UP RVA

Politicians want the casino in Richmond is my guess. Now, the people have to agree and I hope they do this time. Legalize weed but no gambling, come on. I do want Petersburg to do well and hope it’s just a matter of time until it’s their turn at something great.

Is anyone else unable to view the attachments?

Yes, the numbers you mention, 1 per apartment vs “x” number per household, that would account for quite a difference in population!

I think this is the Axios link you mentioned. https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2023/02/13/richmond-fastest-growing-virginia It’s concerning for sure, can’t really place why the numbers reflect this for Richmond. The counties have some very nice options and are attractive for many reasons, lower taxes, larger lots, faster access to highways, they’ve become more dense, which could add to their appeal. Those are all guesses, but could mean something. When I hear reasons as to why people love our region, many times it’s because it’s close to the mountains, the beach, river, less hectic pace, lower cost than similar locations. What I don’t hear people say, I love downtown and that’s why I’m here, though I’m sure they do like it, but it often seems like it’s way down the list of other reasons, so if people move here, being downtown may not be that important.

This stretch is very different. We watch CBS 6 news and nightly they show this live camera of Broad street. Remembering what was outside the doors of their newsroom and the transition to this is remarkable. Another item, seen beyond the crane, is the installed park at the science museum and the new deck.

Yes, this.

Totally agree with you and need to go walk downtown again. My hiking partner is my wife, she’s not as in to it as I am, so may have to go out alone. While at VCU I was without a car and at the same time I was a runner for a law firm. That was before computers, walked everywhere, delivered messages, mail, banking, court papers, etc. that was my on the ground experience with the city. The down sides were, I was broke, winters were cold, summers were hot, but walked it all and really got to know it. That experience will never be recreated, but that’s ok, I should start a new one.

We've identified this before, we're basically the same age. All you mention here was the same time frame for me and your experiences and thoughts about Richmond are duplicated here. I can say this, and I'll bet you can too, even with all the disappointments, we had some great times here, we made the best of it.

I know, the whole age thing really starts to be a consideration. There are times, when seeing all the development news and growth, I feel sad about it. I feel most of the growth I'll likely never see it or really experience it like I used to. It's just not like the days when I was at VCU, working in design/architecture, living downtown, living in the fan, working on Main street, working in Carytown or Manchester, those days are gone and this city is for the next generation now. I just witness it here on UrbanPlanet with the occasional glance as I drift by on the way to something else, anyway, glad I brought the mood down.

Here's one I found on line, checking here to see if it works, if it does, it also allows for using pictures with vote tallies. https://strawpoll.com/polls/jVyG880NYn7

Not sure what I liked more, the use of the words urinate, pumping and pouring that got my attention or that it also reminded me of the Beatles song from Sgt. Peppers Lonely heart club band, A day in the life, you have to hum the song below when reading the changed lyrics. Woke up, got out of bed to urinate And dragged a comb across my head Found my way downstairs and drank a cup Looked out my blinds, was extra bright, noticed pouring concrete Found my coat and grabbed my hat Made the bus in seconds flat Found my way upstairs and had a smoke And somebody spoke and I went into a dream, ahhh, round the clock development

It doesn’t really explain the lack of height in Arlington but density looks like it should be a part of the formula. Arlington is building in 26 sq. miles where Richmond is developing over all corners of its 62 sq. miles.

I can’t help but remember how city hall, with the new aluminum cladding, was turned from an embarrassing, marble chunk dropping dump to what it is today, a much, much better building, Monroe can do it too.

I like the brutalist style too and I’m also concerned about losing this bookend high rise and the drop off in height as you describe. In a perfect world, the right developer would see the potential and convert it to apartments, but my gut tells me it will be torn down. To keep it, whoever ends up with it, they would have to see the value in it for reasons beyond just turning land into apartments. If they are that type, see the value, and consider all the existing steel, concrete cladding, concrete floor plates, (which are very expensive to recreate) they could all be saved and reused and have the potential to become something else. The easier thing to do is to tear it down and drop in the prefab 500 apartment box with YinYang rectangles, add parking and sell it by saying, “look, the train, the access” and done, rent please.