RiverYuppy

Loopnet says that 11.5 acres in Highland Park southern tip are under contract. Currently it is zoned commercial. That area is changing quick. But I'm not sure it's quite soon enough to garner the support needed for the type of commercial buildings they are suggesting. I can't see the exact date it went under contract. However, the listing was created October 2019 and last updated 7/13/2021, so I'm betting the 13th is when it went under contract.

One thing that really separates RVA from some other cities is that it used to be one of the largest cities. That means we have amazing historic housing stock. It has "great bones" if you will. If we look at cities that were also great in the past, many of them are losing population still. Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis,etc . RVA on the other hand is gaining residents. Also cities like Charlotte, which seems to get a lot of press on here, historically were a small town. They have an amazing skyline to look at, but they don't have cool historic neighborhoods with victorian houses and beautiful architecture. The Fan, Church Hill, Byrd Park, Windsor Farm, Seminary, Bellevue, Brookland/Highland Park, Manchester, etc. In Charlotte if you're not in a prefab townhome, cookie cutter McMansion, your choice for a "historic" house is more so limited to 1k square foot shotgun houses. This is all to say, like everyone here I want RVA to have an amazing skyline and a bustling downtown. What makes the city amazing is that it's a great place to live and a place people want to be. Much of that isn't visible in our skyline.

I think Jackson Ward is one of the best long-term places to be. That section of Broad right next to it is primed to blow up. I think once Gilpin gets redeveloped, that section of Broad will be revitalized. It will be between the coolest corridor in the city and the biggest new re-development area in recent history.

Hey guys! I have not spent much time looking through the Charlotte forum on here, but I'm a regular over on the Richmond, Virginia one. I'm a big fan of RVA, but I'm thinking of possibly moving to Charlotte at some point because the parents of the girl I'm dating live here and she would eventually like to settle here. I'm very much a city person. I want to live in a walkable area. My girlfriend like a bit more calm. She wants to have a peaceful outdoor space, so a condo would not work for her. A small backyard would be nice. Currently we are dog sitting in her parents house in Matthews. I was hoping that maybe we could explore a neighborhood or two and grab dinner & drinks while we're out. Given what I have said and us having a budget of under $450k, where would y'all recommend looking to get a feel for what it might be like to move to Charlotte at that price point.

The old Arby's on Broad is finally replaced by a Starbucks. While I would like something with height and mixed-use, it's nice to see one less abandoned building on the corridor. Having a nice Starbucks there instead of an abandoned building really helps change the perception of that corridor.

It looks like some of the properties along Lombardy are for sale. Near the corner of Seminary and Lombardy (in blue) an old animal "motel" is for sale on LoopNet.. It was shut down after accusations of animal cruelty in 2018. The red lot has a for sale sign in front of it but I don't see it on LoopNet yet. I found this page that says it is under contract. The apartments in purple also appear to be on the market. I wonder what is realistic for those? Perhaps they can be renovated. At a $2.9m asking price, it might be a bit much to bulldoze and build denser?

Wow, thanks for showing that. That will be a huge deal if that section gets redeveloped. It would be very much a stake in the ground that says 64 is no longer where real investment stops. It really is set to pop. Battery Park on the other side of Chamberlayne has houses going for half a million or more. I think previously a big concern with investment in that area was convincing people to cross 64. With new apartments going in that area, and Bellevue, Seminary, Ginter Park, Battery Park, and Brookland Park areas all being primed with expendable income to support that area, I think it's much less risky. A Lidl would be great there, since Aldi is already on Boulevard. Right now the only two real options are VCU Kroger (which caters to students) and Whole Foods (AKA "Whole Paycheck"). I think something that caters to middle class families would do great. VUU redeveloping that motel is one of the biggest steps so far.

VUU acquires warehouse across from football stadium for $2.5M. Hopefully they don't sit on it for too long. They also purchased a motel in December 2019 that is slated for demolition and redevelopment, though they have unfortunately yet to start on it. That area is seeing some other developments for the first time now too. It will be interesting to see how much it changes over the next 5 years. VUU carrying through with these projects could help significantly bring the area around, prompting even more new developments.

Bid goes out to reinvent old Six Points BofA building in Highland Park I hope that something good goes there. It will be interesting to see what the responses are. A lot is going on in my part of Northside. There aren't any new cool highrise buildings or anything, but there are so many little projects that put together they are pretty cool. There are a ton of houses being renovated in the area. To give y'all an idea of how crazy the renovation market is right now, take a look at this recently renovated house that sold for $460k. Here is a before and after about one year apart. The before is from google maps It's crazy how many abandoned houses are being rehabbed into beautiful homes. It's great because people are finally living in these houses again, raising the population of the area. Also it brings in $$$ for the city because the taxable assessment for the house will go from $100k to about $460k. There are still a lot of old dilapidated houses that need to be renovated, but the momentum is picking up and good. While no individual house is really all that big of a deal, the amalgamation of renovations is pretty significant. The influx of people is also driving demand for new businesses in the area. Here is Gourmet Market on North Ave in Google Maps before + an after Here is a before and after of the new coffee and BBQ place Smokey Mug. I need to go back and get a picture from farther out. The abandoned house is no longer there and the wooden fence has a really cool mural. \ Here is a before and after of a Vietnamese Creole fusion takeout place Manchu At the intersection of Garland and BPB two places seem to be currently under renovation Here on BPB you can see a new ice cream shop and juice bar opened. On this corner Boho fitness studio, Diamonds dog spa, Hand Spun ceramics studio, and Scrap RVA have taken up shop. Ninja Kombucha The Richmond Art Garage is a new art gallery Alma's Art consignment Fuzzy Cactus bar and music venue Brookland Park Market There are a few I have missed or that don't really show as well because it was more so an inside renovation. I think this should kind of give you the idea the level of change that is happening in the area though.

Recently flew to both Philadelphia and Miami. The trip to Philly was completely full. I chatted with a couple people on the plane, all of which were using Philly as a connector to fly somewhere else. The Miami flight was a later one (got back around midnight), but it was not at all packed. I got a whole row to myself. I really would love to see RVA become a hub as maybe it would spur a bit better airport amenities. While getting through security is always a breeze with RIC, the food and beverage offerings certainly leaves much to be desired.

I figured I would kick off the Chamberlayne thread. I'll try to post updates to Northside in general here. Brook Road recently got repaved and has a new bike lane. You can't tell from the picture below (BikeWalkRVA photo cred) but the car to the right is parked, which makes riding on in the bike lane feel super safe. No cars veering into it. There were also over 300 apartments that went up on Brook road recently. A bit older, but one of the first in the VUU area was the Spectrum on Brook Road. A new 224 unit apartment complex is on the books to go next to it. On the other side of the Spectrum, VUU is planning on demolishing an old motel and building a mixed use structure. A few blocks down the road, an old recycling yard is being developed into a 200 unit apartment complex. There is also a 152 unit apartment building under construction at School Street and Chamberlayne A smaller, but neat project that is not too far from Chamberlayne is the Barton Mansion rehab. The abandoned mansion was turned into 17 nice apartments with $3.2m in renovations. A before and after Also right up the road there is a smaller business corridor on Brookland Park Boulevard that has undergone some major (for its size, but minor relative to RVA) changes. I'll try to get some pictures of the improvements and line them up with old google maps street photos.

A few pictures of the old Franklin Street Gym demolition underway.

Back in 2018 there was a report of something being planned for Chamberlayne and School street. It appears it is finally under way. It also seems as thought the apartments at the Northside scrap yard are underway too. You can see where it was cleared out. Here is what the old scrapyard looked like on google maps That has all been cleared and the construction site setup. Also VUU is expected to convert the motel on the corner of Brook into a nice multi-use building. Hopefully the current situation doesn't throw a wrench into that.

I ended up doing a bunch of flying this year, so I got a travel credit card that got me into a lot of airport lounges. It was the first time I really experienced them, but they were just an amazing plus when flying. Most airports I went to had a ton of lounges to choose from. I wonder how much traffic RIC would need to be able to support a lounge? Maybe they're only viable in hubs where there are a lot of layovers?

Passenger traffic up 8.2%! As a side note, I scored a cheap upgrade to first class on my Detroit connector flight next week!

The new offer on the coliseum isn't just a low ball offer, it is absolutely terrible. The Navy Hill offer guaranteed $900 million in private investment. This one guarantees nothing and is by a corporation that has a history of sitting on dilapidated properties for years. With this deal the city can have absolutely no development for a decade or more compared to the Navy Hill plan which would have provided more development than Scott's Addition saw over the last decade.

Another article about the building going up on Broad and Lombardy. 12-story apartment building planned for Broad and Lombardy streets near VCU. This will be a great replacement for that gas station

I have a mortgage on my house and I purchased it for about $300k. I don't tell people the cost of the house with financing prices (in dollars unadjusted for inflation) baked in, I tell them it cost $300k and everybody simply understands that interest is part of having a mortgage. When my mom asked me "How much is the house going to cost" it would have been ridiculous for me to tell her "Close to $600k." Additionally, the city finances tons of things. When we build a new school, bridge, park, bus line, infrastructure improvement, etc. and get a loan, I have never heard the price quoted with financing costs baked in. So I guess the question is, why is the arena the only project ever proposed by the city that gets financing costs baked into the cost we put in headlines?

They want all 3k people to be under the same building. There is no building with that amount of space available or planned in the city.

When it rains it pours. CoStar looking for new offices for 3,000-plus employees with Navy Hill project on verge of failure From the CEO, Andrew Florence

Bill to aid Navy Hill financing spiked again.

You don't have to register to leave comments. You have to enter in your real name and email when making a comment. Then a moderator has to approve you to start making comments. You also don't have to be registered to vote. You can see comments against Navy Hill get downvoted significantly.

I was more so referring to the section bounded by Broad, Belvidere, i95, and the river. The the area between the Convention Center and MCV is pretty dead too. There are pockets of things. Penny Lane & Green Leaf. Tobacco & City Dogs. However, a walk around the area on a Saturday night would make it feel like the entire area is abandoned with the exception of people who commuted to those couple of attractions.

I like the new development and I like seeing a nice skyline, but walking around Downtown on a Saturday often feels abandoned. It's completely devoid of life. I would really like to see a lively downtown area, but I think that would require a lot of new housing there.

Let's try to refrain from personal attacks. Everybody on this board wants Richmond to grow. I think more housing in Richmond sucks the oxygen out of Henrico sprawling expansion more than it does from other organic Richmond developments. I'm bullish the second one will happen. I doubt Farrel wants to be seen as using Dominion shareholder resources for what (to shareholders) seems like a petty local political dispute.