drayrichmond

With this addition, the other new tower they're building right now, and the new state GAB this part of town is going to start looking very sleek and dense!

Empty seats are big problem with minor league hockey. An ECHL or AHL team can expect to draw an average of maybe 4-6k fans to the arena, which in a 16-17k seat arena can be a problem. You add in the amount of energy and money it would take to keep the ice cool and good in an arena that size and it can be a money drain. At the same time I haven't seen much in the way of Henrico going for hockey at this new sports center they want to build. Beyond being a potential new home for the Richmond Generals, it's hard to see this attracting a minor league team (ECHL would be our best bet or even FHL). Henrico would have to invest in the ice, blockers and boards, nets, etc.. which aren't cheap either and based on the description we've gotten so far, a bunch of basketball courts and a running track; it doesn't sound like it would be set up for hockey at all. So I guess it kind of comes to a wash out as to which venue would be better suited to attracting hockey. The thing that concerns me the most is that I don't want to see a one up contest on the arena between RVA and the counties like we saw recently with VA Beach and Norfolk with their arena proposals.

Oh wow, I wasn't expecting this one to get a tower crane, awesome!

It's ok, I've worked a lot with tribal entities and one of the most difficult things to deal with is getting people to take the tribes seriously, especially on the east coast where they just aren't as visible.

The fact that you laugh at that says a lot. I'm sorry you haven't met any of the couple hundred Pamunkey Tribe members out of the almost 2 million people who call HR home.

Guys guys guys, what you have to remember about the casino is this. The Pamunkey are a Native American Tribe. They are building this casino to help their tribe, not to help Richmond or Norfolk. I am not surprised they looking at Norfolk as the majority of the Tribe who lives off reservation lives in Hampton Roads. They are simply trying to get the most jobs for their people as possible. While I'm sure cities and localities have plenty to do with the negotiations, you cannot discount the fact that in the end, the Pamunkey are doing this for their people, so it would make sense to be close to where their people live so that they have access to these jobs. Just something to really keep in mind on this topic.

I'm sorry but that is a very problematic article you've shared. I'm just going to point out a few examples. First off, this isn't exactly an unbiased look at the issues with subtitles like "field of schemes". The article attacks park renovations to Kanawha Plaza and Monroe park, basically lamenting the renovations as an assault on the homeless. Comparing budgets for the parks and homeless services, essentially saying we cannot put money into our parks if we spend less than that on homeless services. We are not allowed to have nice parks if there are homeless people. Another classic, is the use of "behind closed doors negotiations", "secret", "kept out of public view"; classic scare tactic. I'm sorry but that's how negotiations work. I'm not going to negotiate a sensitive deal with many players and interests out in the open. Nobody would negotiate with a city that did that, way to much liability. The figures are laughable. They don't use any actual data, its just a graph of "look how bad it could be" with lots of red ink to make sure you get it's a bad thing. The best they could do there is "anonymous developers saying it wouldn't work". Quoting Hild on the wanting to move the homeless shelter to Manchester, brilliant to get the opinion on a homeless shelter in Manchester from the guy who owns most of Manchester. The biggest glaring issue with this article is the use of Paul Goldman throughout the article. This man is not a champion for Richmond Schools. Everything he has done has been calculated political maneuvering. The article leans hard on the Paul Goldman School Referendum, which was majorly flawed from the outset and designed to embarrass and put the current administration in a difficult position. To quote the article: "An October 2017 poll showed that 64 percent of Richmonders supported paying more in taxes for schools", but wait the referendum they keep bring up stipulated that taxes cannot be raised to "fix" the schools. If any of you guys have a fix for schools without raising taxes I'd love to here it. Oh and you can't cut any other city services or else there would be an uproar. Paul Goldman did this so he could say, "No I'm the champion for schools, I do everything for schools, and the Mayor and City Council don't do anything", without actually offering any solutions. And oh what's this another referendum!! "Goldman himself had four aces, and he knew it. In mid-October 2018, he announced that he would pursue a second ballot initiative," This article basically boils down to the "What about schools!!" argument we hear on any project the city tries to do, just with more gusto.

Don't get me wrong, I have my worries about the project and financing. But I just don't see organic growth happening in this area. The grid system is destroyed here, Leigh street is sunken, clay street is chopped up, there aren't really any buildings that you could do a historic rehab/reuse of, all things that lead to good organic growth. Meanwhile places like Scotts Addition, Manchester, even Monroe Ward are set up for organic growth having all of the afore mentioned features.

oof thanks for the clarification. alright you've heard it, we need five more yes', get on the phone and write your councilors!

The main thing that I got from the article is that Hilbert and Newbille have endorsed the plan, council president and vice-president (respectively), which is a huge step. We need 5 yes votes on the council if it's a simple majority ruling. I haven't heard anything from Robertson who's district covers the bulk of the project site. I imagine Gray, who's district covers Jackson Ward will come out against it, just the impression I've gotten from her (burn it all down if it isn't for schools!!!); but I wouldn't mind being proven wrong here. If anybody has any idea how the other council members feel on the matter please share! The best thing we can do, if you support the project, is write your councilor (if you live in city limits) and urge them to support it. If you don't support the project, don't write anybody, Brent (lol).

Basic run down of the article. Under the proposal: half of surplus tax moneys brought in by the redevelopment would go towards schools. This is estimated to be 600 million over 30 years, or 20 million a year. The superintendent says this would be used to build 6 modern schools for the system. Of the remaining 50% of surplus taxes would be broken down as such: 15% to housing, 1 percent to art, 34% to the general fund. Council Members Hilbert and Newbille have endorsed the plan.

Eh MWV Westrock didn't seem that big to me, perhaps it was because it was through mergers and buy outs instead of just up and leaving, the latter stings a bit more to me. I'm just saying in general it sucks to lose a F500 and I'm glad we haven't lost one in this fashion.

Hearing about NS leaving HR made me just want to say how glad I am that RVA continues to do well. I can't imagine the blow it would be to lose one of our F500 companies. We really continue to have a steady supply of development and growth. Our airport is expanding. Apartments and condos are going up all over the city. We've had more companies moving downtown, e.g. CoStar, Owens and Minor, and more. VCU continues to expand, both campuses! We're getting data centers, e.g. Facebooks huge one! And the suburbs are starting to urbanize more. Makes me sad I just moved away.

Lets keep in mind too, along with the NS move, that Amazon has an apparent choice in HQ2 (or at least a big chunk of HQ2) in Crystal City/Arlington. Which means that hopefully we will see more moves such as CoStar, who moved to RVA for cheaper cost of living and office space. The timing of this arena development couldn't be better in this regard, imagine the marketing we could do with all the brand new office space to built. I certainly hope we have a plan in place to woo companies in NOVA/DC to open branches in RVA for cheaper rents/cost of living and we can certainly use this development as a huge selling point!

The long term vision for the rail yard there is to be incorporated into the James River Park System, meaning no high rises blocking that view. PDF: http://www.richmondgov.com/PlanningAndDevelopmentReview/documents/PlansRiverfront/5_Manchester.pdf