I miss RVA

The Egyptian Building is looking pretty sharp, too.

I wonder if they have a construction cam up yet or if they're even going to have one? You'd think that for a 12-story building, they probably would mount on somewhere.

Yep - that was about a decade or so ago - and at one point it was a residential tower (there were a couple of parcels where this residential tower was considered) - IIRC to be called "The Belvidere".

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy have I been peppering the map with upzoning requests/recommendations!!

Whelllllllp - not exactly. VCU is shifting away from returning Johnson Hall to residential use - they're moving more in the direction of converting it into office space. Here's the clip from Jacks' reporting: The new dorm project is intended to replace and expand on the 518-bed Johnson Hall on Franklin Street that closed in 2021. While there had been plans to reopen the building as student housing, university officials have more recently backed away from those plans in favor of rehabbing the building into office space. Either way, it'll be good to have that building fully rehabbed and people back in it. That's a great question, @RiverYuppy - and add to it the planned 11-story apartment building at 1 W. Grace (Foushee & Grace) that's being envisioned as alternative housing for VCU students. Perhaps some students will live there - though I'd be curious if this ultimately becomes completely available to the general public? Either way, these are great developments that will further rejuvenate that segment of the Broad/Grace Corridor. More please!!

PROJECT UPDATE @RVABizSenseMike has reporting in today's RBS that the big redevelopment of the former Genworth Financial campus at 6604-6630 W. Broad Street has been moving ahead under the radar. Baltimore developer Greenwood Gibbons' plans for phase 1 of the redev have been approved (presumably by the county?). According to Mike's reporting, infrastructure plans were approved over the winter, and the first phase of retail and multi-family buildings were approved this past spring. TRP has already begun publishing renderings in their marketing flyers. When fully built out, the new development will have more than 1,000 apartments and townhomes, more than half a million square feet of office space, and 150K sq ft or retail space, (friends, that a LOT of retail space!!) as well as hundreds of new hotel rooms. Here's the best news: site work is scheduled to begin in late 2025!!! Okay - let's get this one rolling! Of the five biggies planned in the Near West End and Westwood areas, this is the first one out of the gate. Let's see how things roll. Check out the new renderings. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2025/07/10/new-renderings-revealed-for-transformation-of-former-genworth-campus-on-broad/

Welp - we get our first look at the proposed VCU dorm project for Laurel & Grace, and folks, it is WAY better than we could have ever dreamed. Jack Jacobs has reporting in today's RBS that the state's Art & Architectural Review Board will review on Friday the preliminary design of the proposed 14-story - that, right folks, you read right - 14 story - dorm to be built on the north side of Grace Street between Laurel and Pine streets. According to Jack's reporting, the 349K sq ft building will be crescent shape with a 14-story west tower fronting Grace & Laurel streets and a nine-story eastern section fronting Grace & Pine. The new dorm will feature both suite-style and apartment-style units. No official bed count was made available. Previous VCU plans called for the dorm to have anywhere from 900 to 1,000 beds. Friday's review is the first of two by the AARB, which reviews every state building and gives recommendations on changes, tweaks, etc. Final approval comes from the Department of General Services director. The school's board of visitors is expected to review full project plans this fall. Demolition of the buildings currently on the site will begin this fall. I'm trying not to read too much into it, but I get the feeling that construction could start early next year. What I'm loving is that this project as envisioned several years ago in VCU's Master Plan was originally to be 12 stories and much smaller, the footprint only at the corner of Laurel & Grace. It's since expanded to cover the entire block - and it's gotten a lot bigger. What's cool - it's just two floors shorter than the Parc View building at Monroe & Grace What's even better: with The Admiral FINALLY underway at 2nd & E. Marshall, IF this building gets underway early next year - and - if the developer of the 11 story apartment building at Foushee & Grace breaks ground either late this year or early next, we likely will see cranes for all three projects rise at the same time - which COULD come before the two huge cranes building the VCU/CoStar Arts & Innovation building at Belvidere & Broad are taken down. Man - if that actually happens, we've GOTTA get pictures! And OF COURSE... we have several yummy renderings, including a couple of street-level mock-ups showing how the new building would look when looking west from Belvidere & Broad - and - Belvidere & Grace. Dig in, boys! From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2025/07/10/state-architectural-board-to-review-14-story-vcu-dorm-project-this-week/

I believe GRTC expanded all of the station platforms - so I believe the bendies will cover the entire route, end-to-end. Yeah - this was one of those rare gifts. Totally love it! Idk how much the bendies were on our radar 'til GRTC announced last year that they were going to buy them.

Well, so many seem to want "organic" growth in that part of town. Friends, ya can't get much more organic than that mold. Wonder if that would require a different historic district classification: "mold and historic..." ??

I'm still looking. No luck so far - but I had a doctor's appointment this morning so I only had so much time. I'll put a little more elbow grease into the bendy watch today. Same here - blows me away, the length. And I'm loving every bit of it! Welp - I look at it from a slightly different angle: having bendy buses means we're not so small any more. We're (FINALLY) growing up! Before long - if we keep THIS up - we'll actually start to become a real city! Man - I can't wait for the build out to 12 bendies this year (or within a year? I can't remember). And I think I remember seeing somewhere that at some point GRTC wants to boost that 12 to 24 - within the next however many years (five, maybe?)

Yeah - looks like the turnout was pretty robust! I'm impressed. Hmmm... so at least for the first four buses, it appears that the bendies are in the 9000-series of numbering. The bus in this montage was 9002. The bus we saw previously (parked) was 9001. The one we saw making a practice run on W. Broad in front of Channel 6 was 9003. AND both 9001 and 9003 were in the first pix we saw when they were at the GRTC garages.

%!! @eandslee. That even The Admiral -- AND -- for THAT matter, aren't the developers at the Diamond District already moving dirt for apartment buildings? This entire initiative flew off the rails particularly after Maritza Pechin left for a federal position, and also when Leonard Sledge left to work for Hampton. Between the two of them, the Diamond District for certain moved... well, until squabbling about the ballpark stalled things. But for crying out loud, we can't even get the daggone Coliseum demo'd and hauled away! I'm sure some of y'all will get offended by this - but I defy anyone to prove this otherwise: Regarding City Center, were this happening in a pair of cities a few hundred miles to our southwest (I won't name them - you already know who they are) as well as a very musical city several hundred miles to our west-southwest... this entire redevelopment would've been built already - or at least there would be multiple - MULTIPLE - cranes and tall girder skeletons rising in their downtowns. And y'all know I'm right about this.

I've periodically been on bendy watch today. So far, no sightings. (using the VCU/CoStar construction cam).

@RVABizSenseMike has reporting in today's RBS that the Richmond Economic Development Authority has issues an RFP for the long-abandoned Intermediate Terminal building at 3101 E. Main. The city wants to preserve the building - even though it's not on any landmark lists and is not in a historic district. According to Mike's reporting, the EDA will not consider any proposals that includes demolition of the roughly 100-year-old building that was once seen as a site for Stone Brewing's "Stone World Bistro & Gardens" restaurant. Interesting that the city is almost treating this building like a "historic" building either as a stand-alone on a landmark's list or within an actual historic district - when neither of these designations apply. Mike's reporting indicated the city will "consider" making physical alterations - but not tearing the building down. Which makes me think they're limiting this to specifically adaptive reuse and not integrating the old structure into/and as part of a larger new-construction building - which personally I'd love to see. Dunno... I have mixed feelings about it. No idea if it's worth saving - and while it's unique, can something of quality and value that's not another waste of space just because of architecture or age of structure come out of this? Ugh... either way - it'll be fun to watch what happens. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2025/07/08/city-issues-rfp-seeks-to-preserve-long-dormant-intermediate-terminal-building/

Jonathan Spiers has reporting in today's RBS that plans for a new 49-home subdivision at the interchange of I-295 & Airport Drive near Highland Springs will go before the Henrico County Planning Commission this week for review. The project - significantly scaled back from the original plan of 42 detached houses and 61 townhomes - would be developed at 700 N. Airport Drive. With the western half of the county filling up, developers are increasingly looking east to plant their flags. We'll see how this shakes out. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2025/07/08/49-home-subdivision-planned-beside-i-295-interchange-near-highland-springs/