I miss RVA

Ahhh - wow!! That project has been in the hopper for a couple of years now. Glad to see it starting to move forward finally.

Jonathan Spiers has reporting in today's RBS that the city's economic development director, Leonard Sledge, will be leaving his post for an opportunity in another locality. According to Jonathan's reporting, Sledge will be stepping down in June. Wow... first the departure last fall of Maritza Pechin, and now Leonard Sledge. This is going to be one heck of a vacuum now in the city's economic development office. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/10/sources-sledge-to-step-down-as-richmond-economic-development-director/

Jack Jacobs has reporting in today's RBS that it's looking increasingly likely that Whole Foods will be an anchor tenant in an updated version of a large retail project in Midlothian. Atlanta-based SLC Ventures has filed a new site plan with Chesterfield County for the development at Midlothian Turnpike and Alverser Drive. The proposed grocery store - at 36K sq ft - is a bit smaller than what was in previously filed plans. Important nugget from Jack's reporting: Anchoring the project is a grocery store that appears to be smaller and of a different brand than the initial plans. An April 2024 rendering of the center’s planned grocery store anchor refers to the user as an “organic food market” and has a different design than depicted in a previous elevation. (SLC principal) Garrison declined to comment on the identity of the center’s anticipated grocery anchor. His firm SJC Ventures has developed other projects that feature grocery stores, and most of them are Whole Foods Market locations. He had also previously declined to name the grocery store planned as part of the originally approved project. Whole Foods didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/10/developer-with-history-of-whole-foods-anchored-projects-tweaks-plans-for-midlothian-depot/

Cap Cities is definitely in the running for the Starship "We Built This City" award. (Well, if nothing else, they're almost singlehandedly building Scott's Addition.) @RVABizSenseMike has reporting in today's RBS that Cap Cities has closed on the Dairy Bar/Curles Neck Dairy property (1600 Roseneath) and the former Tang & Biscuit property (3406 Moore Street) in a pair of deals totaling the tidy sum of $11.5 million. Recall that in January, Cap Cities filed a POD to develop a mix-used building of up to 8 stories on the site that could include residential, a possible hotel, and retail/commercial space on the ground floor. All in all a pretty ambitious project. What's interesting to note: (excluding the condo developments in the northern part of Scott's) -- of the (by my eyeball count) roughly 20 new apartment buildings either already built, currently under construction or in the pipeline (including Arthur Ashe Blvd projects Ace, Outlier and Novel, and the apartment building on Ellen Road, and two proposed developments a block north of the Otis and a block east of the Otis) - Cap Cities will account for EIGHT of the new developments, including the Dairy Bar site: Scott's Collection - 3 buildings The Otis - 1 building N. Chasen & Son site - 3 buildings Dairy Bar site - 1 building That's roughly 40% of the new construction overall. Again, this excludes the condo developments and focuses only on apartment buildings. Pretty darn impressive. According to Mike's reporting, construction on the new building at the Dairy Bar site is anticipated to begin next year. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/10/capital-square-pays-11m-for-2-acre-scotts-addition-assemblage/

Agreed, @123fakestreet. I've never understood the design concept of making essentially suburban-style apartment complexes. Would MUCH prefer rowhouses and a restoration (or establishment) of a proper street grid. As you said - make it into an actual neighborhood. Only thing I can think of is cost. No idea if doing the suburban-style complex is somehow less expensive than tight rowhouses. Obviously building parking lots around buildings sprinkled around together is probably a LOT cheaper than rebuilding or establishing traditional city blocks. No idea... And I also agree - same should apply to SFH. Leave the suburbs in the suburbs, and let's build city neighborhoods in the city. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a tough nut to crack because of the last couple of rounds of annexation involved absorbing parts of Henrico and Chesterfield that were at the time they were annexed (particularly in 1942 and 1970) anywhere from almost rural to traditional "Beaver-Cleaver" suburban - with detached SFHs (and in some cases garages) on separate lots of various sizes on streets that had no sidewalks - only drainage culverts separating the residential property from the roadway. The house I grew up in (we bought the house in 1965 when I was 2 1/2 years old) was like that. NO sidewalk, just ditches on both streets. Our neighborhood was in the part of Chesterfield that was annexed into the city in 1970. I vividly remember when the city widened Forest Hill Avenue shortly thereafter, installed sewer and water lines and built sidewalks. As I recall, spent a LOT of time looking out of the living room window watching the construction.

Okay - my response got taken down and flagged as possible spam. I think it was an automated computer thing - I tried to go back in and make a minor correction and when I went to save it, I got the message that it was "pending review" - and when I refreshed the page, my long-azz response was gone. It's happened before. Drives me nuts.

Oh yeah? So wait - Southwest funneling RIC passengers to BWI would not preclude them ADDING additional DIRECT service out of RIC to other cities? While I realize that not every airline is going to follow Breeze's model of direct city-to-city routes (and this has a been a HUGE benefit to RIC), I've been SO sick of the fact that RIC has, by and large, until recently had very little to show for direct service outside of the typical/traditional hub-and-spoke routes. While I realize that being anything closely resembling a hub or even a focus city is out the window for RIC, I HAVE been hoping that Breeze basically turning RIC into a de facto "mini hub" of sorts would maybe open the door for other airlines to jump into the fray and expand direct service out of RIC to beyond just the handful of routes they've traditionally had. That's why I'm chomping at the bit SO much to get Frontier and Alaska Air in here - and Seattle being the obvious BIG prize if we could score Alaska. And one more point... okay folks - it's approaching mid-April. WHAT IS THE STORY WITH THE FIS AND THE INTERNATIONAL GATE? WHAT AIRLINES ARE GOING TO GIVE US SERVICE TO WHAT INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS?? I mean - COME ON, RIC!!! Can we get a move on with this? I'd like us to at least have something fairly robust before ORF comes online with THEIR FIS/international gate and steals away pretty much EVERYTHING.

Done. Next?

Ugh... so it's pretty likely then that this kiboshes any hope that Southwest might actually "beef up" direct service to a few more destinations to/from RIC?

WOW!! This is a pretty big deal, all in all. Really good news.

Data centers are all the rage around metro Richmond! Jack Jacobs has reporting in today's RBS that Irish company Chirisa recently filed a POD with Chesterfield County to build an additional data center on their campus at 1401 Meadowville Technology Parkway. The new 139K sq ft facility with an initial capacity of 20 megawatts is expected to be completed in late 2025. Chirisa is also eyeing the site of the unfinished (and obviously vacant) packaging facility built by Mexican firm Cartograf, which announced plans for their plant in 2019. Construction on the 300K sq ft facility was started but never completed, and earlier this year Chirisa had the winning bid in partnership with NOVA-based American Real Estate Partners to purchase the site from Cartograf in a court-ordered sale. Cartograf has appealed but has yet to post a required bond of $900K. They have until May to do so. If the purchase goes through, Chirisa will knock down the existing Cartograf building and construct a third data center similar in size to what is/will be on their campus. The current data center is 244K sq feet. Interesting note: the Cartograf site is less than half a mile southwest of the Chirisa campus and, together, the two sites are roughly one mile south of the huge LEGO manufacturing facility, currently under construction. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/09/data-center-expanding-in-meadowville-tech-park-as-operator-eyes-nearby-cartograf-site/

From your keyboard to God's eyes, my friend!

UPDATE: Jonathan Spiers (RBS) and Eric Kolenich (RT-D) have new reporting regarding City Council's support for a proposed significant change in financing for the new ballpark and the Diamond District. The measure was presented to the council yesterday. There's general consensus that the project needs to get moving as in NOW, despite the shift in risk to the city. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/09/we-have-got-to-get-shovels-in-the-ground-council-plays-ball-on-stadium-bond-plan/ From today's Richmond Times-Dispatch: https://richmond.com/news/local/business/development/flying-squirrels-minor-league-stadium-bonds/article_98ca8220-f5cd-11ee-b84c-affba0c8193f.html

This is great stuff, @Gexckos!! A fantastic find - 100% worthy of this week's first award of highly coveted, ultra-prestigious RVA/UP Silver Hardware. Mazal Tov!! Well done - very much deserved for finding this outstanding video!

% -- that's a good point! Definitely can't be said for downtown RVA. I've been kinda studying it most of the morning and I've gotta say, the more I look at it, the more I like it. The massing around the ballpark is MUCH more impressive than what was depicted in the early conceptual renderings. Really my only real complaint is the lack of height along Arthur Ashe Boulevard and in the far northern part of the development, though I can 100% understand why the developers/architects would want to mass most of the height in much closer proximity to the ballpark. All-in-all, I'm reasonably impressed. Not blown away, but definitely becoming increasingly impressed by and happy with this being the potential deliverables for the Diamond District.

I'd imagine that the Greek Orthodox Cathedral being right next door will have a big voice in the matter.

The latest rendering of the entire Diamond District buildout, while as we projected in this forum a couple of years ago would definitely be "meh" from the standpoint of being limited to what (unfortunately) seems to be "Richmond-scale" in terms of size (particularly height) and impact, actually isn't too bad. While it doesn't contain as much height as I'd like to see, overall this particular product does appear to be an improvement over what was originally rendered, particularly with a reduction in the size of the public park and generally getting ride of the serpentine layout of the park in favor of bringing residential and commercial development much closer to the ballpark and formulating a stronger street system. My terrible-eyesight count seems to put the tallest buildings in that "Richmond-scale" range of between 11 and 13 stories (12 being the most common) - though the hotel next to the ballpark fronting Arthur Ashe looks to be more in the 15 to 16 story range and is a pretty cool design. Seems like the developers (architects?) have REALLY beefed up the urban look and feel - and this has the potential to create a strong urban street presence around the ballpark. So even despite it being limited to "Richmond-scale" - believe it or not, I actually like this rendering. If we get this fully built out to the level of density, intensity and tightness that this rendering shows, I won't complain. Thoughts? Rendering courtesy of Richmond BizSense:

@RVABizSenseMike has some interesting reporting in today's RBS that the Seventh Street Christian Church - a mainstay at Grove and Malvern avenues for the past 75 years - is relocating and is soliciting RFPs for the possible (probable?) sale of their two-acre property. It opens up a whole realm of possibilities (and a whole realm of neighborhood pushback). The church building is gorgeous and - no doubt - if a developer came in and dropped in even a modestly-dense residential development, it will mark a drastic change in that neighborhood. Our dear friend Bruce had a great comment regarding how the property could be developed: Bruce Milam 31 minutes ago It’s an interesting site and location. There’s going to be a lot of pushback from the neighborhood and Greek Church membership for anything more than three stories and that includes structured parking. Even tall garage unit towns will be complicated but I think it has strong possibilities as a high-end townhouse site. No doubt, there's going to be pushback and, unlike my usual anti-NIMBY stance, I can't say I'd be not understanding about it in this case. Still, I agree with Bruce that the potential there is tremendous. Even a group of three-story townhouses would bring a nice injection of density into the area and would transform the property into something that generates some tax revenue for the city. It does seem like a good place for townhouses as opposed to an apartment building such as the one at 3600 Grove. Dunno if the church building could be repurposed in part or in whole as part of any redevelopment, but it would be cool if it could be. It's a beautiful building. (And yes, I know - this is coming from the guy who preaches "if it's in the way, knock it down.") Would love to see this big parcel transformed into something with some density. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/08/church-at-grove-and-malvern-soliciting-interest-from-developers-ahead-of-move/

I'll have to do a little research into the history, but I believe they were. I think the precursor to VEPCO (now Dominion) did most of it.

Thanks for the insight on how zoning there works, @jtmonk. Very interesting concept, and it drives home the point that the basic mindsets of the two cities are so radically different. Unfortunately, in Richmond it's like pulling hens teeth to get anything outside of the immediate central business district zoned up to or above 20 stories - and there's no "stair-step" zoning that takes it up to, for example, 40 stories. If anything, there's a constant tamping down on height here in that, for example, TOD-1 zoning is CAPPED at 12 stories - and an SUP is required to exceed that cap. I don't know if you were around on this site a couple of years ago to follow some of the events as reported in the news, but the fight AGAINST up-zoning a stretch of W. Broad Street to allow for 20-story buildings was off the chain. The vociferousness of the pushback was staggering. Wow... talk about the difference between a mindset that ENCOURAGES significant development (in terms of height) and one that, while not outright discouraging it, does precious little to actually/actively encourage it. Even in what you're suggesting - that the developers are probably looking to build something in the 20-30 story range - at the age of 61, I'm not sure I'll actually live to see a residential building in the 20 to 30 story range built here*, tbh. Look at the pearl clutching some in Manchester were doing over the prospect of a pair of apartment buildings of 16 and 17 stories. Again, the mindset and the whole approach there is SO different in your neck of the woods from how it is here. (And to those RVA apologists who live with "RVA-is-fine-like-it-is"/"we-don't-want/need-to-be-like-(fill in city of choice)" rose colored glasses surgically affixed, I unapologetically state - I'm NOT okay with this!!!) (* - NOTE - I realize Hourigan's residential tower is slated for 20 stories of occupied floors atop a four-story pedestal - so the equivalent of a 24-story building in Manchester. HOWEVER - nothing has happened on that project, and demo fencing for the Silos has been up for well over a year now. Quite frankly, I'll believe it if/when I actually see this building get constructed.) Obviously demand and market size are huge drivers in this equation. We have literally ZERO demand for such development here and that's driven primarily by our lack of market size (relative to out competitors). Either way - thanks so much for the insight.

Not a fan at all of BRT lines doing ANY sort of curb running. IMNSHO the city/GRTC completely FUBAR'd the east-west PULSE line by not kiboshing that garish planter/median along Broad Street downtown in favor of installing PROPER, 100% dedicated BRT lanes. Curb-running BRT lanes defeats the purpose. "Mixing" BRT and local buses does nothing but bog down the BRT. Unfortunately, barring some kind of miracle (specifically a huge injection of significant funding) this won't ever get fixed. AND IT SHOULD BE FIXED! This should be a prerequisite for the north-south PULSE line. Looking back at history, the streetcar lines ran down the center of Broad (and of other streets as well) for a reason. Topic for another discussion, but I'm mind-boggled how this city could afford to develop a fully functional electric streetcar rail system in the late 19th century but can't afford even one single line today. I know - economic drivers are eleventy-zillion percent different now than they were 140 years ago - but I still can't help but wonder how things might have worked out if RVA had brought back the streetcars for the PULSE lines. I'm guessing the Queen City of the Carolinas can afford to install essentially a modern-day streetcar system (street-level light rail, a la what Portland has) because -- unlike RVA -- they're a city of nearly 900K, they have 35,000 people LIVING downtown (now WHERE exactly have we seen THIS kind of number before relative to people living in downtown RVA? ), a downtown workforce of 120K people and - if you can believe it - no fewer than 6,600 downtown hotel rooms (yes, I've been doing some research). These kinds of figures are what downtown RVA DESPERATELY needs to bring into reality to have the kind of critical vitality that would make downtown THRIVE, and folks, (spoiler alert:) it pains me that this kind of thing ain't happening here ANYTIME soon - and prolly not in my lifetime. But I digress.

The three-story mixed-use building in Westover Hills is back in the development pipeline. @RVABizSenseMike has reporting in today's RBS that NOVA-based Sugar Mill Construction has received the green light from the city to build their three-story infill project at 1005 Westover Hills Boulevard that will include 12 apartments and ground-floor commercial space. The previous developers - Zach and Danielle Kennedy - had received an SUP from the city - but the SUP expired. Sugar Mill purchased the property last yea and reapplied for the SUP. Interesting nugget: Sugar Mill is the developer planning a six-story, mixed-use/residential building at the far north end of Lombardy Street. Given that the Westover Hills area is my old stomping ground (I grew up about a mile west in Granite), I'm thrilled to see this project back on the table. I'm excited by how much Westover Hills is changing. Looking forward to seeing the growth keep rolling. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/05/westover-hills-mixed-use-building-okd-again-after-permit-expired/

Jonathan Spiers has reporting in today's RBS covering the kickoff of the long-awaited redevelopment of Creighton Court. While construction on Phase I, which will contain 68 units, has been underway since December, the official ceremony was held yesterday. Glad to see things finally moving forward on this front. From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/05/developers-mark-start-of-construction-for-300m-creighton-court-transformation/

Some excellent economic news for Petersburg and for efforts to continue central Virginia's growth as a burgeoning pharmaceutical hub: Jack Jacobs has reporting in today's RBS that Manchester-based Phlow Corp. has kicked off production of ingredients for medications at their new 19.2K sq ft manufacturing facility in Petersburg. The factory - which is expected to produce between 250 and 500 kg of materials is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year - and is the first of two such plants Phlow is planning for the site. According to Jack's reporting, the second -- 18K sq ft -- facility will be able to crank out between 40 and 60 metric tons annually of pharmaceutical material. It is also slated to become fully operational later this year. Phlow is headquartered at 424 Hull Street in Manchester. Total impact in Petersburg will be roughly 40 to 50 jobs -- small, but unquestionably a very good start. A BIG WIN for Petersburg - AND - for metro RVA! From today's Richmond BizSense: https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/05/local-pharma-company-phlow-kicks-off-drug-ingredient-production-in-petersburg/

Wow... that's a LONG stretch between Lombardy and Azalea Avenue. Remind me - does GRTC still run local routes along either Chamberlayne or Brook Road? What's interesting is that Brook Road has a much narrower median - but I believe the avenue is also narrower than Chamberlayne - and there's a lot more room for the city to convert the median on Chamberlayne to BRT lanes than there is on Brook.