Flood Zone

And like clockwork, Monroe has been closed today due to some sort of failure of the building-wide systems.

Nice that the tennis courts will be open to the public, but boo that the practice fields won't be. Hell, even St. Chris opens its fields for the public when they're not using them!

Fascinating. I spent one year as a journalism major (wanted to be a sports writer), but ended up with a different major due to a program split and how my scholarship was funded. I did write for some small DC publications, but that was no way to make a living so I went in another direction!

Regardless of the veracity of the $900M figure (and I'm not the one to judge that!), the one thing that's undeniable is that Monroe is in abysmal shape. I don't think anyone is turning it into apartments, for instance. Its one positive attribute is its height, but, to be honest, we value that on this board way more than most out there would. Which means either it's going to become the world's tallest storage facility, or it's coming down.

Can't speak to that location, but the one at Broad and Malvern is still open (drive-thru only) and the line often stretches onto Broad at lunch-time. ETA: And, no, they won't charge you $17 for a gyro.

Monroe set to become a ghost town. State workers headed to Main Street Center, among other places. The article says the renovation cost for Monroe was $900M! Also, to anyone moving to the 22nd floor of MSC, pro tip from years and years ago: if anyone kicks on your window, it’s probably not a swat team but instead window washers.

Is Bellichick the DOJ in that scenario?

Although I freely admit that I don't know much about the airline industry, I'm a bit wary with the degree to which RIC is reliant on Breeze. Its model doesn't seem sustainable to me, but what do I know? Also, if Spirit goes under, how would that affect our Drive for Five (million)?

It's happened before!

It will. Incidentally, I would not try to glean 100% coherence out of anything on our local TV station's websites. The quality of every station's news reporting has gone down. WTVR probably has the highest standard these days, and WWBT, which used to set the gold standard, is probably the worst now.

Just got a text from Verizon that the new overlay area code 686 is set to begin on February 1. Um, yay?

IMHO, best shots are always ground-level, or a little above it, from basically the vantage point of the Potterfield Bridge. (There is, however, a photo series of all the cities with federal circuit courts, and Richmond's is a night-time shot basically overlooking the Manchester Bridge with the lights of bridge traffic set against the buildings in the background. It's a great shot. Not sure where you can find it online.)

The reporting from a year or so ago was free through June 2024. However, the GRTC page says free "until further notice." Whether that represents a substantive change in things, I don't know.

I guess I understand the impulse to undercut the MGM over the river at National Harbor, but my goodness is that thing a goliath.

Far worse for travelers on the roads. A good bit of flash flooding.

LOL! This sentiment is curious to me. In prior comments, you've* expressed concern over losing the team because the stadium won't get done, and that it's good to upsize the stadium to make it AAA standard. But this article says they're focused on getting the stadium done, ahead of all else (including the who-cares athletics village), and that the price of the stadium has ballooned. Presumably the delay in ironing out all the details has contributed to the price increase, but also upsizing the ballpark would, too, especially given the team itself is now leading the design. We've gone from $70M, to $90M, to $115M per this article. Keep in mind that I'm no fan of the city's efficiency or planning capabilities, but beneath the surface, everything in this article seems pretty self-evident. They're got one "have to" on the block right now -- the ballpark. Whether that should be a "have to" is another matter, given how arbitrary MLB's standards and timing are, but we all recognize that can can't be kicked down the road any longer.** Everything else, except for residential, I guess, can be reserved for a later date. There is the danger of letting renderings affect our sense of the future reality, although we all caution ourselves not to do that in every thread. At any rate, I don't think we're at a disaster point for this development yet. The same market forces that affect that a big building in Manchester would affect this project, too, although I'm thinking on a much larger scale. * I don't intend to single you out. I just see you as a prolific and representative poster! **Whether the city should be financing a minor league team's ballpark is another argument, too, of course, and I'm familiar with it! I've read Baseball and Billions, Lords of the Realm, all that stuff.

No. I don't mean that as a 100% statement as I don't know her. But I know people who do, and what I understand is that she's a climber and got a job too good to pass up.

Same location. Plenty of space. Fairly convenient highway access. Likely preferable to putting it in western Chesterfield.

In between now and expansion (which I do think will happen in the next decade), we have the A's moving to Las Vegas, which has been approved by MLB despite some serious questions about Nevada financing the ballpark. Nevertheless, presumably the Oakland-to-Las-Vegas move will happen by 2028, thereby freeing up a current AAA market. The Aviators are in the Pacific Coast League, but it's possible that Omaha could move from the International League over to the PCL, creating an opening in the IL for Richmond to take in the next round of affiliate jumble. At any rate, while I understand the sentiment to want to get back to AAA for historical, market-size-comp, and "we'll feel bigger" reasons, having the Giants' AA affiliate here has been a pretty sweet deal. In addition to the fun(n) times Parney & crew have brought, for baseball fans we've seen some pretty nice prospects swing through here. Right off the bat, we got Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt for about 300 plate appearances apiece in 2010. They were foundational players for the 2012 and 2014 world champion teams. And more recently we got about 15 starts from Logan Webb, who finished 2nd in this season's NL Cy Young Award voting. The in-between seasons are littered with guys baseball fans would recognize, such as Adam Duvall, who's made a nice career for himself as a power-hitting outfielder and was a big pick-up for the Braves when they won the World Series in 2021.

WOW! "Dang" is right (so is "nerdy"). I've seen some people nerd out on the KD Season Pass FB page, but this is truly another level.

I'm also interested in that comment. I do not know much about the business of soccer, but I do know that the Kickers were, well, kicked in favor of Loudoun United five years ago, yet the Kickers outdraw LU by pretty much a 2:1 ratio. So, I guess the play is to see how long LU can hang on.....

Pretty sure @eandsleeis referring to the Richmond Free Press article from last month. Maybe I'm wrong....

"EDA pitching in $1M toward Diamond District Ballpark Design" (RBS article) Nothing earth-shattering, I guess. This seems to be an advance of funds to keep the ballpark on track for a 2026 opening. Some still-to-be-finalized contractual language will give the Squirrels oversight on the design of the ballpark, which was an issue Lou DiBella was harping about a few months back. I don't often highlight the RBS comments, but this one made me chuckle: Anybody know if MLB is going to grant an exemption for the Squirrels – or will they end up playing their home games elsewhere until the new stadium is built…if it does get built at this point? If I was MLB – I’m not so sure I would grant any exemption. This has been dragging on far too long and the stadium issue should have been taken care of a long time ago. Whether the subject has been dragging on too long is a matter of opinion, but the thought of the Squirrels temporarily relocating from the existing ballpark, where they routinely top the Eastern League in attendance, is hilarious to me. MLB keeps granting exemptions because (a) they know Richmond is a great market for a AA team, (b) their standards and deadlines are arbitrary anyway, (c) both MLB and Richmond know this, and (d) Richmond is willing to pay up, drip by drip, while the process resolves itself.

I get what you’re saying. But given that Fairfax, Loudoun, and PW counties alone make up about a quarter of the Commonwealth’s population, I’m thinking Dulles and National would be considered Virginia centric airports by a great many people.

Depends on funding, but if the current is any guide than 10 years is about right. First became public in 2008 and opened in 2018.