VCU Developments

[georgeglass]

On 4/15/2024 at 7:28 PM, eandslee said:

This sucker is taking forever to get demolished!

Well, there was an issue of contaminated ground water. There were old oil tanks and a sump pump that had been in use at some point. My understanding is that when the city cut power, the sump pump wasn't draining anymore and when vandals cut the lines for the tanks...well you get the idea. I know some people involved and the place was a mess and incredibly scary. People had been living there for a good while in some pretty deplorable conditions. Anyway, the city had to remedy the ground water issue before more demo can take place, but I think it's been resolved....

[I miss RVA]

This story slipped under our radars last week - looks like (as of April 17th) actual full-on demo of the Public Safety building is slated to begin in the next couple of weeks. Eric Kolenich has reporting in the April 17th edition of the RT-D that VCU Health announced it is moving forward with actual demo. Site work will be getting underway within the one-to-two week window announced last week, though no timetable was published for the completion of the work.

While this will leave the heart of downtown RVA with yet another vacant lot (with the Dominion and the VEC lots down in the Financial District now also vacant, downtown's "Sea of vacant/undeveloped lots and/or surface parking lots" continues to grow. HOPEFULLY, however, since this is within the overall footprint of the larger City Center district redevelopment, we'll see something of some decent size rise here at some point, whether it's connected to the outstanding, planned GRTC transit hub or something else. There at least seems to be some kind of promise for something potentially big to rise on this site.

Either way - good to FINALLY see movement on this building. Indeed, @georgeglass, as you astutely pointed out, contaminated water, asbestos and other hazardous materials on the site have been the big speedbump. Abatement of all of those elements is time-consuming and costly. Apparently, as you said, the site is/was a real mess from a hazardous materials/contaminated water standpoint.

From the April 17th edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/news/local/business/real-estate/demolition-of-richmond-owned-building-to-begin-in-1-2-weeks/article_5bf919fa-fd35-11ee-a12a-f7bf7521ab78.html#tracking-source=in-article

[Child2021]

9 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

This story slipped under our radars last week - looks like (as of April 17th) actual full-on demo of the Public Safety building is slated to begin in the next couple of weeks. Eric Kolenich has reporting in the April 17th edition of the RT-D that VCU Health announced it is moving forward with actual demo. Site work will be getting underway within the one-to-two week window announced last week, though no timetable was published for the completion of the work.

While this will leave the heart of downtown RVA with yet another vacant lot (with the Dominion and the VEC lots down in the Financial District now also vacant, downtown's "Sea of vacant/undeveloped lots and/or surface parking lots" continues to grow. HOPEFULLY, however, since this is within the overall footprint of the larger City Center district redevelopment, we'll see something of some decent size rise here at some point, whether it's connected to the outstanding, planned GRTC transit hub or something else. There at least seems to be some kind of promise for something potentially big to rise on this site.

Either way - good to FINALLY see movement on this building. Indeed, @georgeglass, as you astutely pointed out, contaminated water, asbestos and other hazardous materials on the site have been the big speedbump. Abatement of all of those elements is time-consuming and costly. Apparently, as you said, the site is/was a real mess from a hazardous materials/contaminated water standpoint.

From the April 17th edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/news/local/business/real-estate/demolition-of-richmond-owned-building-to-begin-in-1-2-weeks/article_5bf919fa-fd35-11ee-a12a-f7bf7521ab78.html#tracking-source=in-article

Richmond bus station for GRTC could go on East Leigh Street

[I miss RVA]

21 minutes ago, Child2021 said:

Richmond bus station for GRTC could go on East Leigh Street

GREAT find, @Child2021. Wow - the RT-D published this more than a month ago. How did we miss it? Last we heard, the city/GRTC was looking at the two sites - but there was no indication they were pretty much setting in stone that they want the Public Safety Building site. That was a completely different article in the RT-D than this one. I don't think we saw this one.

Wow...  Looks like the main difference between the two sites would be double the amount of retail space if it's built on the Public Safety Building site. And they do have a good point - it would be good to not have to shut down the current station while the big transit hub is being built.

Man - I'm LOVING this design. It SO reminds me of what the Block 37 transit hub (two subway lines) looks like in downtown Chicago. High-rise residential, high-rise office, high-rise hotel, TONS of retail on multiple levels and two subway stations. The RVA version (focusing on buses, obviously) could potentially be just as robust - though the RT-D article DID point out that the big drawback to that location is the overall "ghost town" level of human activity in that part of downtown. HOPEFULLY the Phase 1 core of City Center a couple blocks west of this location will get underway sooner rather than later. THAT could absolutely change the dynamic of the area. PLUS - once this transit hub is built, that would free up the block containing the current GRTC transfer lot for further development - hopefully high-rise residential or mixed use.

Maybe I'm being way too pie in the sky about this - but I think this development has the potential to be EPIC. I'm salivating over it like Pavlov's dog.

Oh - and btw, @Child2021 - since you found what we all missed, methinks you're more than worthy of some prestigious RVA/UP Silver Hardware. Well done! Mazal Tov! Expect delivery any time now. 

Edited April 25 by I miss RVA

[ancientcarpenter]

So I was recently following my wife's every move and noticed from bird's eye view just how much space Lowe's takes up.

In their parking lot, we could fit about 5 of those Lombardy/Broad st apartment buildings.

In the Lowe's building itself, we could fit about 6-7 pf the same apartment buildings. 

That's anywhere between 12 and 14 buildings total. Just right there we could solve the VCU area housing crisis overnight.

 

Anyways, just a quick lunch break brain teaser.... back to keeping track of my wife.

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

So I was recently following my wife's every move and noticed from bird's eye view just how much space Lowe's takes up.

In their parking lot, we could fit about 5 of those Lombardy/Broad st apartment buildings.

In the Lowe's building itself, we could fit about 6-7 pf the same apartment buildings. 

That's anywhere between 12 and 14 buildings total. Just right there we could solve the VCU area housing crisis overnight.

 

Anyways, just a quick lunch break brain teaser.... back to keeping track of my wife.

%  

Ditto with that obscene Pacific- Ocean-sized Broad-Street-adjacent surface parking lot in front of the grocery store. What I wouldn't give for this to be redeveloped into something mixed use with integrated parking and an urban-format grocery occupying the first, second, third (how-ever-many necessary) floors of a large building complex. We have these kinds of urban-footprint grocers here in Chicago. Would love to see it in RVA - especially here at this location on Broad.

Edited May 9 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

BIG UPDATE to VCU's MEDICAL CAMPUS PLAN

Eric Kolenich has reporting in today's RT-D that VCU is planning a MASSIVE redevelopment of their medical campus that could see replacement of the iconic 1941 West Hospital at 12th and Broad and the construction of FOUR new towers on the campus.

Near-term/high-priority projects appear to be:

• The new dental school at the location a block-plus north of Leigh Street (meaning, NOT at Block-D where GRTC is planning to build their big transit-hub redevelopment).
• A new inpatient hospital expansion in a tower on 11th Street that -- at least visually on new VCU renderings -- looks like it could be the tallest building on the medical campus. While no specifics were given about the tower, it is significantly taller than Sanger Hall and looks to be taller than Children's Hospital, meaning, about as tall as Richmond City Hall. In my mind, that would indicate a hospital building somewhere in the 18-to-20 story range (just a guesstimate).

The next phases would include:

• The Interdisciplinary Science Building on Leigh, in the block east of the new Outpatient  Hospital. This building looks significantly larger than the building previously planned, both in mass and height - and that original building was to be at least 13 stories. According to Eric's reporting, the new building would be 15 stories tall.
• A mixed-use building in the block east of the Interdisciplinary Building on Leigh Street. Eyeball test on the rendering shows about as tall as the Interdisciplinary Building - so a best guess would be in the 15-story range.
• Replacement of the iconic art-deco West Hospital with a new hospital tower on Broad. Again, just from looking at the rendering, a best guess would be in the 18-story range, give or take.
• Smaller infill development as well as new student housing, located well north of Leigh Street.

The article pointed out that the university is saying specifically that they have no plans to expand the campus footprint - meaning, that they are choosing verticality over sprawl - which is a VERY good thing for downtown! Secondary phases are said to be in a window of the next 3-to-15 years -- which says to me that the school is looking to get going on the first two buildings (shown on the pre-planning rendering) in the immediate term. WOW... this is All VERY exciting and I can't wait to see this all come to pass.

From today's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/news/local/business/health-care/vcu-health-west-hospital-design/article_dee2584c-0e18-11ef-97e8-7f388239188c.html#tracking-source=mp-news

Edited May 10 by I miss RVA

[Shakman]

Excellent!

About time the West Hospital is to be replaced.

Edited May 10 by Shakman

[eandslee]

I was born in the West Hospital, but I won’t be sad to see it replaced. I’ve got plenty of pictures for my memories. 
 

The plan seems ambitious!  I don’t think they’ll see any NIMBY activity until they get to demolishing the West Hospital. I think they had debated demolishing it before, but the NIMBYs came out in droves.  Maybe they’ll be successful this time. 

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, eandslee said:

I was born in the West Hospital, but I won’t be sad to see it replaced. I’ve got plenty of pictures for my memories. 
 

The plan seems ambitious!  I don’t think they’ll see any NIMBY activity until they get to demolishing the West Hospital. I think they had debated demolishing it before, but the NIMBYs came out in droves.  Maybe they’ll be successful this time. 

My maternal grandmother, may her memory be for a blessing, passed away at that hospital in the summer in 1969. I remember going to see her. I was 6, turning 7 in the fall. I remember riding up and an down the elevators with my dad. We went up to the observation deck on the Broad Street side on the 16th or 17th floor (I can't remember which). More than a decade later when I was a freshman at VCU, I went back to the old West Hospital to that observation deck on a rainy Sunday afternoon and snapped pictures of downtown. I SO wish I still had the album that contained those pix.

NIMBYs: Yeah - and these are (IMNSHO) the absolute WORST kind of NIMBYs - the preservationists who basically will lose their scheitze if VCU so much as breathes on a single brick of that old West Hospital. We kvetch about Paul Goldman filing a lawsuit to stop the Diamond District from going forward. I'd be willing to bet that as many preservationist groups as are in Richmond will all band together to try to keep VCU from replacing the West Hospital. From the HRF to whoever - they'll probably petition the state, the governor; they'll probably file a lawsuit seeking an injunction, and if they don't get it, I can see them appealing it up the judicial food chain. They'll get downright nasty about it in the media. They will be VERY aggressive. It'll get messy. The one thing it WON'T be is "easy peezy lemon squeezy".

Mind you - I really like that old building as much as anyone and if there's one I personally would love to see hang around, it's that one. It's been an iconic part of the RVA skyline for 83 years. HOWWWWWEVER... the university says it's not feasible to keep it and it needs to go. Yeah - aesthetically, it'll prolly be replaced by a flat-toped rectangular box with glass-curtain cladding, which seems to be the norm nowadays for RVA high-rises. But what rises there will be a BETTER facility and of more utility -- both from a medical and an educational perspective -- to both the school and the city. Richmond is evolving, growing and changing. Perhaps this "changing of the guard" at the West Hospital is something akin to a butterfly emerging from the cocoon, having involved into something new, bigger and better.

Much as I'll be sad to see that gorgeous old building go, it's time to replace it with something bigger and better.

Edited May 10 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

Here's Jack Jacobs' reporting on VCU's plans for beefing up the downtown medical campus - including adding 40 more beds to the Children's Tower on two floors purposely left unfinished to accommodate exactly this kind of expansion. Our dear friend Bruce made a fantastic point in the comments section to this article:

Bruce Milam

 2 hours ago

MCV has become the Roman Empire of downtown Richmond. It will soon be one of the ten largest medical education, research and treatment centers in the US.

VCU Health/MCV reaching that level will definitely put RVA on the map. Looking forward to VCU Health going full-speed ahead on construction.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/05/13/vcu-health-to-add-dozens-more-beds-to-childrens-hospital-eyes-future-projects-nearby/

[ancientcarpenter]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

Here's Jack Jacobs' reporting on VCU's plans for beefing up the downtown medical campus - including adding 40 more beds to the Children's Tower on two floors purposely left unfinished to accommodate exactly this kind of expansion. Our dear friend Bruce made a fantastic point in the comments section to this article:

Bruce Milam

 2 hours ago

MCV has become the Roman Empire of downtown Richmond. It will soon be one of the ten largest medical education, research and treatment centers in the US.

VCU Health/MCV reaching that level will definitely put RVA on the map. Looking forward to VCU Health going full-speed ahead on construction.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/05/13/vcu-health-to-add-dozens-more-beds-to-childrens-hospital-eyes-future-projects-nearby/

Ugh, bitter sweet to hear more development but to think that's 40 more kids' beds breaks my heart. Glad we are building for them, just sad there is a need. Makes me thin where in the world were these kids going (or housed) before this building was built. 

[123fakestreet]

3 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

It will soon be one of the ten largest medical education, research and treatment centers in the US

eh. I love that idea but everyone else is building like crazy too. You have to build like this just to keep up, by the time everything gets built we might move up the list slightly.

 

Note VCU currently isn't even in the top 25. The top ten is very stiff competition.

Edited May 13 by 123fakestreet

[Downtowner]

4 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Ugh, bitter sweet to hear more development but to think that's 40 more kids' beds breaks my heart. Glad we are building for them, just sad there is a need. Makes me thin where in the world were these kids going (or housed) before this building was built. 

As a father and husband that’s married into a medical family my wife is a nurse manager of a unit and my mother in law was a rn and my sister in law and soon to be brother in law are both pharmacists the medical world will continue to advance the life span with ground breaking research in all sorts of ways with these kids growing older. It is a really sad and awful feeling to think about the ones who didn’t make it but one day we may have a her medical breakthrough to save a ton of lives. It still gives me a very proud feeling I helped build the vcu childrens hospital 16 story addition when I lived in rva. I miss it but I love where I am in Winchester with my family but I always will miss and love Richmond with all of my heart and soul. You can take the person out of Richmond but you can’t take the Richmond out of the person. 

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, Downtowner said:

As a father and husband that’s married into a medical family my wife is a nurse manager of a unit and my mother in law was a rn and my sister in law and soon to be brother in law are both pharmacists the medical world will continue to advance the life span with ground breaking research in all sorts of ways with these kids growing older. It is a really sad and awful feeling to think about the ones who didn’t make it but one day we may have a her medical breakthrough to save a ton of lives. It still gives me a very proud feeling I helped build the vcu childrens hospital 16 story addition when I lived in rva. I miss it but I love where I am in Winchester with my family but I always will miss and love Richmond with all of my heart and soul. You can take the person out of Richmond but you can’t take the Richmond out of the person. 

Very well said!

[eandslee]

2 hours ago, Downtowner said:

As a father and husband that’s married into a medical family my wife is a nurse manager of a unit and my mother in law was a rn and my sister in law and soon to be brother in law are both pharmacists the medical world will continue to advance the life span with ground breaking research in all sorts of ways with these kids growing older. It is a really sad and awful feeling to think about the ones who didn’t make it but one day we may have a her medical breakthrough to save a ton of lives. It still gives me a very proud feeling I helped build the vcu childrens hospital 16 story addition when I lived in rva. I miss it but I love where I am in Winchester with my family but I always will miss and love Richmond with all of my heart and soul. You can take the person out of Richmond but you can’t take the Richmond out of the person. 

And to think - the CHOR was designed to be two stories taller!!  

Sad that there are sick kids, but someone needs and should take good and proper care of them. Might as well be right here in Downtown Richmond…especially if the care is second to none!!  This literally could put Richmond in the map!

[I miss RVA]

8 minutes ago, eandslee said:

And to think - the CHOR was designed to be two stories taller!!  

Sad that there are sick kids, but someone needs and should take good and proper care of them. Might as well be right here in Downtown Richmond…especially if the care is second to none!!  This literally could put Richmond in the map!

Two stories taller? Unless I misread something, they're not adding any floors. Two floors were left unfinished inside - they'll be finished to accommodate the additional beds, etc.

[eandslee]

8 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Two stories taller? Unless I misread something, they're not adding any floors. Two floors were left unfinished inside - they'll be finished to accommodate the additional beds, etc.

No, says it right here:

“The building is also engineered to allow the construction of an additional two more stories when needed, but there aren’t immediate plans to do so.”

[I miss RVA]

43 minutes ago, eandslee said:

No, says it right here:

“The building is also engineered to allow the construction of an additional two more stories when needed, but there aren’t immediate plans to do so.”

Ahhh-  sweet! I missed that. Thanks for the heads up! 

[CitiWalker]

14 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Ahhh-  sweet! I missed that. Thanks for the heads up! 

Looking at the design of the building, I am wondering if they mean adding in this section seeing the helipad and mechanical room being on the top section already. Would they move all of that or would it make sense to add to the portion that has an empty rooftop. If so, the actual height would not change only more volume.

 

[I miss RVA]

10 minutes ago, CitiWalker said:

Looking at the design of the building, I am wondering if they mean adding in this section seeing the helipad and mechanical room being on the top section already. Would they move all of that or would it make sense to add to the portion that has an empty rooftop. If so, the actual height would not change only more volume.

 

That was my thought as well - and your picture bears it out perfectly. That IS a two-story gap that can be built out, since the building was designed to be expanded. And the hospital would not compromise the helipad and the rooftop entry (the big box on the west side of the roof on the taller Marshall Street side). You're spot on about this, @CitiWalker -- the building's volume and massing would increase, not it's maximum height. If this section gets fully built out, Children's Hospital will basically be downtown RVA's glass-encased "Rubic's Cube". 

[Shakman]

The recently built outpatient tower can also be expanded.

[CitiWalker]

44 minutes ago, Shakman said:

The recently built outpatient tower can also be expanded.

7-10 stories would make a huge difference in the way it looks on the skyline  especially when approaching from the east.

I would like to see at least this much added height.

[Shakman]

The expansion will fill in the rest of the upper floors, not add any additional floors.   That's my understanding.

[I miss RVA]

32 minutes ago, Shakman said:

The expansion will fill in the rest of the upper floors, not add any additional floors.   That's my understanding.

Right. I think so, too. That will turn the Children's Hospital building into RVA's glass-encased Rubic's Cube.