VCU Developments

[wrldcoupe4]

Will there be no street level commercial space?

[burt]

A few pictorial updates on the new parking deck at Grace and Henry:

Its progressing rapidly.

The other deck (across Henry) is moving pretty fast as well.

My only 2 complaints/comments:

• The extra-tall first floor space is just begging for some type of non-parking activity. Maybe light commercial or retail use (like a coffee shop/deli).
• I really wish the top floor had some type of setback. It looks kind of imposing against the rest of the street.

Thanks for these updates, 540-804.

All three of these photos are of the VCU garage between Monroe and Henry on Grace Street, are they not? Is the new deck one block west between Henry and Belvidere as far advanced as this one -- and are the two structures identical?

None of the ground level bays along Grace Street look large enough to be drive-in entries, so maybe there is hope for commercial uses.

And is construction underway on the garage between Laurel and Shaffer on the other side of Grace Street?

[540_804]

Will there be no street level commercial space?

I could be wrong, but as far as I know, there were no plans for commercial spaces in these two garages east of Belvidere. Its possible that those plans have changed, though.

Thanks for these updates, 540-804.

All three of these photos are of the VCU garage between Monroe and Henry on Grace Street, are they not? Is the new deck one block west between Henry and Belvidere as far advanced as this one -- and are the two structures identical?

None of the ground level bays along Grace Street look large enough to be drive-in entries, so maybe there is hope for commercial uses.

And is construction underway on the garage between Laurel and Shaffer on the other side of Grace Street?

Yes, these 3 photos are all of the block bound by Monroe and Henry.

The second garage isn't as far along as this one, but it appears (from what is built) that they will be very similar, if not identical.

I'm not sure of the status of the projects west of Belvidere. I'm not on that side of campus often. I'm fairly certain it isn't vertical yet, aside from a very large ramp that was constructed. I'm not sure if that's for construction or if it will be part of the final structure.

I have to return a few books to the library so I'll try to stop by for a few photos.

[blake_p]

VCU School of Medicine Building Website:

http://www.ballinger-ae.com/VCU_SOM-I/index.html

Renderings, floor plans, construction photos and webcam.

[540_804]

Wow! Great find.

[burt]

VCU School of Medicine Building Website:

http://www.ballinger...OM-I/index.html

Renderings, floor plans, construction photos and webcam.

Thanks, blake_p. I especially like the rendering showing the Gateway building at the end of the 12th Street canyon.

Ryan Ramsey has his February photo album up and there are several pictures of the construction site as well as the giant crane. Go to:

http://richmondcityw...p?name=gallery2

Then click on: Album: RCW Update: February 2011.

Click the thumbnails to enlarge. Take a special look at picture #2 on page 4 of the February album. It's a fantastic shot of West Hospital that you might not recognize at first.

Also, on page 3, there are a couple of good shots of the new VCU Academic Campus dorm/apartment building at 8 1/2 W. Canal Street. It is supposed to be 8 stories high, but I can only count six.

Edited March 2, 2011 by burt

[Icetera]

Thanks, blake_p. I especially like the rendering showing the Gateway building at the end of the 12th Street canyon.

Ryan Ramsey has his February photo album up and there are several pictures of the construction site as well as the giant crane. Go to:

http://richmondcityw...p?name=gallery2

Then click on: Album: RCW Update: February 2011.

Click the thumbnails to enlarge. Take a special look at picture #2 on page 4 of the February album. It's a fantastic shot of West Hospital that you might not recognize at first.

Also, on page 3, there are a couple of good shots of the new VCU Academic Campus dorm/apartment building at 8 1/2 W. Canal Street. It is supposed to be 8 stories high, but I can only count six.

That photo is deceiving as it is taken at a higher elevation than Canal street (Gambles Hill), hence the bottom two floors and the Downtown Expressway are not visible.

[burt]

That could be, Ice. But I'm sure I read somewhere recently that by law a new building cannot exceed 6 stories if it is constructed with wood. Anything higher than that requires steel beams. Now, at my age, I may have misinterpreted that, but it makes sense to me.

Besides, I have seen photographs of 8 1/2 W. Canal Street from other angles and I still count less than 8 floors -- except for the pointy cupolas at the roof line.

Have you noticed all the new residential construction in Shockoe Bottom is wood, but nothing exceeds 6 stories?

[540_804]

I'm not sure about laws or regulations, but I do know that, generally speaking, 4-6 stories is what you typically see as a maximum for all wood construction.

However, there are instances where I have seen sort of a hybrid construction method (the recently-completed apartment development near Cary and Belvidere next to the 7 Eleven, for instance) that uses reinforced concrete on the first floor (or first two floors) and then wood construction above that.

I believe that 8 1/2 used this method. The ground floor (or perhaps the bottom 2 floors) were reinforced concrete and above that looked to be the wood construction. I can't speak to the number of floors because I've never bothered to count. I'll try to look through some of my pictures and see if I can get an image that captures the full floor count.

Speaking of 8 1/2 Canal, it appears that crews have begun the masonry work on the outside of the building. I saw brick work rising on the North West side of the building, and I believe the ground floor is being covered with some-type of beige stone (or likely pre-cast concrete).

Edited March 4, 2011 by 540_804

[540_804]

Ok, I found a pic.

First, let me apologize for the quality. It is a close-crop of a cell phone picture so it is quite blurry.

In the pic you can see six floors (clad in the white and green covering) above a gray concrete level. That makes seven. As far as I know (judging by other pics I have taken, there is only 1 concrete floor, so that adds up to 7.

Perhaps they counted the pointy parts as Burt suggested.

Additionally, I just visited the 8 1/2 canal website and it appears they have posted the lease rates.

Looks like they will be making a ton of money, should they fully lease the place.

The leases are on a per bedroom/student rate. (The numbers in parenthesis are how much they would gross per unit).

1 Bedroom 1 Bath - $1100

2 Bedroom 2 Bath - $765 (1530)

3 Bedroom 3 Bath - $700 (2100)

4 Bedroom 2 Bath - $659 (2636)

4 Bedroom 4 Bath - $680 (2720)

I wish I could find the construction costs for this building. It appears they'll make a killing. (I had a chance to speak with a senior VP at Thalhimer who said that student housing is the next big real estate boom in the making...its very profitable at the moment).

[wrldcoupe4]

It's 8 stories from Canal Street...

[Brent]

It is definitely 8 floors. It wasn't wood construction either. Panels of metal and Styrofoam were erected on the exterior walls, much like a prefab home. Interior walls are metal studs. It feels very big from Canal street.

[Icetera]

Ok, I found a pic.

First, let me apologize for the quality. It is a close-crop of a cell phone picture so it is quite blurry.

In the pic you can see six floors (clad in the white and green covering) above a gray concrete level. That makes seven. As far as I know (judging by other pics I have taken, there is only 1 concrete floor, so that adds up to 7.

Perhaps they counted the pointy parts as Burt suggested.

Additionally, I just visited the 8 1/2 canal website and it appears they have posted the lease rates.

Looks like they will be making a ton of money, should they fully lease the place.

The leases are on a per bedroom/student rate. (The numbers in parenthesis are how much they would gross per unit).

1 Bedroom 1 Bath - $1100

2 Bedroom 2 Bath - $765 (1530)

3 Bedroom 3 Bath - $700 (2100)

4 Bedroom 2 Bath - $659 (2636)

4 Bedroom 4 Bath - $680 (2720)

I wish I could find the construction costs for this building. It appears they'll make a killing. (I had a chance to speak with a senior VP at Thalhimer who said that student housing is the next big real estate boom in the making...its very profitable at the moment).

Wow, those prices seem really high for student housing, especially compared to the market rate I had seen in the past. Also, keep in mind the picture above is from the top of a steep grade, hence why it is 8 stories on Canal St.

[540_804]

As you may know, VCU issues a periodic update on VCU developments and issues. This is usually sent through the institutional email service, but can also be viewed from the Office of the President's website.

The latest update was sent a few days ago and includes information about the construction projects around the university.

Here are views of the proposed Laurel Street deck.

Notice there are first floor retail stalls. It was previously announced that IHOP would be occupying one of the retail spaces; hopefully that has not changed.

This is the new student housing on West Grace Street:

As you can see from the pics, the two new structures sandwich the much smaller Sahara restaurant. My guess is that the new pedestrian activity from the increased parking and housing will benefit their business. But it also looks like the university is quite literally trying to squeeze it out there. I'm sure they would want nothing more to snatch up that parcel to develop.

[wrldcoupe4]

Bummer about the IHOP is that it won't be full service, just take-out service.

[Icetera]

Here are views of the proposed Laurel Street deck.

Notice there are first floor retail stalls. It was previously announced that IHOP would be occupying one of the retail spaces; hopefully that has not changed.

I imagine that those are just generic labels for the retail spots as there is already a book store caddy-cornered to that lot (not to mention the Barnes & Nobles a block down). A corner store would be nice, there.

[Icetera]

Bummer about the IHOP is that it won't be full service, just take-out service.

That is very disappointing. I would think a full service IHOP would do great there, especially after club hours. Perhaps full service should be pushed by VCU in order to help reduce drunk-driving out to the Denny's and Waffle House, further out toward the burbs.

[wrldcoupe4]

I believe I read this location will be run by the campus dining services which probably explains the take-out only arrangement.

[burt]

This relates to March Madness -- not development at VCU. But it reflects the university's newfound notoriety.

On the way to my dentist this morning here in Manhattan, I saw a double decker New York City tour bus at 42nd and 8th Avenue painted all over a vivid yellow with these words imprinted in large black letters on its chassis:

GO VCU RAMS.

As the song goes, "If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere."

Edited March 23, 2011 by burt

[540_804]

Wow. Great news! I wonder how that happened?

[540_804]

This relates to March Madness -- not development at VCU. But it reflects the university's newfound notoriety.

On the way to my dentist this morning here in Manhattan, I saw a double decker New York City tour bus at 42nd and 8th Avenue painted all over a vivid yellow with these words imprinted in large black letters on its chassis:

GO VCU RAMS.

As the song goes, "If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere."

As a follow up to Burt's post above:

I was browsing facebook and found this:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150118970736120&set=a.60091491119.83910.22922516119&ref=nf

Apparently the tour bus operator is a VCU alumnus.

How cool is that?!

Looking in the comments, I found this:

So there are possibly two buses in the wild? Or perhaps that is the other side of the same bus (Half yellow, half black).

Edited March 24, 2011 by 540_804

[burt]

As a follow up to Burt's post above:

I was browsing facebook and found this:

http://www.facebook....22516119&ref=nf

Apparently the tour bus operator is a VCU alumnus.

How cool is that?!

Looking in the comments, I found this:

So there are possibly two buses in the wild? Or perhaps that is the other side of the same bus (Half yellow, half black).

Hahaha. Thanks for posting this, 504_804. I was afraid people were thinking I got caught up in March Madness and invented the story.

The bus I saw was the yellow one, but it was parked exactly where the black one is parked in the top picture. I was going into the 8th Avenue white-tiled subway station just behind where the pedestrian is standing.

I can't specifically identify the location of the yellow bus, but it's definitely somewhere in Times Square. I'll bet a quarter none of you can name the intersection through which the yellow bus is traveling. I'll go out today and find the spot and hold the winner's quarter in escrow.

Edited March 25, 2011 by burt

[Icetera]

Hahaha. Thanks for posting this, 504_804. I was afraid people were thinking I got caught up in March Madness and invented the story.

The bus I saw was the yellow one, but it was parked exactly where the black one is parked in the top picture. I was going into the 8th Avenue white-tiled subway station just behind where the pedestrian is standing.

I can't specifically identify the location of the yellow bus, but it's definitely somewhere in Times Square. I'll bet a quarter none of you can name the intersection through which the yellow bus is traveling. I'll go out today and find the spot and hold the winner's quarter in escrow.

7th Ave. and W. 48th St.

[burt]

7th Ave. and W. 48th St.

I haven't had a chance to get up that way today, Ice, but I think your guess is right on, or within a block. Will verify tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Richmond dot com is running the pictures and story about the buses:

http://www2.richmond.com/lifestyles/2011/mar/25/6/ram-mania-nyc-ar-927928/

[burt]

Hahaha. Thanks for posting this, 504_804. I was afraid people were thinking I got caught up in March Madness and invented the story.

The bus I saw was the yellow one, but it was parked exactly where the black one is parked in the top picture. I was going into the 8th Avenue white-tiled subway station just behind where the pedestrian is standing.

I can't specifically identify the location of the yellow bus, but it's definitely somewhere in Times Square. I'll bet a quarter none of you can name the intersection through which the yellow bus is traveling. I'll go out today and find the spot and hold the winner's quarter in escrow.

ATTENTION ICETERA: I owe you a quarter. I finally got up to 48th and Broadway today and you were right on with your guess. Broadway and 7th Avenue at 48th are about 100 feet apart and both 7th and B'way are southbound. The VCU yellow bus is heading south on 7th Avenue. Only change is that the March Madness sign has been replaced with a huge face of Conan O'Brien.

Edited March 28, 2011 by burt