VCU Developments

[Brent114]

I always thought that a new school of social work building was planned for that lot….

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, Brent114 said:

I always thought that a new school of social work building was planned for that lot….

Looking online at the VCU One Master Plan web pages - they've updated some stuff (like the Arts and Innovation academic building planned for Belvidere & Broad to include the latest renderings) but no mention of new construction for the School of Social Work - and no real update yet on the School of Dentistry downtown in Block D. The Dentistry School, the huge Arts building and the Honors Housing (12 stories for Laurel & W. Grace) are three biggest projects listed as being up next - and set to get rolling either now (Arts building scheduled to start construction in the Fall of this year) or in the next biennium (Honors Housing to be funded next year in the 2024-26 biennium). 

I'd be curious to know if there's been any further updates on the Arts building and if it is, in fact, slated to get underway this fall. If so - for certain we'll see another tower crane rising on Broad Street over the course of the next year. 

How often does the school update their Master Plan? The current iteration was finalized in 2019 - and obviously things have been changing and evolving in the subsequent four years. If it takes as long to build the Arts building as it did the STEM building on Franklin Street - there's a chance we could see tower cranes up on Broad AND on Grace, if the Honors housing gets started anywhere in the 2024-to-early 2025 timeframe.

Something that I'd missed previously - the school has plans to replace the former Metropolitan Hospital building? (Laurel and Grace - across the street from where the Honors housing is scheduled to go) ... I know VCU is in that building now - but at least as of four years ago, looks like they plan (at some point) to knock down the current building and replace it with something of significant size called the Interdisciplinary Arts Education Building. It looks like it has quite a bit of size to it (if the map rendering is any indication). I didn't see any specific building renderings on the website.

Anyhoo - looks like there's gonna be a whole lotta shakin' goin' on!

[rjp212]

Some clearer renderings I haven't seen yet. 

Source: https://rawnarch.com/projects/vcu-aiab.html

[eandslee]

22 minutes ago, rjp212 said:

Some clearer renderings I haven't seen yet. 

Source: https://rawnarch.com/projects/vcu-aiab.html

These renderings are spectacular!  I just hope that this building does not suffer the same streaking you see on the surface of the outside of the building like the Museum of Contemporary Art across the street.

[I miss RVA]

33 minutes ago, rjp212 said:

Some clearer renderings I haven't seen yet. 

Source: https://rawnarch.com/projects/vcu-aiab.html

Holy Mother of Richmond Buildings!! WOW!!!

This literally took my breath away. Simply STUNNING!!

I'd put this guy into the "big city projects" category, too. THIS building is something you'd see in D.C. - or on the upper west side of Manhattan - or somewhere here in Chicago.

WOW... 

And according to VCU's Master Plan web pages, construction is slated to get underway this fall.

Edited June 20, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Child2021]

Nice addition to that intersection!

[I miss RVA]

By the time all is said and done, this bad boy is looking like it's going to be about 12 stories tall (or at least the equivalent thereof). Wow - what a beefy building! Love how the design just totally fills the 2/3 of a block upon which it sits. No wasted space AT ALL.

[wrldcoupe4]

Click the link - the “floor plan axons” are really neat. 

[I miss RVA]

3 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Click the link - the “floor plan axons” are really neat. 

Spot on! WOW! I'm blown away!

Okay - description says 8 stories - but I'm still saying it's looking like an "equivalent" 10-12 stories - I'm guessing a lot of vaulted ceilings? Plus mechanicals on top on the southeast side.

Just simply gorgeous - no question at all. Gorgeous!

[123fakestreet]

11 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Okay - description says 8 stories - but I'm still saying it's looking like an "equivalent" 10-12 stories - I'm guessing a lot of vaulted ceilings? Plus mechanicals on top on the southeast side.

After careful analysis of the renderings I believe it will have the appearance of 9-10 stories at it's highest point.

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, 123fakestreet said:

After careful analysis of the renderings I believe it will have the appearance of 9-10 stories at it's highest point.

If you include the mechanicals on the top of the southeast side, I'm thinking it's minimally 10. 

The renderings give all sorts of weird optical illusions. I'd be curious to know the height in feet (actual feet, not CoStar^TM feet) this building will reach on the southeast corner.

[I miss RVA]

Interesting interview by RBS' Jonathan Spiers with former Virginia governor and former RVA mayor Doug Wilder regarding the whole VCU-Block D fiasco.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/06/20/why-is-there-a-cover-up-wilder-responds-to-vcu-health-payout-report-repeats-call-for-state-investigation/

Edited June 20, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Brent114]

I don’t understand his obsession with this.   The only thing more boring than this story to come out of Richmond is all of the reporting on failed home renovators that RBS uses as filler once a week. 

 

[I miss RVA]

10 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

I don’t understand his obsession with this.   The only thing more boring than this story to come out of Richmond is all of the reporting on failed home renovators that RBS uses as filler once a week. 

 

The married couple that "disappeared" -- that story?

[ancientcarpenter]

3 hours ago, Brent114 said:

I don’t understand his obsession with this.   The only thing more boring than this story to come out of Richmond is all of the reporting on failed home renovators that RBS uses as filler once a week. 

 

Didn't you hear the Hild guy is filing another appeal maybe sortof or is thinking about it?! *insert generic basement photo of him used 20x this year*

[eandslee]

43 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Didn't you hear the Hild guy is filing another appeal maybe sortof or is thinking about it?! *insert generic basement photo of him used 20x this year*

If I see another article about that guy (Hild) from RBS, I think I’m going to just throw my phone across the room!!

[I miss RVA]

45 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Didn't you hear the Hild guy is filing another appeal maybe sortof or is thinking about it?! *insert generic basement photo of him used 20x this year*

Appeal after appeal after appeal after appeal after appeal after... 

Wait... where have we seen this movie before?  

Edited June 21, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Flood Zone]

10 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Didn't you hear the Hild guy is filing another appeal maybe sortof or is thinking about it?! *insert generic basement photo of him used 20x this year*

RBS really needs to update its photos! Hild foremost, but also the Thalheimer guy, that duo who is doing Green City, etc.

[I miss RVA]

VCU is planning a full renovation of Johnson Hall at Monroe and Franklin Streets and have added the project to their new six-year capital improvement plan. According to Jack Jacobs' reporting in today's RBS, the 108-year-old, 12-story freshman dorm has been closed for a year and a half due to concerns about mold in the building. That issue was resolved.

Important nugget in Jack's reporting:

VCU intends to finance the Johnson Hall renovation with $65 million in loans and $5 million in university cash and private funds, according to university documents. VCU doesn’t plan to request money from the state for the project.

Good that there won't be the inherent delay of waiting for state appropriations. Not sure, but I'm guessing the General Assembly is either close to or has finalized the 2024-26 biennium, and a LOT of big projects are on the table over the next couple of years on both VCU campuses. including the Honors Dorm at Laurel and Grace. It appears that VCU would like to have the Johnson Hall renovation complete in time for the 2026 fall semester.

PERSONAL NOTE: My best friend in undergrad lived in Johnson Hall his freshman year (I was a sophomore when we met) - and in addition to having a some overlapping classes together, he and I became friends mainly because we were sports writers for the Commonwealth Times (VCU school newspaper). I was the paper's sports editor my senior year which went three semesters because I was taking additional classes toward two minors (in addition to my major of journalism) - and he was my assistant sports editor those three semester. He took over as sports editor when I graduated. Either way, I spent Heaven knows how many hours in his dorm playing Strat-O-Matic baseball (I've been a sports board game fanatic since high school). It was a blast.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/06/26/vcu-plans-70m-renovation-of-shuttered-johnson-hall-dorm/

[Brent114]

Johnson Hall is just about the best place on earth.  I spent freshman and sophomore year there on the 7th floor.  

[Shakman]

WOW!  Didn't know those were dorms.    

[I miss RVA]

12 minutes ago, Shakman said:

WOW!  Didn't know those were dorms.    

Yep! Obviously, originally an apartment building.

I've long wished there had been around a hundred or so of them (that size and, obviously, larger) built in Richmond back in the early 20th century - particularly in Monroe Ward and along Broad Street. Man oh man - wouldn't that have been sweet!

[I miss RVA]

A follow-up to some previous reporting on the VCU-Block-D situation: City Council on Monday approved a measure allowing VCU to begin demolition of the old Public Safety building. According to Jonathan Spiers' reporting in RBS, the demo work will include continuation of prior site work, asbestos abatement and remediation of other contaminated and other hazardous materials. The demo work is estimated to be completed by March of next year, and City Council received a separate construction schedule indicating that the actual demo/removal of the building would take roughly 75 days to complete.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/06/28/vcu-health-okd-to-demolish-city-owned-public-safety-building/

[eandslee]

I just can’t wait to see what VCU finally decides to put on that block. While you all are not expecting anything tall, I think whatever goes there will, at least, be dense with some height (my hope is that it breaks 15 stories).  With a new dental school and a Sanger Hall replacement, that’s a lot of school and space to put on a single city block without going vertical quite a bit.  Just my 2 cents. 

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, eandslee said:

I just can’t wait to see what VCU finally decides to put on that block. While you all are not expecting anything tall, I think whatever goes there will, at least, be dense with some height (my hope is that it breaks 15 stories).  With a new dental school and a Sanger Hall replacement, that’s a lot of school and space to put on a single city block without going vertical quite a bit.  Just my 2 cents. 

I'd say the wild card is a replacement for Sanger Hall. Off the top of my head, I can't recall from the coverage when this story broke if VCU said they were for certain planning to replace Sanger - and if so, that it - AND - the School of Dentistry would occupy the block together. There's no way, no how, that the School of Dentistry on its own is going to have significant height - if we hit double digits on that building, I'd honestly be surprised. HOWEVER - if something like a Sanger Hall REPLACEMENT is actually in the works (and the, admittedly, now four-year-old VCU One Master Plan, has Sanger Hall being "renovated" - and not "replaced) - then that COULD be a game-changer. At that point, 14-15 stories might actually happen.

Packing more than one building on the block is key - doing the one-building-per-block crappola gets us big, wide, dumpy, shorter, flat buildings - not height.

Edited June 29, 2023 by I miss RVA