VCU Developments

[I miss RVA]

On 10/27/2023 at 6:53 PM, Child2021 said:

Construction tralier in the Public Safety building lot.

Interesting - makes me wonder if they're still doing hazardous material abatement at this point (or resuming it if it had been stopped) or is this a harbinger of actual demo?

[georgeglass]

On 10/28/2023 at 8:27 PM, I miss RVA said:

Interesting - makes me wonder if they're still doing hazardous material abatement at this point (or resuming it if it had been stopped) or is this a harbinger of actual demo?

It's going to be actual demo. My understanding is the wall along 10th Street has to stay for support purposes but will be taken down close to street level.

[Downtowner]

So I’ve noticed something lately that I was wondering if you see vcu ever doing. I saw uvahealth has a hospital up here in haymarket in nova i see it all the time from interstate 66 when I commute to nova for work. I work in multiple locations now so I’m never in the same area. But does anyone ever see vcu expanding state wide with medical centers in different parts of the state of Virginia? I think it would be interesting to see how they would do against uvahealth state wide. I just never knew uvahealth had medical centers outside of Charlottesville. 

[wrldcoupe4]

They do have hospitals in other parts of the state. 

[Downtowner]

On 11/23/2023 at 9:35 PM, wrldcoupe4 said:

They do have hospitals in other parts of the state. 

Wait so like full blown medical centers like the uva health center in haymarket or like your hca type hospitals around Richmond? I know they little small operations out in areas like Tappahannock but nothing large scale. 

[wrldcoupe4]

https://www.vcuhealth.org/community-memorial-hospital/patients-and-visitors/maps-and-directions

[I miss RVA]

VCU has agreed to pay a local construction company $4.8M to demolish the Public Safety Building in Block-D downtown. According to reporting in today's RT-D, demo work is expected to be completed by March. HOWEVER - one somewhat sobering nugget regarding future development of the site:

VCU Health expressed interest in building a new $415 million school of dentistry at the site. But earlier this year, the General Assembly declined to give VCU Health the approval to begin designing a building.

Sooooooo... don't look for any excavators or cranes on that site anytime soon, folks.

The demo agreement is included (link below). Photos (including a VERY outdated aerial shot of downtown) courtesy of the RT-D.

From today's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/news/local/business/health-care/vcu-health-richmond-public-safety-building/article_6faf4bf0-8e21-11ee-81f7-73ef1aeac63a.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_richmond&stream=top

Demo agreement can be found here:

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/d0/dd025b30-8eed-11ee-a479-9337e8da2393/6567918428ac4.pdf.pdf

Edited November 30, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Rooster]

22 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

VCU has agreed to pay a local construction company $4.8M to demolish the Public Safety Building in Block-D downtown. According to reporting in today's RT-D, demo work is expected to be completed by March. HOWEVER - one somewhat sobering nugget regarding future development of the site:

VCU Health expressed interest in building a new $415 million school of dentistry at the site. But earlier this year, the General Assembly declined to give VCU Health the approval to begin designing a building.

Sooooooo... don't look for any excavators or cranes on that site anytime soon, folks.

The demo agreement is included (link below). Photos (including a VERY outdated aerial shot of downtown) courtesy of the RT-D.

From today's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/news/local/business/health-care/vcu-health-richmond-public-safety-building/article_6faf4bf0-8e21-11ee-81f7-73ef1aeac63a.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_richmond&stream=top

Demo agreement can be found here:

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/d0/dd025b30-8eed-11ee-a479-9337e8da2393/6567918428ac4.pdf.pdf

Great picture by the way! Glad to see that building coming down - I hope we dont have to wait too long for something impressive to rise there. Unfortunately Im not surprised the state isnt jumping right in to give VCU more money for that before the dust has settled on understanding how they lost $100 mil with nothing to show for it. I bet they'll work that issue through and change the way these projects are managed before anything really starts to move there...

[I miss RVA]

53 minutes ago, Rooster said:

Great picture by the way! Glad to see that building coming down - I hope we dont have to wait too long for something impressive to rise there. Unfortunately Im not surprised the state isnt jumping right in to give VCU more money for that before the dust has settled on understanding how they lost $100 mil with nothing to show for it. I bet they'll work that issue through and change the way these projects are managed before anything really starts to move there...

Agreed, @Rooster- methinks it's gonna take a bit for the state to count all the beans before they pony up anything new for VCU Health.

As for the picture: it's WAYYYYYY out of date. Note that there's no new VCU Outpatient Hospital, no updated/expanded version of Children's Hospital and no new G.A. Building. Would LOVE to see this same picture today - with the new buildings in place.

[eandslee]

Has anyone heard of when ground will be broken for the CoStar Center or Arts and Innovation?  The article linked below said that groundbreaking for the center was to occur in Fall of 2023.  That's since past.  Anyone know anything?  I think someone said that there was some drilling or soil sampling going on about a month or ago on site.  Anyway, was just curious.  If we can get ground broken on this building soon, we could have, at least, another tower crane going up in a very prominent area of downtown!

Yeah, it was @Child2021 who posted that soil sampling was taking place:

https://news.vcu.edu/article/2023/05/costar-announces-18m-commitment-to-vcu-for-the-construction-of-the-costar-center-for-arts

Edited December 16, 2023 by eandslee

[wrldcoupe4]

Summer 2024 

[eandslee]

15 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Summer 2024 

Oof…that’s a bit off from the projected Fall 2023 groundbreaking mentioned in the article.  I appreciate the updated info!  I’ll reset my expectations! 

[I miss RVA]

9 hours ago, eandslee said:

Oof…that’s a bit off from the projected Fall 2023 groundbreaking mentioned in the article.  I appreciate the updated info!  I’ll reset my expectations! 

Without knowing details - and speculating only - this probably has more to do with the biennium in which the General Assembly is allocating funds for this project. How much site clearance is necessary before ground can be broken to begin construction?

[georgeglass]

According to the architect website, it's scheduled to be completed in 2026

 

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

 

Maybe it was posted before, but it has some renderings of the interior I hadn't seen before.

[ancientcarpenter]

14 hours ago, georgeglass said:

According to the architect website, it's scheduled to be completed in 2026

 

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

 

Maybe it was posted before, but it has some renderings of the interior I hadn't seen before.

The "level" breakdown on that site is absolutely breathtaking with how dense the building will be. So much value being brought to RVA on a very busy intersection. Love it.

 

Only shame is there is no rooftop but can't have it all I guess:

[I miss RVA]

I converted the AVIF-format photos from the VCU project website to jpeg to post them here. Really, these renderings are utterly breathtaking. No question, this building is EPIC - and honestly, this is one of those "big city" buildings that you normally associated more with cities like New York, Chicago or Washington, D.C. This will be a HUGE asset to this part of downtown RVA. The building will have a tremendous physical presence at this all-important gateway to downtown.

Edited December 29, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Child2021]

How a new VCU School of Dentistry building would benefit all Virginians - VCU News - Virginia Commonwealth University

Looks like VCU is still seeking State Govt support for the proposed Dental School. 

[ancientcarpenter]

On 1/22/2024 at 9:38 PM, Child2021 said:

How a new VCU School of Dentistry building would benefit all Virginians - VCU News - Virginia Commonwealth University

Looks like VCU is still seeking State Govt support for the proposed Dental School. 

Friend of mine graduated last year from VCU dental. He is not adamant about RVA real estate and couldn't care less whether or not we have a skyline but, from his subjective opinion working in there for years, he said they're in a real need of new building. Things are getting old and VCU dental is very low on space. I was his patient a few times there and I believe him. 

No surprise to see VCU pushing for it...just wish it would be a tall, high density building to accommodate more things.

[123fakestreet]

19 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Friend of mine graduated last year from VCU dental. He is not adamant about RVA real estate and couldn't care less whether or not we have a skyline but, from his subjective opinion working in there for years, he said they're in a real need of new building. Things are getting old and VCU dental is very low on space. I was his patient a few times there and I believe him. 

No surprise to see VCU pushing for it...just wish it would be a tall, high density building to accommodate more things.

I go to VCU for my Dentist and it's pretty bad. Especially by comparison to the Children's Hospital and new Adult Outpatient Pavilion which my family uses. But it's bad even compared to the main hospital building.

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, ancientcarpenter said:

No surprise to see VCU pushing for it...just wish it would be a tall, high density building to accommodate more things.

It would be nice - but it will be an institutional building - which means bigger footprint of floor plates, fewer floors. Plus - the Public Safety Building's footprint is HUGE - and, unless there's some impetus to reopen Clay Street (which was called for in the Navy Hill plan - but idk off the top of my head if the City Center SAP addresses this) - we're looking at a parcel significantly larger in sq footage than the "normal" block size. Thus - even less incentive to go tall.

I might be wrong, given that there's a 13-story building proposed farther east on the VCU Health campus and I forget which school it is supposed to house - but I'm putting the over/under at no more than seven or eight stories - and tbh, I think even THAT is a tad overly optimistic. Perhaps six stories. The land size will gobble up a ton of space and greatly mitigate the need for verticality.

Edited January 24 by I miss RVA

[Brent114]

Y’all grew up going to fancy dentist offices lol.

I tell everyone how nice the facilities are there.  I’ve had mostly positive treatment there too.  It’s about as pleasant as a trip the dentist can be.  I also like the energy (fast paced, lots  of students and patients). 
 

Godspeed  on a new building though.  They provide a great service to the community.  Give them everything they want! 

[Child2021]

Well this is quite interesting, I actually liked going to this building.

 VCU finds location of future School of Dentistry building, pending authorization from lawmakers | WRIC ABC 8News

[eandslee]

42 minutes ago, Child2021 said:

Well this is quite interesting, I actually liked going to this building.

 VCU finds location of future School of Dentistry building, pending authorization from lawmakers | WRIC ABC 8News

Yeah, this is two blocks north of the public safety building where it was once thought would be the location of the new school of dentistry.  Lots of questions:  Where will the student center go now?  What will happen to the public safety building block now?  Will the school of dentistry include the entire block of the student center or just a portion of it.  knowing that, will help understand us how tall the new school will be.

 

Edited March 5 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

Here's Jack Jacobs' reporting in today's RBS. While most of the focus is on the new location of the School of Dentistry, Jack raised the possibility of this location shift now opening up this mega-block for what would hopefully be private development. Perhaps a deep-pocketed out-of-town developer (like an Avery Hall kind of developer) could come in, purchase the property and build out a high-density mixed-use development of significant size. Jack mentioned that the site is on the city's short list for the planned downtown transit hub. If so, perhaps any developer could work with the city to integrate the transit hub into the larger overall development, as has been done in other cities.

Dunno about y'all, but I'm definitely seeing this as very promising, particularly if done right.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/03/05/vcu-planning-new-dentistry-school-building-on-mcv-campus-rather-than-public-safety-site/

[whw53]

What's VCU got planned for the old dental building site then?