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 Thursday at 11:54 PM by I miss RVA