Dominion Resources: New High-rise Building Planned for Downtown

[benstyree]

I hate all of this.

[I miss RVA]

Jesus - this is disgusting. What a complete waste.

Looking at the design, I don't see it as temporary - I don't think it's going anywhere ANY time soon, unfortunately...

Wow... 

[Hike]

25 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Jesus - this is disgusting. What a complete waste.

Looking at the design, I don't see it as temporary - I don't think it's going anywhere ANY time soon, unfortunately...

Wow... 

yeah, I hoped for a surprise here but got the booby prize. RVA needs charging stations but on prime land is just unfortunate. 

[ancientcarpenter]

3 hours ago, plain said:

They could've just use the northern half of the block for charging stations and still had enough room on the other half for at least a slim 20+ story building.

 

Or... Might as well just left the demolished building intact for all that.

27 parking spots with chargers could have been accomplished in an existing parking deck... easily retrofitted.

 

The fact that they took the Dominion logo and modeled the spots for it is ridiculous.

 

Architect: Hey, we can only fit 27 parking spots in the 4 strips of the design... if we add one more strip we can have a total of 35 charging stations but it won't look like the D Dominion logo any longer from the sky... In fact, we can fit a lot of parking if we just don't do this D logo design at all and you can double your green parking spots!

Dominion: You're fired.

Edited October 18, 2022 by ancientcarpenter

[Flood Zone]

54 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Jesus - this is disgusting. What a complete waste.

Looking at the design, I don't see it as temporary - I don't think it's going anywhere ANY time soon, unfortunately...

Wow... 

If this actually happens, we've hit a new low. Everyone prep their Thalhimer apologies because Scott's Walk would look spectacular compared to this.

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, ancientcarpenter said:

27 parking spots with chargers could have been accomplished in an existing parking deck... easily retrofitted.

 

The fact that they took the Dominion logo and modeled the spots for it is ridiculous.

 

Architect: Hey, we can only fit 27 parking spots in the 4 strips of the design... if we add one more strip we can have a total of 35 charging stations but it won't look like the D Dominion logo any longer from the sky... In fact, we can fit a lot of parking if we just don't do this D logo design at all and you can double your green parking spots!

Dominion: You're fired.

EXACTLY!

JESUS - and they actually felt the need to put out an RFP for THIS garbage scow of a flaming dumpster fire of a hot mess?  WOWWW... talk about throwing away good money after bad...

This is just pitiful.

 

[wrldcoupe4]

This is definitely a case of “we aren’t building a 2nd tower at this time but don’t want to unload the site because future business environment may change, so we are filling in the hole with a green space and some clean energy stuff that is good for PR.”

doesn’t mean something in the future won’t happen but I’d guess 5+ years out. Would love to be wrong. 

[123fakestreet]

1 hour ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

This is definitely a case of “we aren’t building a 2nd tower at this time but don’t want to unload the site because future business environment may change, so we are filling in the hole with a green space and some clean energy stuff that is good for PR.”

doesn’t mean something in the future won’t happen but I’d guess 5+ years out. Would love to be wrong. 

Yeah if they were never going to build a 2nd tower they would just sell it.  No 2nd tower is guaranteed, but they are hedging their bets and holding it to make a decision well down the road.  They may sell (in which case whoever buys would want to build something themselves), they may build a 2nd tower. But either way I think that's at least 10 years out.

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, 123fakestreet said:

But either way I think that's at least 10 years out.

Sadly, I think so, too. Which means were stuck with this for the better part of the next decade. Ugh...

[Virginian11]

2 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Sadly, I think so, too. Which means were stuck with this for the better part of the next decade. Ugh...

As long as we get the amphitheater down there I can live with this … barely 

[I miss RVA]

50 minutes ago, Virginian11 said:

As long as we get the amphitheater down there I can live with this … barely 

I'm with you on the amphitheater - and boy that really is an exciting project! But THIS? THIS monstrosity? 

I just hope and pray @wrldcoupe4is right - and this is just a strategic move by Dominion and we'll ultimately see something much bigger and better on that site. I just don't expect it anytime in the next 5 to 10 years. I would tend to think this square block HAS to be one of THE MOST valuable pieces of real estate in all of downtown Richmond. How I wish some UBER-MEGA-DEEEEEP pocketed New York developer would come swooping in and make Dominion an offer that they simply cannot find a way to refuse - snap up this block and build something epic. Admittedly the office market is so soft these days in the wake of the pandemic, it's doubtful we'll see any kind of office tower construction downtown (outside of something like CoStar) anytime soon. Maybe this is where the Greater Richmond Partnership's efforts could bear some spectacular fruit this coming decade - if they could lure a BIG company -- and multi-thousands of jobs -- to come here and to set up shop downtown, then perhaps someone might be able to pry that city block out from the grip of the cold, dead fingers of Dominion and construct a centerpiece development that -- along with the Dominion tower and the soon-to-rise CoStar tower -- will make the downtown skyline really shine.

[Shakman]

Lots of great development news coming from Richmond.  We are bound to have 'oh $h!t' moments.   We can add this to that list. 

Definitley not port-o-potty worthy.  Just a hole in the ground.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Shakman

[Wahoo 07]

This is a placeholder.  I suspect Dominion didn't receive much of a response from its RFP and this is a medium term measure that allows it to keep its options open.

[wrldcoupe4]

What if the RFP was for a project of this scope?  I don’t disagree that this is a placeholder, but I never gathered that their RFP was for some grandiose vision to be executed. 

[ancientcarpenter]

17 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

I'm with you on the amphitheater - and boy that really is an exciting project! But THIS? THIS monstrosity? 

I just hope and pray @wrldcoupe4is right - and this is just a strategic move by Dominion and we'll ultimately see something much bigger and better on that site. I just don't expect it anytime in the next 5 to 10 years. I would tend to think this square block HAS to be one of THE MOST valuable pieces of real estate in all of downtown Richmond. How I wish some UBER-MEGA-DEEEEEP pocketed New York developer would come swooping in and make Dominion an offer that they simply cannot find a way to refuse - snap up this block and build something epic. Admittedly the office market is so soft these days in the wake of the pandemic, it's doubtful we'll see any kind of office tower construction downtown (outside of something like CoStar) anytime soon. Maybe this is where the Greater Richmond Partnership's efforts could bear some spectacular fruit this coming decade - if they could lure a BIG company -- and multi-thousands of jobs -- to come here and to set up shop downtown, then perhaps someone might be able to pry that city block out from the grip of the cold, dead fingers of Dominion and construct a centerpiece development that -- along with the Dominion tower and the soon-to-rise CoStar tower -- will make the downtown skyline really shine.

 

City strongholds Dominion off this property for pennies on the dollar. CoStar comes in and builds the same Dominion building but twice the height for their super international HQ. CoStar logo is fixated to constantly rotate so it casts a shadow on the Dominion building directly into the executives office.

Place your bets now but I honestly wouldn't bet against that...

 

Basically, what I'm saying is this thread is dead and Dominion killed it with such a dumb development effort. RIP this topic.... we might as well just make the best of it with humor. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by ancientcarpenter

[Downtowner]

On 10/19/2022 at 7:29 AM, wrldcoupe4 said:

This is definitely a case of “we aren’t building a 2nd tower at this time but don’t want to unload the site because future business environment may change, so we are filling in the hole with a green space and some clean energy stuff that is good for PR.”

doesn’t mean something in the future won’t happen but I’d guess 5+ years out. Would love to be wrong. 

So why would they want it for future business purposes? Can’t they just sell it? They won’t need a new tower of any kind for a long long time. They are not like duke energy or any of the huge energy companies in Texas so why hold onto it when you will probably never have the need to build tall for a long time. I just don’t see them growing very fast for at least decades. Maybe I don’t know how fast they grow maybe they have plans to gobble up others I don’t know about but they need to getting larger fast or start gobbling up other companies or sell the property holding that lot hostage is absolutely terrible for our central business district.,

[123fakestreet]

1 hour ago, Downtowner said:

So why would they want it for future business purposes? Can’t they just sell it? They won’t need a new tower of any kind for a long long time. They are not like duke energy or any of the huge energy companies in Texas so why hold onto it when you will probably never have the need to build tall for a long time. I just don’t see them growing very fast for at least decades. Maybe I don’t know how fast they grow maybe they have plans to gobble up others I don’t know about but they need to getting larger fast or start gobbling up other companies or sell the property holding that lot hostage is absolutely terrible for our central business district.,

They have plenty of other offices notably the executives ones on the river.  Consolidating those + more people returning to offices + some marginal growth as a company and I could see them building that 2nd tower.

[123fakestreet]

7 hours ago, Wahoo 07 said:

This is a placeholder.  I suspect Dominion didn't receive much of a response from its RFP and this is a medium term measure that allows it to keep its options open.

I would guess this is exactly what the RFP was for - we want to keep this property but don't want it to be a blight, what do you propose we do with it?

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, 123fakestreet said:

I would guess this is exactly what the RFP was for - we want to keep this property but don't want it to be a blight, what do you propose we do with it?

Is it just me, or did any of y'all feel like the whole 'second tower' thing was just schtick right from the get-go? I always had a sinking feeling even when they first announced development plans that there would be no second tower. Why? Because in RVA, second towers NEVER GET BUILT. They get built in other cities... They just doesn't happen here. In retrospect, I'm actually a bit astonished that the James Center ended up being more than just the first tower - and even then, as always seems to happen here, the original plan got SEVERELY truncated. The original plan included two more office towers - including one that was supposed to be 40-plus stories tall. The 3 James Center behind the Omni on the Canal Street side was originally supposed to be 25 stories - then it was shortened but supposedly "expandable" ... well, it's been how many decades now? And WHERE'S the "expansion" piece? Never built. There were also supposed to be two condo towers - somewhere between 10 and 20 stories tall - built on the south side of Canal at 10th Street. Where did THEY go? To a surface parking lot and a big parking deck.

James Center -- as planned -- was to feature five office buildings, a hotel and two condo towers. It was being touted as the project that would be for Richmond what the Peachtree Center complex was to Atlanta when it was first developed in the 1960s. We got three office buildings and a hotel. That's it.

Second towers... third towers... subsequent towers... hell, ANYTHING aside from the FIRST tower... NEVER EVER get built here.

Why should we have expected anything different from Dominion?

[Hike]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

Second towers... third towers... subsequent towers... hell, ANYTHING aside from the FIRST tower... NEVER EVER get built here.

Why should we have expected anything different from Dominion?

There are the riverfront towers, though not sure if these weren’t always planned as a pair. 

I did actually feel Dominion would build their second tower, but with a caveat, only if the TIFF was approved. But we now know, in hindsight, that the second tower was not a good idea and probably good it never got built, at least financially for them, because of post-Covid work from home now,  TIFF not approved and the CEO, Tom Farrell dies. 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Hike

[I miss RVA]

7 minutes ago, Hike said:

The are the riverfront towers, though not sure if these weren’t always planned as a pair. 

I did actually feel Dominion would build their second tower, but with a caveat, only if the TIFF was approved. But we know know in hindsight that the second tower was not a good idea and probably good it never got built, at least financially for them, because of post-Covid work from home now,  TIFF not approved and the CEO, Tom Farrell dies. 

 

Good call, @Hike!!   I TOTALLY forgot about these guys! Yes - they were always planned as a pair. Maybe that's the difference - they were built simultaneously - and rose together. Since they were built at the same time, I'd argue that neither of them qualifies as a "second" tower (even through they are two distinct buildings) ... perhaps I should amend my assertion to say "subsequent" or "additional" towers - for projects that are supposed to have more than one building but are built over time in phases. Seems like the it's the second/subsequent PHASES that don't get built.  (James Monroe building(s)... Main Street Center... even Project One (600 Building and Marriott Hotel on Broad) was supposed to have a third building - never happened.)

Re: the changing events that happened surrounding the NH/Dominion TIFF proposal: makes me wonder what would have happened if, in fact, the TIFF HAD been approved - and NH HAD been approved and went forward? Especially with the passing of Tom Farrell? What would have happened if Navy Hill got underway - the Coliseum came down... new construction started... and NO SECOND DOMINION TOWER HAPPENED because of Covid and the death of the Dominion CEO? I'm guessing the city would be stuck holding the bag and Dominion would just put their hands up and say - "oh well, sorry!!"

Edited October 20, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Brent114]

The plan for the car charging park isn’t as interesting as I had hoped but we should consider ourselves lucky.  The fact that they are spending any money on that lot is surprising, honestly. 

We are unfairly comparing what is going to be built there with what we imagined could go there.  Only the folks on this site talked out a mixed use tower. Dominion talked about a smaller and dumpier version of their new building and we’ve known for over a year (I lost track, when did they start filling in the hole?) that not even it was not going to be built.  We shouldn’t compare the plan to a mixed use tower of condos and an upmarket hotel.  We should compare it to the gravel lot that is there.  The gravel lot is the reality.  There are dozens of parking lots around the downtown area that have been parking lots for 40-60 years.  There’s no reason to believe that this concept is standing in the way of something grand.  It isn’t. 

[Hike]

28 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

The plan for the car charging park isn’t as interesting as I had hoped but we should consider ourselves lucky.  The fact that they are spending any money on that lot is surprising, honestly. 

We are unfairly comparing what is going to be built there with what we imagined could go there.  Only the folks on this site talked out a mixed use tower. Dominion talked about a smaller and dumpier version of their new building and we’ve known for over a year (I lost track, when did they start filling in the hole?) that not even it was not going to be built.  We shouldn’t compare the plan to a mixed use tower of condos and an upmarket hotel.  We should compare it to the gravel lot that is there.  The gravel lot is the reality.  There are dozens of parking lots around the downtown area that have been parking lots for 40-60 years.  There’s no reason to believe that this concept is standing in the way of something grand.  It isn’t. 

I agree, short of Dominion building the second tower, anything else was our wishful thinking, which is what makes this website what it is. And should say what makes it so enjoyable.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Hike

[whw53]

An RFP process which - fair-  we had no idea what it called for ...but it was for a prime center city, shovel ready site for which we had seen high density renderings for in a prior proposal.  Combined with a pattern of Dominion offloading  properties to development groups in the immediate area...idk  I don't think this thread completely conjured up the expectations out of thin air.

It was rational to think  we were gonna get more than a green gas station with some plants and a flat billboard.

Wasn't there a story about Royal Farms entering our market bout the same time? That rendering was more exciting.

 

[123fakestreet]

4 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Is it just me, or did any of y'all feel like the whole 'second tower' thing was just schtick right from the get-go? I always had a sinking feeling even when they first announced development plans that there would be no second tower. Why? Because in RVA, second towers NEVER GET BUILT. They get built in other cities... They just doesn't happen here. In retrospect, I'm actually a bit astonished that the James Center ended up being more than just the first tower - and even then, as always seems to happen here, the original plan got SEVERELY truncated. The original plan included two more office towers - including one that was supposed to be 40-plus stories tall. The 3 James Center behind the Omni on the Canal Street side was originally supposed to be 25 stories - then it was shortened but supposedly "expandable" ... well, it's been how many decades now? And WHERE'S the "expansion" piece? Never built. There were also supposed to be two condo towers - somewhere between 10 and 20 stories tall - built on the south side of Canal at 10th Street. Where did THEY go? To a surface parking lot and a big parking deck.

James Center -- as planned -- was to feature five office buildings, a hotel and two condo towers. It was being touted as the project that would be for Richmond what the Peachtree Center complex was to Atlanta when it was first developed in the 1960s. We got three office buildings and a hotel. That's it.

Second towers... third towers... subsequent towers... hell, ANYTHING aside from the FIRST tower... NEVER EVER get built here.

Why should we have expected anything different from Dominion?

I went to a conference at VCU a few years ago and part of it was the guy at Dominion who was leading the new HQ build giving a presentation on the project.  This was shortly before they broke ground on the first tower.  As of that time it was an open question if Dominion was going to build the 2nd tower - they were public that they had a plan for 2 but we're unsure of they would o the 2nd.  The guy giving the presentation said at that time, yes, for sure they would be building the 2nd tower.  It was news at the time, not long after it was in the papers that Dominion would build the 2nd one.

So I don't think it was a farce. I think it was iffy, then a done deal, then things changed and they canned it.

1 hour ago, Brent114 said:

The plan for the car charging park isn’t as interesting as I had hoped but we should consider ourselves lucky.  The fact that they are spending any money on that lot is surprising, honestly. 

Agree.  I think people need to temper their expectations in general.  It just leads to disappointment.  We all know these projects are constantly getting shelved or scaled back.  Don't get too excited when you see some big project, know from the get go it's going to be smaller than what they initially announce.

No 2nd tower is for sure disappointing, but look at it this way - we had an old tower and a really crappy lot. We flipped that for a nice new glass curtain tower and a fixed up landscaped lot.  We came out well ahead.  At least they are doing something nice with the lot, I had anticipated another crap surface lot for monthly parking.