New Richmond Arena

[eandslee]

See, the word is getting out that Richmond is going to build a new arena and people are already taking notice.  A new arena in Richmond will be a game changer (no pun intended).  Honestly, I really think that a real Arena Football team would do very well in Richmond (not the second-rate stuff).  

[vaceltic]

6 hours ago, eandslee said:

See, the word is getting out that Richmond is going to build a new arena and people are already taking notice.  A new arena in Richmond will be a game changer (no pun intended).  Honestly, I really think that a real Arena Football team would do very well in Richmond (not the second-rate stuff).  

What the difference in real arena football versus second rate arena football?

[eandslee]

9 hours ago, vaceltic said:

What the difference in real arena football versus second rate arena football?

Usually better (more famous) players, big-city team affiliations, slightly different rules to encourage more action, and just the fact that it’s the real AFL versus a smaller league will attract more people.

[cbl1]

Something to be said about getting it right vs. rushing it to a vote and losing!

[eandslee]

Yeah, Stoney isn’t pleased with the number of proposed affordable housing. He wants 1,500 and NH District Corp is offering 280 (10% of the total number of housing units).  Also, still not worked out is where to put the bus transfer station (amongst other sticking points).  This is going to take a long time to work out since everyone wants to do their own study.  The Richmond Roughriders should stay next season too. This won’t be worked before then I’m afraid. 

Edited August 17, 2018 by eandslee

[cbl1]

He probably knows that if the affordable housing element is not in there he won't get the votes needed from the less affluent districts.  He wants this to succeed - I think its a good sign.  Politics of the past was push it through and hope it can be strongarmed through - now its put elements in to make it attractive for the whole city.

Edited August 17, 2018 by cbl1

[drayrichmond]

You've got to give them (Stoney) some credit for not rolling over to the corporate interests that so often steamroll cities and localities in order to build new stadiums/arenas. 

It's going to be a long road, but hopefully it will work out and be worth while for the city.

[vaceltic]

It’s gonna be hard to increase the percentage of affordable units to make the plan viable. The density would have to increase significantly to increase the number of affordable units, but still would leave the percentage requirement unmet. Stoney’s terms are not realistic. If he changed the metric from percent of units to just a flat number of units, it could be more workable.

[drayrichmond]

So the RFP doesn't give a specific number or percentage that need to be affordable housing, just a "meaningful amount". 

Here is an excerpt from the RFP on housing: 

"3.9 Housing

A. The Proposal should contain a meaningful housing component that responds to the full diversity of housing needs in Richmond, including residential home ownership. Specifically, the Proposal should outline how the Respondent plans to meet the needs of the full spectrum of Richmond residents with respect to housing. The City seeks Proposals that include current best practices for urban housing, such as a mix of 18 units targeting different income levels within a development and a variety of floorplans distributed throughout the Project targeting different income levels."

Here is NHCorps response via their site:

https://navyhillrva.com/voices-of-nh/2018/8/16/affordablehousing

The latest details on the negotiations put the affordable housing component at just under 9%. 

[eandslee]

9 hours ago, Hike said:

A  nice takeaway from this article in the Virginia Business, linked below, is what Stoney said - “We’ve made significant progress on several of the deal points that I’ve said are absolute must-haves for the city —especially on affordable housing and minority participation,” Stoney said in a statement.  While there are “details to iron out before we take it to City Council,” the mayor said he remains “confident we will get this done.”

Happy to hear this.  

http://www.virginiabusiness.com/news/article/a-killer-arena

Great article!  We got an updated status on the arena development and we also got an overview of all the good things happening in Richmond.  I love to read about all of the positive things that are happening.  Richmond does need to figure out how to attract the young professionals better, but I think things are moving in the right direction. 

[drayrichmond]

Looks like negotiations are going well!

Statement from the Mayors Office: 

"Negotiators for the city report consensus among the parties on Mayor Stoney’s key priorities"

Full Release: 

https://rosscatrow.s3.amazonaws.com/kqpd3rCZvbbPuivp8Hwf.txt

[eandslee]

Well, the Richmond Roughriders, Richmond’s Arena Football team is leaving Richmond for Wheeling West Virginia to clear the way for the Coliseum to be replaced with a new arena.  Looks like this is really happening folks!  It’s definitely a good sign. We may have lost an arena football team, but a new arena will bring in new/better teams and greater opportunities for Richmond!

https://www.wric.com/sports/-it-was-a-total-honor-richmond-roughriders-find-new-home-in-west-virginia/1471904132

 

[I miss RVA]

Sad to see the loss of a sports franchise, but in the long run, a good trade-off for a top-flight arena plus significant development of the area.  Too bad the team had to leave town altogether, though I imagine no other facility (such as those at U R or VCU) have enough actual floor space to house arena football.

[Brent114]

Smelling more like it’s doomed with every “update”.  Good riddance. 

[wrldcoupe4]

The translation from the article is that thie council will drag this out (rightly or wrongly). 

[cbl1]

What is with councilman telling everyone he is voting know before the proposal is even presented.  Rather close minded!!!

[Brent114]

So there’s talk of expanding the TIF (beyond the Dominion properties) and issuing bonds to fund the (underestimated*) costs of the arena and infrastructure upgrades.  

It’s stealing from the city to fund a vanity project that basically just rebuilds existing buildings (news flash, the purple and green parking decks already exist) and the only  interruption  to the street grid stays.  Who pays to rebuild the social services offices across from City Hall?  Will anyone be surprised when the costs to replace that building aren’t included in the final proposal?  These fake neighborhoods are always failures by every measure (even says so in this article). 

Issuing a billion dollars of bonds will trash the city’s bond rating (making everything else the city does more expensive).    It’s fleecing based on antiquated ideas of entertainment districts. Why on earth would there be talk of adding a “small performance space” when  Doninion’s  black box theater goes unused and the other spaces around downtown are dark more often than not?  

* the biotech park parking deck at Leigh and 4th will have to be rebuilt, or reconfigured, because the exit is currently below grade.  Raising the street (total waste of money) renders this deck unuseable.  Altria will also have to reconfigure its loading dock/mechanical area.  These two things alone would exceed the budget to raise the street.  I guess the city issues bonds to rebuild Altria while  placing the building in the TIF?  Theft. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Brent114

[cbl1]

You have seen the budget to raise the street?

[Brent114]

The estimate was in one of the first press releases (the one with the fancy green and purple colour scheme ). 

[eandslee]

49 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

 colour

Are you British?

[Brent114]

No.  Just fancy I guess?  lol  

Somehow that spelling got stuck in my teenage head and never left (I blame the band the  Colurfield).  I realize it’s obnoxious, just slips out sometimes.   

Edited October 18, 2018 by Brent114

[drayrichmond]

22 hours ago, eandslee said:

Are you British?

Hey I spell colour with a 'u' as well! Some of us are just fancy, not like the 'u' dropping heathens!! I also spell grey with an 'e' not an 'a'. (Honestly I think it's because my family is from way up north, e.g. close to Canada where the whole British thing is a bit more relevant). 

 

On the financing, I'm all for a new arena, anything to get hockey back in the city. But, I was borderline on including the new Dom Tower in the TIF (debatable, haven't made up my mind), but expanding the TIF anywhere further is just a deal killer to me. Just no, half the city cannot be under a TIF. 

[wrldcoupe4]

 There’s a way to do it where a floor Is set so that all revenue based on current value is excluded from the district but all new value above the current basis goes towards it. You could apply that to the dominion towers and it doesn’t take away any existing tax revenue.  If we don’t want the city to pay out-of-pocket for it and we don’t want a tax incremental financing district, then we need to accept that we will never have a new arena And plan for development around the current Colosseum to take a few decades or so. 

[cbl1]

I think including the Dominion towers sounds reasonable - but beyond that seems to be asking for a lot.

[drayrichmond]

20 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

 There’s a way to do it where a floor Is set so that all revenue based on current value is excluded from the district but all new value above the current basis goes towards it. You could apply that to the dominion towers and it doesn’t take away any existing tax revenue.  If we don’t want the city to pay out-of-pocket for it and we don’t want a tax incremental financing district, then we need to accept that we will never have a new arena And plan for development around the current Colosseum to take a few decades or so. 

I'm not against using a TIF, it's just the size of the TIF that concerns me. I'm mostly ok with including the Dom Tower in the TIF, it's this quote from the Style Weekly that worries me:

"And this week, Kelley confirms that the TIF district may need to include downtown property beyond the Dominion towers. He wouldn't elaborate, citing negotiations underway."

Too big a TIF is concerning to me.