Monroe Ward / Oregon Hill

[123fakestreet]

18 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

The solution is people - as in residents living in the immediate area.

Retail along Broad and Grace streets downtown THRIVED in the 1940s, 50s and 60s because there was a sufficiently large critical mass of people LIVING in the immediate area to sustain the well more than a hundred stores, shops, etc., that lined Broad Street from about 8th or 9th street westward through what's now the Arts District (as well as along Grace Street from roughly Foushee to 7th). As we've seen documented in several of the City's SAP and RFP workups - the history of the immediate downtown area reveals that upwards of 29,000 residents called the central-most part of the city home. That population figure began a rather dramatic downward spiral in the mid-late '50s when the interstate highways carved up Jackson Ward/Gilpen/Carver - and later the downtown expressway tore out a chunk of residential blocks on the southwestern side of downtown. And while we've been seeing (and continue to see) conversion of the legacy office buildings in the old Financial District (and in other parts of downtown - example: the CNB Building, the former Hotel John Marshall, etc.), plus a plethora of new construction -- all of which is helping to bring people back into downtown, it's just a start of what's needed. If I remember correctly, the City's most recent workup for the City Center RFP indicated that the downtown population today is still WELL less than 10,000 - (I think it was MAYBE roughly 8 or 9K AT MOST - and that might actually be on the high side by a thousand or two) - which is far better than it was 10 or 15 years ago when the population was 1 or 2 thousand at best.

Now, keep in mind, that enormous outmigration of central city population didn't happen overnight - it took 50 years to plummet from 29K in the late 1940s to a couple thousand in the 1990s. And it will take time to rebuild to a critical mass that would provide sufficient 24-7-365 residential population to really sustain substantial retail, night life, restaurants, etc., downtown, particularly along the old legacy Broad Street corridor. I've mentioned on these forums many times in the past: when I was in undergrad at VCU back in the '80s - my urban planning professors ALL said that for downtown Richmond to truly THRIVE as a legitimate 24-7-365 place - it needed a MINIMUM population base of 30,000 residents. (Obviously they were basing this on the legacy numbers from decades prior because at 29,000 residents in and around downtown, retail WORKED and it worked VERY well!)

So the short answer to your question: the solution is people. We need more - A LOT MORE - people LIVING and WORKING downtown. We need more businesses locating downtown. We need office buildings full of companies (as opposed to sitting vacant because of downsizing or relocations or buyouts by or mergers with out-of-state companies that siphon off our offices, be they banks/other financial institutions, law firms, insurance companies, etc., all of which several decades ago had HUGE presences in terms of people working in downtown). We need people moving into downtown at a rate FAR greater than has been and is currently happening. 

It will take a lot to get there. It's not "mission impossible" by any stretch - but it's not going to happen overnight, I'm sorry to say. It's a simple yet complicated solution - the simplicity is that the bottom line of a LOT more people living and working downtown. The complicated part -- particularly from a workforce situation (because of how things shifted with the pandemic and continue to shift because of technology) is how to get there.

This will help, but back then there was no Amazon. The city was also the center of everything, if you wanted high end things you had to come here. There was no Sort Pump Town Center.  We could exceed the living and working population from back then and we will still have far far less retail.  That retail is never coming back. The spaces those places once occupied will have to be converted to residential unless you want them vacant.

[I miss RVA]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:18 AM, 123fakestreet said:

This will help, but back then there was no Amazon. The city was also the center of everything, if you wanted high end things you had to come here. There was no Sort Pump Town Center.  We could exceed the living and working population from back then and we will still have far far less retail.  That retail is never coming back. The spaces those places once occupied will have to be converted to residential unless you want them vacant.

Agreed - the retailing of the past is long gone - and Broad Street won't be what it once was. Good call on lack of competition 50-plus years ago - Short Pump was still little more than farmland back then - and "Amazon" was a river in South America. Totally different world today.

STILL - I think of retailing neighborhoods here in Chicago and they thrive because of population density and raw numbers of people living nearby. There are oodles and oodles of Short Pumps around Chicagoland - and yet none of them have taken away in even the slightest from the Magnificent Mile. You don't see N. Michigan Avenue boarded up the way we've seen Broad Street over the past 20-30 years. And what's the difference? Population. Richmond doesn't have to be a city of 2.7 million like Chicago is in order for Broad Street to come back. Get 30,000 people living in downtown and you'll see a definite difference in the way Broad Street is today. Will it be the glorious Broad Street from the 1940s, 50s, 60s?  No. It won't. But neither will it be vacant and boarded up.

A blast from the past... the glory days of Broad Street... when it was the retailing center of the Commonwealth.

 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

Very good news - the Commission of Architectural Review voted on Tuesday to approve BOTH the 8-story apartment building at Madison and Broad (Bank Street Advisors) and Virginia Credit Union's remake of the building that once housed the Bistro (27 W. Broad). Both projects received unanimous approval. The only amendment that the CAR prescribed was that Bank Street add windows to the east-facing façade of the apartment building.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/11/23/planned-8-story-arts-district-apartment-building-gets-first-city-approval/

 

[eandslee]

Pinecrest/Parc View update as of a couple days ago.  Courtesy of Ryan Ramsey of Richmond City Watch:

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Pinecrest/Parc View update as of a couple days ago.  Courtesy of Ryan Ramsey of Richmond City Watch:

This one is really starting to look good. Now if only we could get about 10 more of these to pop up in Monroe Ward! 

[I miss RVA]

Very sad to see this in RBS: Ledbury - a really nice menswear store - (and it looks like one of those neat, old-school storefront clothiers you see in big cities - AND - it's home grown!) is leaving the Arts District due to the lack of a rebound in foot traffic (and thus, diminished sales) post-pandemic. They haven't found a new location for this store (they began on S. 14th Street in 2011 and moved to their current location - 315 W. Broad in the Arts District (in a building owned by the Ukrop family!)  in 2016. It's looking at locations in Carytown, Westhampton (Libbie & Grove) and Short Pump. The W. Broad Street location is the company's ONLY brick-and-mortar store in operation. Previously, it had three metro Richmond locations (Downtown, Westhampton, Short Pump) and one each in the D.C. area and in New York City. Their downtown least expires and the end of the year.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/12/07/ledbury-to-leave-arts-district-storefront/

Edited December 8, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Child2021]

What could be ready to occur here?

[wrldcoupe4]

Could parking for the amphitheater go there?

[Icetera]

12 minutes ago, Child2021 said:

What could be ready to occur here?

With Benchmark on site, perhaps utility prep.  Maybe for the Amphitheatre down slope?

[ancientcarpenter]

I was under the impression that VHDA is building an addition to their current building... bigger than their existing building (next to the memorial site).

 

This 2020 article: https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/05/04/vhda-ponders-new-100000-square-foot-office-on-belvidere/

 

I can't tell from the angle where this construction is starting... just wanted to bring up a different perspective/option in this conversation. But it's probably the amphitheater development.

[I miss RVA]

Is this on the actual site of where the amphitheater is slated to rise?

[wrldcoupe4]

Nope. This is between 2nd and Belvedere closer to Byrd St

[eandslee]

17 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

I was under the impression that VHDA is building an addition to their current building... bigger than their existing building (next to the memorial site).

 

This 2020 article: https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/05/04/vhda-ponders-new-100000-square-foot-office-on-belvidere/

 

I can't tell from the angle where this construction is starting... just wanted to bring up a different perspective/option in this conversation. But it's probably the amphitheater development.

I thought they came out during the pandemic to cancel this building addition.  Perhaps they've reconsidered?

[ancientcarpenter]

7 minutes ago, eandslee said:

I thought they came out during the pandemic to cancel this building addition.  Perhaps they've reconsidered?

That would be a huge miss by RBS and UP if they changed their mind... 100k sqft by the state is no small news break.

[whw53]

I thought RBS reported on this when it got cancelled - well i remember it from somewhere at least. 

Edit - here it is 

https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/06/30/vhda-puts-hq-expansion-on-hold/

Edit 2 - o i get what you're saying - if they re-reconsidered...

Edited December 15, 2022 by whw53

[RVABizSenseMike]

I'm not sure exactly which parcel is pictured in the above photo, but I'd actually talked to Virginia Housing a few weeks ago about the HQ expansion and they told me that the decision regarding the expansion is still on hold.

[I miss RVA]

5 minutes ago, RVABizSenseMike said:

I'm not sure exactly which parcel is pictured in the above photo, but I'd actually talked to Virginia Housing a few weeks ago about the HQ expansion and they told me that the decision regarding the expansion is still on hold.

Good to know. Thanks, Mike for confirming!

[Icetera]

On 12/15/2022 at 2:28 PM, RVABizSenseMike said:

I'm not sure exactly which parcel is pictured in the above photo, but I'd actually talked to Virginia Housing a few weeks ago about the HQ expansion and they told me that the decision regarding the expansion is still on hold.

The parcel above is 110 Spring St. and is part of Afton/Ethyl/New Market/Umbrella Corp. (cannot keep track of their name), in between their lab and their mansion-styled hilltop offices.

[Ward Wood]

How tall is this building on Grace supposed to be?

[I miss RVA]

3 minutes ago, Ward Wood said:

How tall is this building on Grace supposed to be?

 

WOW!! Thanks SO much for taking and posting this. Unreal how quickly the Parc View is rising. At the rate they're going, they'll be topping out before long.

This is supposed to be 16 stories.

Edited January 3, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Downtowner]

4 hours ago, Ward Wood said:

How tall is this building on Grace supposed to be?

The electrical side of this building has been the biggest mess and I’m going to laugh when the electrical side implodes whoever at my company thought it was a smart idea to but Smurf tubing or in more technical terms electrical non metallic tubing. It’s just plastic tubing but what’s so bad is they covered it up with concrete when they poured each floor. We fired our superintendent who was on this job. He was very unprofessional and I think he lied about what he had done job experience wise when we hired him. But the guy who planned the engineering of this building when they get inside and start shoving wires into the tubing they are going to find out how horrible of a decision that was. It’s going to be smashed and cracked to pieces from the weight of the concrete. 

[Ward Wood]

Here’s another one:

[I miss RVA]

58 minutes ago, Ward Wood said:

Here’s another one:

Loving these fantastic photos! Thanks so much for taking and posting.  Yeah - they're getting close to topping out - not much more to go. Love the massing and size of the Parc View. Consider that this is the first high-rise in Monroe Ward since the 1972 (Monroe Park Towers at Belvidere & Franklin). Hard to believe it's been 50 years since the last residential high-rise was built in Monroe Ward, given that the district absolutely lends itself to becoming downtown's premiere high-rise residential district. Juxtaposition of the Parc View right next to the Berkshire really establishes the kind of urban feel that's perfect for Monroe Ward. Looking forward to more high-rise development in creating a legitimate Grace Street corridor in the coming years. I know one of the buildings near the "Y" got scaled back. HOWEVER - recall that Mike's 2022 RBS review a couple of weeks ago made mention of the "mystery" developer who last spring filed paperwork with the city regarding a possible 15-story residential building on the southeast corner of Foushee & E. Grace.  There's little question that Monroe Ward has boatloads of potential for this kind of development -- not to mention the Sea of Parking Lots in (particularly) the southern half of the ward. Wow -- I just hope and pray the next handful of years sees quite a few more residential buildings of this size (or larger even!) start popping up in Monroe Ward like mushrooms after a summer thundershower. If it happens, it absolutely will be game-changing for downtown Richmond.

[Ward Wood]

4 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Loving these fantastic photos! Thanks so much for taking and posting.  Yeah - they're getting close to topping out - not much more to go. Love the massing and size of the Parc View. Consider that this is the first high-rise in Monroe Ward since the 1972 (Monroe Park Towers at Belvidere & Franklin). Hard to believe it's been 50 years since the last residential high-rise was built in Monroe Ward, given that the district absolutely lends itself to becoming downtown's premiere high-rise residential district. Juxtaposition of the Parc View right next to the Berkshire really establishes the kind of urban feel that's perfect for Monroe Ward. Looking forward to more high-rise development in creating a legitimate Grace Street corridor in the coming years. I know one of the buildings near the "Y" got scaled back. HOWEVER - recall that Mike's 2022 RBS review a couple of weeks ago made mention of the "mystery" developer who last spring filed paperwork with the city regarding a possible 15-story residential building on the southeast corner of Foushee & E. Grace.  There's little question that Monroe Ward has boatloads of potential for this kind of development -- not to mention the Sea of Parking Lots in (particularly) the southern half of the ward. Wow -- I just hope and pray the next handful of years sees quite a few more residential buildings of this size (or larger even!) start popping up in Monroe Ward like mushrooms after a summer thundershower. If it happens, it absolutely will be game-changing for downtown Richmond.

I work in Monroe Ward quite a bit and I can tell you, the vibe is changing around there. More professionals walking around, meeting for coffee, drinks etc. I lived in DC for a while and it (sometimes) makes me feel I am back in a “big” city.

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, Ward Wood said:

I work in Monroe Ward quite a bit and I can tell you, the vibe is changing around there. More professionals walking around, meeting for coffee, drinks etc. I lived in DC for a while and it (sometimes) makes me feel I am back in a “big” city.

VERY glad to hear this!! Here's hoping that vibe continues to increase - and that you start more-often-than-not feel like you're back in a "big" city going forward.

Wow - I love testimonials like this. It's quite encouraging for the future of downtown and for RVA in general.