Monroe Ward / Oregon Hill

[I miss RVA]

Here's Jack Jacobs' outstanding reporting in today's RBS about the VPM move to downtown. He brings some golden-nugget takeaways, including things upon which we've speculated about which we've discussed.

Ground-breaking is anticipated/hoped for next spring with the building opening in the spring of 2026.

Good quote from VPM President Jayme Swain regarding the one-story add-on facing Grace Street:

“The Grace Street building is a requirement from the city, because what they don’t want is for Grace Street to just have a lot of parking structures. We’re still early in thinking about whether that’s going to be VPM programming or if that’s an opportunity to lease or find a partner to work with us,” she said.

From that I'm taking it that it literally IS an "add-on" - and that likely it wasn't part of the original plans. If that is the case, then it being only one story is completely understandable because they're having to spend more to include construction for which they may not have originally budgeted.

Something else that came up in this thread earlier - the PULSE line. Yes - it played a part in the decision to move to the Arts District! From Jack's reporting:

Swain said public transit and the ability to be closer to city and state decision-makers also attracted VPM to the site in Richmond.

And what's the old real estate mantra about what sells? "Location, Location, Location!!!"

“From a news organization point of view, we’re proximate to City Hall and the Capitol. We’re an arts and culture organization and now we’re in the heart of the Arts District,” she said of the future headquarters.

I maintain that this is and will be the most significant, impactful and consequential development to come to downtown Richmond perhaps in my lifetime. This is going to pay HUGE dividends downtown for decades to come.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/06/22/vpm-to-build-new-5-story-hq-on-downtown-parking-lot/

P.S. - Sorry @RVABizSenseMike-- I hate to break it to ya., but... our intrepid sleuths here at RVA/UP once again got the scoop - we had this a full 24 hours before the RBS story was published. 

[RVABizSenseMike]

2 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

P.S. - Sorry @RVABizSenseMike-- I hate to break it to ya., but... our intrepid sleuths here at RVA/UP once again got the scoop - we had this a full 24 hours before the RBS story was published. 

Can't win them all, kudos to you lot!

If you'll indulge me, I'll use this as a chance to shamelessly plug something we've actually been doing with VPM since the start of the year: BizSense Beat.

Every week one of us at RBS calls into VPM and does a ~4-minute radio recap of some of the week's biggest news during NPR's Morning Edition. It usually airs Friday morning and they also post the recording online after the fact. It's been fun to get to know some of the folks at VPM. 

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, RVABizSenseMike said:

Can't win them all, kudos to you lot!

If you'll indulge me, I'll use this as a chance to shamelessly plug something we've actually been doing with VPM since the start of the year: BizSense Beat.

Every week one of us at RBS calls into VPM and does a ~4-minute radio recap of some of the week's biggest news during NPR's Morning Edition. It usually airs Friday morning and they also post the recording online after the fact. It's been fun to get to know some of the folks at VPM. 

VERY cool, Mike!! Thanks so much for the heads up. I'm glad it's available online, too - thanks for the link!

Guess I've got me some 4-minute audios to catch up on. 

[wrldcoupe4]

Love the collaboration

[Flood Zone]

19 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

WRIC started out as WXEX-TV and their studios were in Petersburg (I'm old enough to remember both the original call sign and the Petersburg studios)

Yikes, so am I!

[I miss RVA]

New dim sum restaurant planned to replace Max's in the Arts District. I'm LOVING the synergy of what's happening in the Arts District - with the new 8-story apartment building at Madison and Broad in the works, a new downtown branch of the Virginia Credit Union at Adams and Broad, the new VPM/public broadcasting/WCVE-TV studios and headquarters coming to E. Broad between 1st and Foushee. And the Brook Road intersection is right in the middle of all of them.

Now we just need to get a LOT more people living and working there.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/07/18/and-dim-sum-planned-for-former-maxs-on-broad-space-in-arts-district/

[whw53]

Getting people down town is key. We need more housing stock down here to make for a dearth of office workers that never returned. Ghost town today walking down Broad kinda eerie. This should help - here's our Pinecrest project from the ground

Edited July 20, 2023 by whw53

[Brent114]

July is the most ghost town month. 
I usually tell people to avoid Richmond in the summer.  Too many people leave and (irony alert) there aren’t enough tourists to offset the decline in office workers and students.  August used to be a bad month too but it has really picked up recently.  July is still gross, at least for a few more years  

[I miss RVA]

12 hours ago, whw53 said:

Getting people down town is key. We need more housing stock down here to make for a dearth of office workers that never returned. Ghost town today walking down Broad kinda eerie. This should help - here's our Pinecrest project from the ground

Silver-hardware worthy pictures, my friend. you may want to inform the wife that some new silverware will be on the way. 

To your point:      Spot on!!  I contend that downtown needs at least a dozen or more residential towers this size - or larger - (read: taller as well as bigger/more units), particularly in Monroe Ward and on the southern edge of the City Center district (Broad and Grace) -- and PLEASE - not this "one building per block" garbage. My whole life I have been calling for a "Manhattanization" of downtown RVA. I'd give anything for that to come to pass. Without it, we won't come anywhere near the critical mass (which my urban planning professors at VCU in undergrad some 40 years ago posited is 30,000 residents) necessary to make downtown a viable 24-7-365 place.

[wrldcoupe4]

4 hours ago, Brent114 said:

July is the most ghost town month. 
I usually tell people to avoid Richmond in the summer.  Too many people leave and (irony alert) there aren’t enough tourists to offset the decline in office workers and students.  August used to be a bad month too but it has really picked up recently.  July is still gross, at least for a few more years  

Definitely agree. 

[ancientcarpenter]

3 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Silver-hardware worthy pictures, my friend. you may want to inform the wife that some new silverware will be on the way. 

To your point:      Spot on!!  I contend that downtown needs at least a dozen or more residential towers this size - or larger - (read: taller as well as bigger/more units), particularly in Monroe Ward and on the southern edge of the City Center district (Broad and Grace) -- and PLEASE - not this "one building per block" garbage. My whole life I have been calling for a "Manhattanization" of downtown RVA. I'd give anything for that to come to pass. Without it, we won't come anywhere near the critical mass (which my urban planning professors at VCU in undergrad some 40 years ago posited is 30,000 residents) necessary to make downtown a viable 24-7-365 place.

Where are we now with residents downtown?

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Where are we now with residents downtown?

I remember seeing some data from the city in recent years connected either with the Richmond 300 plan or the City Center SAP - I'll have to do a little digging - but if my memory serves, we're still south of 10K - I think in the upper 8K or lower 9K range - but I could be off plus or minus Mind you, even that is a VAST improvement over just 10, 15, and DEFINTELY 20 years ago when -- I think -- downtown's population - including Jackson Ward - had cratered at barely 2,000 residents, (and I think it was actually below 2,000 but again, I don't have data sitting in front of me.)

Oh - and let me add:  - the term - "Manhattanization" was actually something that I borrowed (and kinda claimed as my own, at least in using it vis a vis Richmond) from my urban planning classes in undergrad. We used it pretty regularly to describe cities beefing up their downtown areas with an incredible amount of high-rise, high-density construction - particularly in a very rapid fashion in a way that completely transformed a city's downtown. I also recall that the term was later bandied about here in Chicago a couple of decades ago when the city began a sustained building boom that went on at breakneck speed for a good 15 years. (There were some here who lamented how downtown Chicago was becoming "Manhattanized" with all the new construction creating a thick forest of high rises.) 

Many cities have enjoyed periods of Manhattanization - recall a picture I posted a couple months ago of downtown Seattle, showing what looks like hundreds of high-rise buildings of all shapes and sizes jammed together over a fairly large part of central Seattle, packed in very densely. I've seen photos of Toronto, Vancouver and other cities that have embraced density very successfully, using it to create electrically vibrant downtowns teeming with people - both residents and workers commuting in from outside the central city. 

Downtown RVA would do well with a healthy dose of this.

Edited July 20, 2023 by I miss RVA

[ancientcarpenter]

15 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

I remember seeing some data from the city in recent years connected either with the Richmond 300 plan or the City Center SAP - I'll have to do a little digging - but if my memory serves, we're still south of 10K - I think in the upper 8K or lower 9K range - but I could be off plus or minus Mind you, even that is a VAST improvement over just 10, 15, and DEFINTELY 20 years ago when -- I think -- downtown's population - including Jackson Ward - had cratered at barely 2,000 residents, (and I think it was actually below 2,000 but again, I don't have data sitting in front of me.)

Oh - and let me add:  - the term - "Manhattanization" was actually something that I borrowed (and kinda claimed as my own, at least in using it vis a vis Richmond) from my urban planning classes in undergrad. We used it pretty regularly to describe cities beefing up their downtown areas with an incredible amount of high-rise, high-density construction - particularly in a very rapid fashion in a way that completely transformed a city's downtown. I also recall that the term was later bandied about here in Chicago a couple of decades ago when the city began a sustained building boom that went on at breakneck speed for a good 15 years. (There were some here who lamented how downtown Chicago was becoming "Manhattanized" with all the new construction creating a thick forest of high rises.) 

Many cities have enjoyed periods of Manhattanization - recall a picture I posted a couple months ago of downtown Seattle, showing what looks like hundreds of high-rise buildings of all shapes and sizes jammed together over a fairly large part of central Seattle, packed in very densely. I've seen photos of Toronto, Vancouver and other cities that have embraced density very successfully, using it to create electrically vibrant downtowns teeming with people - both residents and workers commuting in from outside the central city. 

Downtown RVA would do well with a healthy dose of this.

 

Agreed. To be the devil in the detail: I don't think it can be compared fairly as it's not apples to apples anymore. But nor is it apples and oranges. More like 

RVA has changed so much since its peak. 30,000 population was when RVA was tiny. Mostly everyone lived in walkable RVA I would imagine? Then really came the suburbs (cough white flight cough) and everyone sprawled and then implemented very tough policies on those who stayed in the city. But, nonetheless, the population generally grew over time but people just got spread out more. Even ignorning neighboring counties, new development sprawled in the city boundaries with the car being a common thing for all. 

Comparing those numbers of the past with current RVA is more like apples and crab apples. Same family, one just happens to be a lot big in comparison to the other because of the nature of it. 

If RVA walking area had 30k people in it (again, idk which boundaries they were using when they said that but I assume a very small boundary line that's easily walkable back then) it would a much busier RVA than before because of so many people living outside that boundary line today.

Edited July 21, 2023 by ancientcarpenter

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

 

Agreed. To be the devil in the detail: I don't think it can be compared fairly as it's not apples to apples anymore. But nor is it apples and oranges. More like 

RVA has changed so much since its peak. 30,000 population was when RVA was tiny. Mostly everyone lived in walkable RVA I would imagine? Then really came the suburbs (cough white flight cough) and everyone sprawled and then implemented very tough policies on those who stayed in the city. But, nonetheless, the population generally grew over time but people just got spread out more. Even ignorning neighboring counties, new development sprawled in the city boundaries with the car being a common thing for all. 

Comparing those numbers of the past with current RVA is more like apples and crab apples. Same family, one just happens to be a lot big in comparison to the other because of the nature of it. 

If RVA walking area had 30k people in it (again, idk which boundaries they were using when they said that but I assume a very small boundary line that's easily walkable back then) it would a much busier RVA than before because of so many people living outside that boundary line today.

Your final point is 100% spot on! And that's something my urban planning profs were driving home in their posit of downtown needing 30K residents. However, you're close - but a tad off on the history. If I may humbly add a bit of clarification:

The size of the city: RVA's actual peak in terms of total city population occurred right after the 1970 annexation of 47,000 Chesterfield residents. The Times-Dispatch, quoting City of Richmond estimates that were official in January 1970, quoted RVA's population at approximately 264,000, by which time downtown's population had declined precipitously from it's peak of 30 years earlier. The city began hemorrhaging population almost as soon as the ink was dry on the annexation paperwork - by the time the official 1970 U.S. Census data was released, the city's population had dropped to 249,000.

Downtown RVA's population: According to information provided in the City Center SAP, it appears that Downtown RVA's population peaked in 1940 at 28,329. This figure is likely taken from U.S. Census data of 1940. It's important to note that the boundaries, I think, are still somewhat "loosely" defined in terms of exactly how much area was counted. As such, they appear to have included:

1.) What we commonly view today as actual "downtown proper" - meaning, the entire area bounded by I-95 north and east, Belvidere Street west and the "ruvvah" south - inclusive of Jackson Ward, Monroe Ward, the retail core (now City Center area), Court End/Navy Hill, VCU Health, Virginia Biotech, the Capitol, the Financial District, Shockoe Slip and the downtown riverfront.

2.) Gilpin (there was no I-95 when the "downtown" population peaked in 1940 - thus Jackson Ward and Gilpin were connected physically)

3.) The area immediately west of Belvidere Street (now fully consumed by the VCU academic campus - not sure if it also included Oregon Hill but I suspect it might have). I'm not sure if Carver was included, however I suspect the far eastern portion may have been.

4.) Shockoe Bottom

I do not think Church Hill, the lower Fan or anything north of Gilpin was considered "downtown" in terms of how the downtown population was calculated, but I'm not 100% and can't yet confirm that, but so far I see nothing pointing to their inclusion. (which is why I also question whether or not Oregon Hill was included).

The city's overall official 1940 population was 193,042 - just 4,700 fewer residents when the city's long population decline "officially" (meaning according to census data) nadired in 2000 (though I believe I've seen estimates that had the city's population at around 193K as late as 2005).

The city boomed to 230,310 in the 1950 census, aided in part by the 1942 annexation of portions of Henrico. From what I've been able to find, downtown's population had slipped slightly but was still robust, checking in north of 27,000 in 1948. It was only after I-95 decimated Jackson Ward, Gilpen, Carver, etc., and "white flight" to Chesterfield and Henrico kicked into gear did downtown's population begin it's dramatic death spiral - plummeting to 17,547 by 1960. By 1970 is was at 8,902. 

BTW - I was miles off in my quote of the lowest point of downtown's population in the previous post: according to information in the City Center Plan, downtown's population bottomed out at 6.426 residents in 1990, NOT the 2,000 figure I had erroneously quoted.

What's the point of all of this data? Mainly to demonstrate that Richmond was not "tiny" by any means when the downtown population peaked in the 1940s. Cars - plus the streetcar lines - and later buses - meant that folks were indeed driving, riding, traveling. Yes, downtown was walkable - but modes of transportation were not much different than they are today, particularly after the streetcars were sunsetted & mothballed in 1948-49 and replaced by buses. From a geographic "size" standpoint, the city itself was missing only the 23-square miles annexed in 1970 from Chesterfield from 1942-onward.

You're absolutely correct about the "white flight" phenomenon that occurred once the highways were built - and that is clearly supported by ample amounts of data, as the city lost roughly 25%  of it's population over an approximately 35-year span (1970-2005), and downtown lost 77% of its population over the span of about 50 years, most of loss occurring in the three-plus decades from the mid 1950s to 1990. All of this happened while the entire metro area grew at a decent pace.

Now - as to my urban planning profs' assertion: they maintained that downtown needed a MINIMUM (their words, not mine) of 30,000 residents to be a "viable 24-7-365 location" (again, their words, not mine) They defined 30K as "the critical mass" that downtown needs to FULLY thrive. They pointed out the potential that downtown has for becoming that kind of vibrant place we seen in plenty of other major cities whose downtown cores are highly built up, not just with office buildings, but with abundant residential space. Again, I point to cities such as Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, as outstanding examples. And to your point: particularly given how RVA city's population HAS rebounded -- back now, according to estimates, to 233K (which is higher than what it was in the 1950 census) - 30K downtown residents would absolutely transform our city's core from the ghost town it is today to a vibrant "bee hive" (if you will) of activity that absolutely WOULD be far busier than the downtown RVA of 60, 70, 80 years ago. It would be teeming with residents and workers - street-level activity would be off the charts. Businesses of every kind could - and would - flourish in such an environment. It would make the super-vibrant downtown RVA of 1940 and 1950 seem like a small town.

The sky is the limit on how far downtown RVA can grow. We must embrace this and push to make it happen. Unfortunately, it won't happen overnight - and unless I make it to 100, I doubt I'll live to see it reach and actualize its fullest potential. But we need to start NOW! Imagine how amazing downtown would be with 30K residents - plus office workers - plus tourists - shoppers - concert goers- folks hanging out along the canal - all the eateries and watering holes - all the hotels - all the commerce - all the business - all the play and entertainment - all of the activity - all of the LIFE - it would have!!! It boggles my mind to contemplate this - and it's something for which I've been praying for the last 50 years.

Wow... how truly wonderful it would be!

Edited July 21, 2023 by I miss RVA

[ancientcarpenter]

13 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Your final point is 100% spot on! And that's something my urban planning profs were driving home in their posit of downtown needing 30K residents. However, you're close - but a tad off on the history. If I may humbly add a bit of clarification:

The size of the city: RVA's actual peak in terms of total city population occurred right after the 1970 annexation of 47,000 Chesterfield residents. The Times-Dispatch, quoting City of Richmond estimates that were official in January 1970, quoted RVA's population at approximately 264,000, by which time downtown's population had declined precipitously from it's peak of 30 years earlier. The city began hemorrhaging population almost as soon as the ink was dry on the annexation paperwork - by the time the official 1970 U.S. Census data was released, the city's population had dropped to 249,000.

Downtown RVA's population: According to information provided in the City Center SAP, it appears that Downtown RVA's population peaked in 1940 at 28,329. This figure is likely taken from U.S. Census data of 1940. It's important to note that the boundaries, I think, are still somewhat "loosely" defined in terms of exactly how much area was counted. As such, they appear to have included:

1.) What we commonly view today as actual "downtown proper" - meaning, the entire area bounded by I-95 north and east, Belvidere Street west and the "ruvvah" south - inclusive of Jackson Ward, Monroe Ward, the retail core (now City Center area), Court End/Navy Hill, VCU Health, Virginia Biotech, the Capitol, the Financial District, Shockoe Slip and the downtown riverfront.

2.) Gilpin (there was no I-95 when the "downtown" population peaked in 1940 - thus Jackson Ward and Gilpin were connected physically)

3.) The area immediately west of Belvidere Street (now fully consumed by the VCU academic campus - not sure if it also included Oregon Hill but I suspect it might have). I'm not sure if Carver was included, however I suspect the far eastern portion may have been.

4.) Shockoe Bottom

I do not think Church Hill, the lower Fan or anything north of Gilpin was considered "downtown" in terms of how the downtown population was calculated, but I'm not 100% and can't yet confirm that, but so far I see nothing pointing to their inclusion. (which is why I also question whether or not Oregon Hill was included).

The city's overall official 1940 population was 193,042 - just 4,700 fewer residents when the city's long population decline "officially" (meaning according to census data) nadired in 2000 (though I believe I've seen estimates that had the city's population at around 193K as late as 2005).

The city boomed to 230,310 in the 1950 census, aided in part by the 1942 annexation of portions of Henrico. From what I've been able to find, downtown's population had slipped slightly but was still robust, checking in north of 27,000 in 1948. It was only after I-95 decimated Jackson Ward, Gilpen, Carver, etc., and "white flight" to Chesterfield and Henrico kicked into gear did downtown's population begin it's dramatic death spiral - plummeting to 17,547 by 1960. By 1970 is was at 8,902. 

BTW - I was miles off in my quote of the lowest point of downtown's population in the previous post: according to information in the City Center Plan, downtown's population bottomed out at 6.426 residents in 1990, NOT the 2,000 figure I had erroneously quoted.

What's the point of all of this data? Mainly to demonstrate that Richmond was not "tiny" by any means when the downtown population peaked in the 1940s. Cars - plus the streetcar lines - and later buses - meant that folks were indeed driving, riding, traveling. Yes, downtown was walkable - but modes of transportation were not much different than they are today, particularly after the streetcars were sunsetted & mothballed in 1948-49 and replaced by buses. From a geographic "size" standpoint, the city itself was missing only the 23-square miles annexed in 1970 from Chesterfield from 1942-onward.

You're absolutely correct about the "white flight" phenomenon that occurred once the highways were built - and that is clearly supported by ample amounts of data, as the city lost roughly 25%  of it's population over an approximately 35-year span (1970-2005), and downtown lost 77% of its population over the span of about 50 years, most of loss occurring in the three-plus decades from the mid 1950s to 1990. All of this happened while the entire metro area grew at a decent pace.

Now - as to my urban planning profs' assertion: they maintained that downtown needed a MINIMUM (their words, not mine) of 30,000 residents to be a "viable 24-7-365 location" (again, their words, not mine) They defined 30K as "the critical mass" that downtown needs to FULLY thrive. They pointed out the potential that downtown has for becoming that kind of vibrant place we seen in plenty of other major cities whose downtown cores are highly built up, not just with office buildings, but with abundant residential space. Again, I point to cities such as Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, as outstanding examples. And to your point: particularly given how RVA city's population HAS rebounded -- back now, according to estimates, to 233K (which is higher than what it was in the 1950 census) - 30K downtown residents would absolutely transform our city's core from the ghost town it is today to a vibrant "bee hive" (if you will) of activity that absolutely WOULD be far busier than the downtown RVA of 60, 70, 80 years ago. It would be teeming with residents and workers - street-level activity would be off the charts. Businesses of every kind could - and would - flourish in such an environment. It would make the super-vibrant downtown RVA of 1940 and 1950 seem like a small town.

The sky is the limit on how far downtown RVA can grow. We must embrace this and push to make it happen. Unfortunately, it won't happen overnight - and unless I make it to 100, I doubt I'll live to see it reach and actualize its fullest potential. But we need to start NOW! Imagine how amazing downtown would be with 30K residents - plus office workers - plus tourists - shoppers - concert goers- folks hanging out along the canal - all the eateries and watering holes - all the hotels - all the commerce - all the business - all the play and entertainment - all of the activity - all of the LIFE - it would have!!! It boggles my mind to contemplate this - and it's something for which I've been praying for the last 50 years.

Wow... how truly wonderful it would be!

Great write up.

 

What are the boundary lines of this "30k residents" that was referred to back then? Have the boundary lines changed due to things like highway?

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Great write up.

 

What are the boundary lines of this "30k residents" that was referred to back then? Have the boundary lines changed due to things like highway?

Thanks, @ancientcarpenterfor the kind words! 

Generally speaking, when discussing "downtown" Richmond, the professors generally described what for decades was referred to as the "central business district" - and unlike the way the designation is used today, it was 100% inclusive of Jackson and Monroe wards. So for the sake of discussion, the profs limited the boundaries to "downtown proper" or the CBD as:

I-95/64 north and east

Belvidere Street west

The river south.

Anything outside of that hard and fast boundary was considered outside of downtown. Gilpin, for example, was no longer considered part of downtown as it likely was prior to the decimation caused by I-95. It was now referred to as being "north of downtown." Shockoe Bottom was considered "east of downtown". The VCU academic campus was referred to as being "west of downtown."

As for the 30K "downtown" residents: It was interesting. For the most part, the area they said should contain the 30K residents is "downtown proper" or the "central business district" , the boundaries of which are defined above. However - they occasionally mentioned the "downtown area" in discussions of the 30K residents to include extended legacy neighborhoods that were loosely considered "part of downtown" because they were physically connected to downtown prior to I-95's existence and prior to Belvidere Street becoming the uber-wide, multi-lane, boulevard-like thoroughfare it is today. (Interesting NOTE: Prior to the late '50s, Belvidere Street ENDED at W. Broad Street. Check out the vintage map from the 1940s!) 

The long and the short of it - the profs generally held by the "downtown proper" boundaries.

[I miss RVA]

@RVABizSenseMikehas an outstanding feature in today's RBS about the newest addition to the downtown RVA skyline - Parc View at Commonwealth. Our friend Bruce Milam has an outstanding comment, in which he says "

Bruce Milam

 4 hours ago

I’m no architect but I know a nice looking building when I see it. This is one of them, and it fits I nicely with that block in Monroe Hill. This is the height that the City needs for the future, and built of the materials needed for the future. The concrete structure deadens sound so much better than wood framing.

I hope we see more of it.

!!!  I could not agree more, particularly regarding the height. And to his last comment of hoping to see more of this kind of development: from his keyboard to God's eyes!  I've said it on here previously and I'll say it again: I maintain that downtown Richmond needs dozens more of these high-rise, high-density residential buildings (whether or not they are connected with VCU) PARTICULARLY throughout Monroe Ward, as well as in City Center, on the edges of the Financial District (particularly along the north side of Cary Street), on Broad, Grace, Franklin, Main, Cary, Canal streets, along the canal itself and along the riverfront. 

As always, Mike provides an interesting nugget for us to file away and keep in the back of the mind: while Pinecrest currently has no concrete plans for a future RVA project, they remain interested in keeping a developmental foot in Richmond. Mike quoted Pinecrest CEO Tyler Perlmutter thusly:

“We definitely want to see how (Parc View) performs,” he said. “It’s hard to find a site that you can get zoned correctly, make the construction costs work, and then get financing for it.”

PERSONAL NOTE: Pinecrest is based here in Chicago. 

From today's Richmond BIzSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/07/24/project-snapshot-student-housing-high-rise-tops-off-in-monroe-ward/

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by I miss RVA

[wrldcoupe4]

I am pretty sure the rents on student housing like this are a lot higher than market rate apartments, which helps with the density and materials. Maybe we just need VCU to add another 10k students 

Good looking project. Would love to see more of this type density sprinkled into Monroe Ward.

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

I am pretty sure the rents on student housing like this are a lot higher than market rate apartments, which helps with the density and materials. Maybe we just need VCU to add another 10k students 

Good looking project. Would love to see more of this type density sprinkled into Monroe Ward.

LOL!  Is that even possible (re: adding 10K more students)?  VCU already sits about 30K students, right?  I don't recall if there are any universities out there that enroll much more than about 30K students, but hey, for VCU it couldn't hurt!  LOL!  

Wonder what the best use of the retail space is...some type of restaurant?  That's all I can figure...but what is really needed there?  Hmmmmm.....

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

 I am pretty sure the rents on student housing like this are a lot higher than market rate apartments, which helps with the density and materials. Maybe we just need VCU to add another 10k students 

Good looking project.

Would love to see more of this type density sprinkled into Monroe Ward.

1.) 10K students: Wow! That would really be something! 

2.) Good looking project: AMEN TO THAT!!! 

3.) More of these in Monroe Ward: From your keyboard to God's eyes, dear Guru of all things CRE!!!  

Personally, I'd love to see these kinds of buildings (size, height, density) sprouting up throughout Monroe Ward (and elsewhere downtown for that matter) like mushrooms after a spring/summer thunderstorm. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Brent114]

There are universities twice the size of VCU.  I went to one.  61,000 people attend the Ohio  State University.  Those Midwestern schools are massive. 

[plain]

5 hours ago, Brent114 said:

There are universities twice the size of VCU.  I went to one.  61,000 people attend the Ohio  State University.  Those Midwestern schools are massive. 

And given that VCU is an urban college, if they were to add even just 5000 students, that would mean... 

 

More 12+ story student housing towers

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, plain said:

And given that VCU is an urban college, if they were to add even just 5000 students, that would mean... 

 

More 12+ story student housing towers

!!!

[Shakman]

16 hours ago, plain said:

And given that VCU is an urban college, if they were to add even just 5000 students, that would mean... 

 

More 12+ story student housing towers

I love the way you think.

[whw53]

VCU is below 30k now if i recall - student rolls have been falling consecutively the last 4 or 5 years.  we will see what the fall brings but this will probably continue in the long run.  Virginia schools have always gotten a boost from out of state folks to the NE. That part of the country though demographically is changing  - young families are moving south and west.  UVA, W&M, and VT are in their own league and have national appeal but second tier state schools are competing for a dwindling supply both for  in state and out of state prospects. 

 

https://richmond.com/news/local/education/vcu-enrollment-declines-for-fourth-straight-year/article_1189d85b-a7f2-57b4-b76c-b5854e65743d.html#:~:text=The number of students enrolled,than 31%2C000 students at VCU.

edit - according to RTD, down 9% since the fall of 2018

Edited July 26, 2023 by whw53