Monroe Ward / Oregon Hill

[eandslee]

58 minutes ago, jbjust said:

Any updates on the amphitheater project?

I’m also wanting to know. Thought they were supposed to break ground by the end of Summer…or at least they were trying to. 

[jbjust]

I'm hoping/guessing they decided to wait until the Folk Festival was over to start construction.  

[eandslee]

4 hours ago, jbjust said:

I'm hoping/guessing they decided to wait until the Folk Festival was over to start construction.  

Makes sense. Hopefully we see some movement in the next week or two. 

[I miss RVA]

@RVABizSenseMikehas reporting in today's RBS about Douglas Development's sale of the little two-story building at 402 E. Grace, next door to the Grace Place apartment building currently being renovated on the northeast corner of 4th and Grace. Buyer Mark Bare is planning to renovate the building as a mixed-use development with three apartments on the second floor and commercial space on the first floor.

Mike's article included a brief update on Douglas' Harper Flats project, a sweet-looking reno at the southeast corner of 2nd & Broad.

Lots of small but good stuff happening.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/10/12/with-larger-projects-underway-douglas-development-sells-small-grace-st-building/

402 E. GRACE

 

HARPER FLATS

Edited October 12, 2023 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

City Council is considering a proposal to allow the city attorney to ask a Richmond judge to allow VCU Police to expand its authority into Oregon Hill and Randolph. According to WRIC-TV 8 News, RPD would still carry primary law enforcement authority for serious matters, but VCU Police would handle lesser issues such as loud music or house parties. The VCU Police coverage area would extend south from the Downtown Expressway to the cemeteries and go as far west as S. Allen Ave and as far east as S. Second Street in south Monroe Ward.

From WRIC-TV 8 News:

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/richmond-looks-to-expand-vcu-polices-jurisdiction/

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Brent114]

The second phase of Foushee Mews is coming along nicely. 
 

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, Brent114 said:

The second phase of Foushee Mews is coming along nicely. 
 

Nice! The design in a lot of ways is very Noo Yawk - or maybe Baldimer. (throwing a little regional dialect for fun!)

Great picture.  

[I miss RVA]

Looks like the YMCA redevelopment is about to get underway!!

RBS is reporting this morning that Y-building on Franklin Street was sold last week to the development group planning the big redev of the area around Grace, Adams and Foushee streets. The group - headed by developer George Emerson - bought the building on the heels of recently purchasing the surface parking lot behind the building on the southeast corner of Grace and Adams. Plans still call for a six-story, 70-unit apartment building at Adams and Grace. Tom Papa is also involved with the overall development group and still has plans in the works for a seven-story, 118-unit apartment building on the southwest corner of Foushee and Grace. 

While it's disappointing that -- apparently -- none of the new construction will crack 10 stories (at least according to current plans) perhaps getting these two buildings in place would help jumpstart redevelopment of this part of Monroe Ward that would (hopefully) create demand such that we'll start seeing 12 or 15-story buildings (or taller) down the road. Obviously that would become more likely as the overall economic picture hopefully improves in the coming years.

Either way - glad to see some movement on this front, particularly with the eight-story apartment building in the works at Madison and Broad and the new VPM broadcasting headquarters and WCVE-TV studios on the way on E. Broad between Fourshee and 1st streets. Great synergy coming together for the northernmost portion of Monroe Ward and the Arts District.

Interesting note in the article: the Y's offices have moved from the old Franklin Street site to new digs at W. 7th and Porter streets in Manchester.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/12/13/building-sale-signals-start-of-downtown-ymca-redevelopment/

Edited December 13, 2023 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

VPM has closed on the deal to purchase the Arts District site of their new downtown public broadcasting headquarters and studios. According to Jack Jacobs' reporting in today's RBS - the public media nonprofit payed $4.2 million for the site at 13-17 E. Broad Street. The five-story, 53,700 sq foot building is slated to break ground this spring. VERY exciting to see this project moving forward - and even more exciting that there will be live broadcast media returning to downtown after an absence of at least six decades.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/01/10/vpm-spends-4m-to-buy-site-of-future-downtown-headquarters/

Edited January 10 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

VPM has closed on the deal to purchase the Arts District site of their new downtown public broadcasting headquarters and studios. According to Jack Jacobs' reporting in today's RBS - the public media nonprofit payed $4.2 million for the site at 13-17 E. Broad Street. The five-story, 53,700 sq foot building is slated to break ground this spring. VERY exciting to see this project moving forward - and even more exciting that there will be live broadcast media returning to downtown after an absence of at least six decades.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/01/10/vpm-spends-4m-to-buy-site-of-future-downtown-headquarters/

Just thinking ahead - since groundbreaking is scheduled for the next few months. Given the location and how tight the construction site might end up being, what's the over/under that we see a boom crane on this project? It would be so cool for another boom crane to pop up over downtown, what with the two big ones at the CoStar site.

Edited January 10 by I miss RVA

[Rooster]

7 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

VPM has closed on the deal to purchase the Arts District site of their new downtown public broadcasting headquarters and studios. According to Jack Jacobs' reporting in today's RBS - the public media nonprofit payed $4.2 million for the site at 13-17 E. Broad Street. The five-story, 53,700 sq foot building is slated to break ground this spring. VERY exciting to see this project moving forward - and even more exciting that there will be live broadcast media returning to downtown after an absence of at least six decades.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/01/10/vpm-spends-4m-to-buy-site-of-future-downtown-headquarters/

I think this is going to look great on that block - I love the angled roof

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, Rooster said:

I think this is going to look great on that block - I love the angled roof

It's a sweet design, no question. Very sharp looking. Very "big city" (I know - I throw that term around about certain buildings - but it just has that look and feel to it). More importantly is what having the entire VPM operation (HQ, office, broadcast, print, web, etc.) -- plus studios for WCVE/WCVW and Virginia public radio etc. downtown -- and on Broad Street at that -- will mean for the Arts District in particular and downtown in general. This is a big step up for downtown - and I think it has a TON of potential. I can't wait for this project to get rolling and to see what the ripple effect will be for downtown. I might've said this before - but I honestly do believe this is a much bigger deal than it may appear to be on the surface and could very well be one of the most consequential and important developments downtown in years (if not decades). The dividends it will pay down the road are potentially enormous.

COROLLARY: The synergy that's building in the Arts District is tremendous - and this whole district seems poised to take off over the next few years. What with the YMCA redevelopment (including new construction at Foushee & Grace), the Bank Street Advisors' eight-story apartment building at Madison and Broad, VCU's absolutely EPIC CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation slated to rise at Belvidere and Broad, and the VPM media center on Broad between Foushee and N. 1st Street - with just these four developments alone, if they all are built at (roughly) the same time, the Arts District will take several steps forward. I can't help but hope these projects will serve to catalyze adjacent areas - and if interest rates and construction costs indeed DO come back down during 2024, perhaps the project formerly know as The Admiral at 2nd and E. Marshall could get taken out of moth balls and somehow - miraculously - get built. Perhaps, too, Tom Papa will move forward on at least one of the double-digit-floor residential buildings he's been planning for the Grace Street corridor as well.

Just seems like the Arts District is about to get RED HOT in terms of development in the very near term.

QUESTION: Does anyone know the status of the Bank Street apartment building at Madison and Broad? We haven't heard anything on that one in quite a while.

Edited January 11 by I miss RVA

[RiverYuppy]

I think this is absolutely great. Why is a major region news outlet all the way out in Chesterfield instead of in the capital?

This will incentivize workers to live in higher density housing in the Arts District, or even in neighborhoods like Church Hill, Manchester, Scott's Addition, The Fan, Northside, etc. It will also mean their lunch outings will create demand for new restaurants in the Arts District. Plus the various people who would want to visit the VPM HQ (such as for interviews, collaborations, live events) will add to demand for hotels  entertainment in the Arts District.

Now if only other significant companies would move downtown... I would love to see Capital One make a significant investment in the city like CarMax did.

[I miss RVA]

16 hours ago, RiverYuppy said:

I think this is absolutely great. Why is a major region news outlet all the way out in Chesterfield instead of in the capital?

This will incentivize workers to live in higher density housing in the Arts District, or even in neighborhoods like Church Hill, Manchester, Scott's Addition, The Fan, Northside, etc. It will also mean their lunch outings will create demand for new restaurants in the Arts District. Plus the various people who would want to visit the VPM HQ (such as for interviews, collaborations, live events) will add to demand for hotels  entertainment in the Arts District.

Now if only other significant companies would move downtown... I would love to see Capital One make a significant investment in the city like CarMax did.

It's a good question. Without knowing the actual history - and so far, my limited research isn't turning up much in terms of details - my guess would be either the land was donated or obtained cheaply with some kind of grant money. In short, the property was available. I'm not sure if WCVE and WCVW always had their studios in Bon Air - I recall going on school field trips in the very early '70s to see the Channel 23 studios - and all of us (who were like 8, 9, 10 years old) thought it was SOOOO cool that it was located at "23 Sesame Street".  

[RiverYuppy]

The 15 story student apartments is coming along pretty well! 

Also here is the lot for the planned VCU arts building.

 

[123fakestreet]

33 minutes ago, RiverYuppy said:

The 15 story student apartments is coming along pretty well! 

 

What was this prior to the new building?

[RiverYuppy]

It was a surface lot. Here is a google maps link, the 2019 version should show the surface lot.

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, RiverYuppy said:

The 15 story student apartments is coming along pretty well! 

Also here is the lot for the planned VCU arts building.

 

Wow!  LOVE the pics!  Hey, the residential tower looks like twin towers when looking at it from the east - Cool!  Looks like they are almost done. 

[123fakestreet]

2 hours ago, RiverYuppy said:

It was a surface lot. Here is a google maps link, the 2019 version should show the surface lot.

Monroe Ward, I should have known. Now just get a dozen more of these on all the other surface lots in MW.

Edited February 8 by 123fakestreet

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, 123fakestreet said:

Monroe Ward, I should have known. Now just get a dozen more of these on all the other surface lots in MW.

Amen!! From your keyboard to God's eyes, my friend! 

[Brent114]

The top seems to light up nicely* too. I’ll try to get a photo this weekend. 

*not super interesting but lit up which is unique for this part of town. 

Edited February 8 by Brent114

[Downtowner]

This was the last project that’s probably almost done before my family and I left Richmond for Winchester va. I’m so happy and proud to say I helped build that as well as the children’s hospital. I helped run conduit on the rooftop of the children’s hospital. It was one amazing view I also was on a ladder on top of the roof top and I could see all of downtown the James center riverfront plaza. It was a really cool view. You go across the rooftop you could see 95 and the adult outpatient tower looking towards Churchill. 

[I miss RVA]

Some office location shuffling that (hopefully) portends bigger and better things to come: Jonathan Spiers has reporting in Tuesday's RBS that the city's Department of Social Services is moving from the Marshall Plaza building at 900 E. Marshall to the Richmond Times-Dispatch building at 300 E. Franklin. This frees up the triangular, horrifically low-slung (as in UBER short/flat) Marshall Plaza building to go hasta la bye bye with the site slated to be redeveloped into something hopefully bigger and better as part of the larger overall City Center redevelopment district. This part of City Center would include a new John Marshall Courts building across 9th Street from the Marshall Plaza site.

it would definitely be great to see something of some decent size, density and massing replace this squat building. We gotta go vertical, folks!

From Tuesday's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/23/citys-social-services-move-to-fill-up-largely-empty-times-dispatch-building/

Edited Thursday at 01:46 PM by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

10 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Some office location shuffling that (hopefully) portends bigger and better things to come: Jonathan Spiers has reporting in Tuesday's RBS that the city's Department of Social Services is moving from the Marshall Plaza building at 900 E. Marshall to the Richmond Times-Dispatch building at 300 E. Franklin. This frees up the triangular, horrifically low-slung (as in UBER short/flat) Marshall Plaza building to go hasta la bye bye with the site slated to be redeveloped into something hopefully bigger and better as part of the larger overall City Center redevelopment district. This part of City Center would include a new John Marshall Courts building across 9th Street from the Marshall Plaza site.

it would definitely be great to see something of some decent size, density and massing replace this squat building. We gotta go vertical, folks!

From Tuesday's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/04/23/citys-social-services-move-to-fill-up-largely-empty-times-dispatch-building/

ADDITIONAL REPORTING:

Here is additional reporting from Tuesday's RT-D. One interesting nugget: the planned new courthouse building will cost roughly $300 million and is planned to be built by 2029. Depending on the footprint of where-ever this new municipal building actually is - as is depicted in the conceptual renderings in the City Center SAP - this new structure could have some decent size (height and massing) to it. 

From Tuesday's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/richmond-social-services-shamin-times-dispatch-building/article_33ea9652-0111-11ef-87e4-cb4223a468db.html

Edited Thursday at 02:31 PM by I miss RVA

[Shakman]

Stupid paywall.