Fulton / Rockett's Landing

[ancientcarpenter]

On 4/20/2021 at 11:36 AM, vaceltic said:

Surrounding context from the Downtown Riverfront Master Plan...

Maybe I'm alone in this but I am ecstatic that the land was bought by a conservatory group and will be donated to the city for permanent public and city space. I am an avid mountain biker in the city and sometimes ride Cap Trail with my road bike, this will be a wonderful addition to our city to connect the city to rockets landing and the rest of the Cap Trail. This is a great sign that the city is growing in a healthy direction- parks are essential to the well being of the residents that use that area and those who live there. For me, I wouldn't even consider living in Rockets Landing if it didn't have the Cap Trail and some type of large, open park for me to use with my dogs. As much as I love new development, this is what we need in my opinion. 

[Icetera]

2 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Maybe I'm alone in this but I am ecstatic that the land was bought by a conservatory group and will be donated to the city for permanent public and city space. I am an avid mountain biker in the city and sometimes ride Cap Trail with my road bike, this will be a wonderful addition to our city to connect the city to rockets landing and the rest of the Cap Trail. This is a great sign that the city is growing in a healthy direction- parks are essential to the well being of the residents that use that area and those who live there. For me, I wouldn't even consider living in Rockets Landing if it didn't have the Cap Trail and some type of large, open park for me to use with my dogs. As much as I love new development, this is what we need in my opinion. 

It will be nice during the day, but walking at night will still be discouraged.  I wish we could at least get some development along Dock St/Main St to reconnect Fulton/Rocketts with the rest of the city.  Currently between this, Fulton Gas Works, Gillies Creek Park, Libby Hill Park, and Chimborazo Park the area feels completely cut off.  I am also still disappointed that the Capitol Trail is simply a line of asphalt rather than a nice promenade or quay better integrating Rocketts and the river.

 

[ancientcarpenter]

22 minutes ago, Icetera said:

It will be nice during the day, but walking at night will still be discouraged.  I wish we could at least get some development along Dock St/Main St to reconnect Fulton/Rocketts with the rest of the city.  Currently between this, Fulton Gas Works, Gillies Creek Park, Libby Hill Park, and Chimborazo Park the area feels completely cut off.  I am also still disappointed that the Capitol Trail is simply a line of asphalt rather than a nice promenade or quay better integrating Rocketts and the river.

 

Have you seen what the city park's department plans with that land? It won't be sitting there like it is today.  Can't find link but they plan to build a community center that gives people chance to learn about the parks, river, and use the water system (kayaking, etc.) It's a great addition to RVA and definitely that area.

 

In my opinion, not everything needs to be development. I wouldn't want to live in the middle of concrete all the time. I live in Byrd Park and I use the parks around me 2-4x a day with my dogs. Can't imagine how much more use I will get out of it when we have children here. 

Look at central park in NYC. Literally billions of dollars worth of land that is not developed and it is the prize of NYC. 

[Shakman]

I think this property could have been both developed and still have ample amount of open space along the water.  Some ground floor restaurants and residential above with views of the water would have been nice.  Just my opinion.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Shakman

[Icetera]

8 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Have you seen what the city park's department plans with that land? It won't be sitting there like it is today.  Can't find link but they plan to build a community center that gives people chance to learn about the parks, river, and use the water system (kayaking, etc.) It's a great addition to RVA and definitely that area.

 

In my opinion, not everything needs to be development. I wouldn't want to live in the middle of concrete all the time. I live in Byrd Park and I use the parks around me 2-4x a day with my dogs. Can't imagine how much more use I will get out of it when we have children here. 

Look at central park in NYC. Literally billions of dollars worth of land that is not developed and it is the prize of NYC. 

I am definitely looking forward to the added center and direction they are going.  And yes, Central Park is amazing, as is the James River Park system which is essentially our Central Park.  What Central Park (as well as Maymont/Byrd Park) does not do is completely cutoff neighborhoods.  Sure, Upper East Side is disconnected from Upper West Side but they are still all interwoven to the core city.  The problem is, even the nicest parks are perceived to be unsafe at night as they are either closed or have very little foot-traffic.  We need to also have some human level connectivity via shops and residences between neighborhoods to eliminate the disconnect in the evening.  We can have both the riverside park and developments creating this link.

[123fakestreet]

6 hours ago, Shakman said:

I think this property could have been both developed and still have ample amount of open space along the water.  Some ground floor restaurants and residential above with views of the water would have been nice.  Just my opinion.

 

 

This. There is tons of river access/park space in this city, not like we are protecting the last few bits of it. There is a large existing park literally adjacent to this one, and another one 1/10 mile down the road. Just don't see the need to turn this spot into a park, especially given its just a muddy field no one uses, I don't think people  will suddenly start using it because it is now officially a park.

 

Yes they are building a nature center, but it's going to be on the one little corner of the property that is up at street level, not the larger part that is down the hill.  They could give that one corner to the park system for the nature center and still develop a nice riverfront property on the rest.  

Edited August 25, 2021 by 123fakestreet

[Shakman]

Forgot that a few weeks ago I did mention about relocating the aquarium on this plot of land.  An aquarium could draw people to this under utilized area of town which can help spur future developments.  Relating to my previous post, there will still be plenty of open space available. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Shakman

[Richmonopoly]

1 hour ago, Shakman said:

Forgot that a few weeks ago I did mention about relocating the aquarium on this plot of land.  An aquarium could draw people to this under utilized area of town which can help spur future developments.  Relating to my previous post, there will still be plenty of open space available. 

This would be great! 

[keo091]

How about connecting Manchester to Rockett’s Landing via a new bridge over the James from the I-95 Manchester exit? If only the Richmond Wastewater Treatment Plant wasn’t in the way and could be relocated elsewhere as Ancarrow’s Landing looks to be prime real estate for a brand new neighborhood especially if it could be connected with a bridge into Rockett’s to help spur even more development towards the east connecting to Orleans Street and ending at Williamsburg Road. Just an idea..

[Icetera]

13 hours ago, keo091 said:

How about connecting Manchester to Rockett’s Landing via a new bridge over the James from the I-95 Manchester exit? If only the Richmond Wastewater Treatment Plant wasn’t in the way and could be relocated elsewhere as Ancarrow’s Landing looks to be prime real estate for a brand new neighborhood especially if it could be connected with a bridge into Rockett’s to help spur even more development towards the east connecting to Orleans Street and ending at Williamsburg Road. Just an idea..

Oh, that is certainly something I have dreamed of for quite some time.  There are two challenges to keep in mind:

1) The river is navigable at this point so the bridge either needs significant clearance (such as I-895 bridge), therefore, would need to connect direct to Williamsburg Road and cross over the railyard or have some expensive mechanism such as a draw or swing bridge.  Rocketts is filled out so the first option is no longer possible from Williamsburg Rd. directly.

2) This bridge would become a primary route from East End and Varina to I-95 and Southside Richmond.  This means it needs to handle a significant amount of traffic and removing some of this from the bottleneck of Dock/Main is likely needed in the future.   Orleans St. could not handle this (it would also destroy the restaurant views), though with the new intersection setup at Nicholson it may be possible.  Most traffic would likely be coming down Old Osbourne, therefore, a crossing around Bickerstaff would likely be the best option with a direct ramp to I-95 and connecting to Goodes St.  This would have full clearance of the Wastewater Plant and Vulcan quarries.  A new bridge or tunnel across Fulton Yards may still be needed to better connect Williamsburg Road traffic, perhaps around Potomac and Hatcher St.  This could coordinate with restoring a street grid encouraging mixed-use developments around S.B. Cox properties.

[I miss RVA]

On 8/24/2021 at 12:34 PM, I miss RVA said:

The Conch Republic restaurant space won't stay empty for long. From Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2021/08/23/boathouse-owner-docks-at-conch-republic-space-in-rocketts-landing/

 

UPDATE - Island Shrimp Co. is moving into the Conch Republic space in Rocketts - should be open for business beginning in March. Glad to see this will be opening back up in the very near future!

From Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2021/11/11/island-shrimp-co-taking-former-conch-republic-space-in-rocketts-landing/

[Icetera]

Per Reddit, it appears that the Fulton Gas Works site is now under demolition.  I will have to take a walk by later to investigate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rva/comments/qt7mod/rip_fulton_gas_works_demolition_in_progress/

 

[Jordon]

Progress update

[I miss RVA]

Oh WOW!! Thanks so much for taking and posting these! SO good to see this project is well underway! It will be transformative to that part of town. 

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

12 hours ago, Jordon said:

Progress update

Me likey

[CitiWalker]

 Some additional photos.

[Brent114]

I’ve personally found that this is a difficult site to photograph.   I’ve snapped a few photos over the last couple of weeks but never posted them. 
 
The building seems huge and super visible until you photograph it.  For those out of town, it’s way more prominent than it appears.    

Edited February 27, 2022 by Brent114

[I miss RVA]

I can see where vantage point and topography create that visual problem. I'm guessing that, at distance, the building looks a lot bigger. But up close - because the topography is such that it falls away and puts the viewer at a diminished vantage point, the structure becomes almost "hidden" and looks a lot smaller.

Edited February 27, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Jordon]

2 hours ago, Brent114 said:

I’ve personally found that this is a difficult site to photograph.   I’ve snapped a few photos over the last couple of weeks but never posted them. 
 
The building seems huge and super visible until you photograph it.  For those out of town, it’s way more prominent than it appears.    

Especially off the i95 bridge 

[I miss RVA]

33 minutes ago, Jordon said:

Especially off the i95 bridge 

Might we get a picture or two?

[Icetera]

I have been really bad at digging these off my phone but here is a different vantage point from a month ago and one from the other night.  It really is difficult to capture the scale of that building.  The lower two levels of parking are actually quite massive inside (shhh).

 

[ancientcarpenter]

On 2/23/2022 at 4:01 PM, Jordon said:

Progress update

Can someone spot this for me on the RVA Dev Map? Having a hard time finding it...

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, Icetera said:

I have been really bad at digging these off my phone but here is a different vantage point from a month ago and one from the other night.  It really is difficult to capture the scale of that building.  The lower two levels of parking are actually quite massive inside (shhh).

 

Wow, Ice... GREAT shots!  Thanks so much for taking and posting these! This building honestly is huge, particularly for that part of town - and it will be transformative. I hope we'll see several more buildings like these rising in the Rockett's/Fulton section of the city.

What an epic shot, of both the project itself AND downtown in the distance. So cool to see how the two new VCU Health buildings (the outpatient hospital and the expanded Children's Hospital) plus the new G.A. Building have REALLLLLY beefed up the northern portion of the skyline, both in terms of height and density. Interesting, too - if you look closely in the first picture - off the distance, just to the right of the big smokestack - you can see the Gladdings residence on VCU's academic campus - it really has quite a bit of size & presence to it for a 12-story-tall building!

No question: the construction burst of 2019-2021 has been very good to the skyline. I can't wait for all the projects that could get started this year to break ground and get under way!

[Jordon]

On 2/27/2022 at 5:53 PM, I miss RVA said:

Might we get a picture or two?

 

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, Jordon said:

 

HOLY WOW!! You weren't kidding about how big this building is - and how prominently it shows from the I-95 James River Bridge. WOWWW!!  We need a few more of these beauties in Rocketts/Fulton bottom. It's this kind of size that will dramatically impact density in a section of the city that is already well on the way to significantly boosting its level of density.

Thanks for taking and posting this!