Richmond off-topic postings

[RVAnouveau]

Here's some positive news - "State transportation officials announce completion of bypass designed to alleviate Acca Yard bottleneck"

 https://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/state-transportation-officials-announce-completion-of-bypass-designed-to-alleviate/article_497eb02e-e332-5ca5-9c28-166b66e8aea4.html

Quote

Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation on Monday announced the completion of a $132 million project that included improvements to the CSX-owned Acca Yard and upgrades installed around in the Richmond region while celebrating the debut of expanded Amtrak train service in Norfolk.

So glad this is done because I didn't anything was actually happening  at all. These improvements make expanding service at Main Street Station much more feasible and hopefully lay the groundwork for higher speed rail.

[blopp1234]

1 hour ago, RVAnouveau said:

Here's some positive news - "State transportation officials announce completion of bypass designed to alleviate Acca Yard bottleneck"

  https://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/state-transportation-officials-announce-completion-of-bypass-designed-to-alleviate/article_497eb02e-e332-5ca5-9c28-166b66e8aea4.html

So glad this is done because I didn't anything was actually happening  at all. These improvements make expanding service at Main Street Station much more feasible and hopefully lay the groundwork for higher speed rail.

They still have to fix most of the track from ACCA to the station itself, as currently, trains crawl at less than 25 mph from the yard to Main Street adding an extra 5-10 minutes on the trip from Main Street to staples mill. If they can fix that, it will be much more convenient to get from staples mill to Main Street, and could possibly open up expanded service at Main Street, but this is definently a start.

[eandslee]

Well, this isn’t going to help people and businesses move to the city:

Stoney proposes 9-cent hike to Richmond's real estate tax rate, 50-cent tax on cigarettes

https://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/update-stoney-proposes--cent-hike-to-richmond-s-real/article_87712a65-6fab-5a1c-8467-dda546a5412d.html

Oh, and he’d better not send any proposal for Navy Hill to City Council now - not after this announcement - that project is all but dead at this point.  I had hope, but I don’t hold out much hope anymore.  Sadly, not a good day for Richmond. 

[blopp1234]

4 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Well, this isn’t going to help people and businesses move to the city:

Stoney proposes 9-cent hike to Richmond's real estate tax rate, 50-cent tax on cigarettes

https://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/update-stoney-proposes--cent-hike-to-richmond-s-real/article_87712a65-6fab-5a1c-8467-dda546a5412d.html

Oh, and he’d better not send any proposal for Navy Hill to City Council now - not after this announcement - that project is all but dead at this point.  I had hope, but I don’t hold out much hope anymore.  Sadly, not a good day for Richmond. 

Not a good day if eandslee isn’t positive on the Richmond forums. It’s a shame that Richmond’s politicians botched yet another opportunity to help revitalize the city and make it more desireable for people trying to move to the city or developers looking to build here. Who knows, maybe Stoney doesn’t want the city to grow so that the regions housing stock doesn’t need to be increased.

Edited March 6, 2019 by blopp1234

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, blopp1234 said:

Not a good day if eandslee isn’t positive on the Richmond forums.

Sorry, I just couldn’t find a silver lining on this one.  Hopefully, it won’t pass .

Speaking of the Navy Hill project and this announcement...I wonder if these two correlate?  I’d certainly hope not, but what if the numbers really don’t work out (I don’t know, I haven’t done the math),  but I wonder if these tax increases are to offset a loss if the Navy Hill project moves forward. The timing is somewhat suspect, but maybe it’s just coincidence.  I’m certainly not in favor of any city tax increase even if it does mean a new arena. I don’t know, anything is possible I suppose. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by eandslee

[georgeglass]

I just feel like this came from left field. No one thinks we are rolling in money but with residents increasing, businesses locating to downtown, property values (assessments increasing), more development etc... shouldn't there be more money...plus I had read that a lot of properties that were developed with tax credits were now going to be taxable since the credits expired or something like that. 

I feel like we have done our part as citizens and the city still hasn't been made more efficient or accountable. As far as I can recall, Stoney's promise of a complete audit of City Hall in his first hundred days hasn't yielded much change and certainly I can see of no cost cutting measures or efficiency improvements. IMO, they should be doing everything they can to figure out where all the money is even going before asking for more.

[vaceltic]

There’s so much to say about this topic but I will hold my tongue back a bit.

Eandslee, I think you are spot on that the tax increase and Navy Hill scheme correlate. 

George, homeowners have seen ridiculous year-over-year real estate tax increases for years now, which have essentially been a tax increase without this proposal. 

The City’s financial mismanagement is infuriating and I am completely disappointed in this Mayor’s term so far.

[rjp212]

Just for comparison, since people were comparing Charlotte to Richmond the other day,  they pay a combined county/city tax rate of nearly $1.3 per 100 and it's still one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

[RiverYuppy]

I wouldn't mind the tax increase if I felt it was going to actually help significantly. 

However, I can't but wonder if this is just going to be another case of pay more for the same (or less).  Our school board clearly wastes millions of dollars maintaining empty buildings and empty classrooms.  City Auditors find things like terrible road repairs are often making us pay twice for the same job. Millions in waste from public works employees logging up to 2,000 hours in unapproved overtime. And to add to it, leaf collection got cut.

If that's what the previous tax and utility hike (on top of all this growth) got us, why am I to think this one won't be the same? To continue throwing money at things without fixing the waste almost seems enabling. 

[wrldcoupe4]

Yep - City Hall is so dysfunctional, wasteful and inefficient. If it was a well run municipality like Henrico, Arlington, etc asking for an increase I'd feel differently about it. 

[marinog711]

It kind of seems like  things are slowing down ... Not a lot of new projects or proposals to get too excited about... I want some new tall shiny buildings to look at downtown!   Is Navy Hill dead?  Has Richmond peaked?    maybe the rainy/cold weather just has me feeling some type of way... Lol

[eandslee]

5 hours ago, marinog711 said:

It kind of seems like  things are slowing down ... Not a lot of new projects or proposals to get too excited about... I want some new tall shiny buildings to look at downtown!   Is Navy Hill dead?  Has Richmond peaked?    maybe the rainy/cold weather just has me feeling some type of way... Lol

Development news seems to always slow down during the winter months.  Usually, about this time of the year there are announcements of developments that will break ground this spring and summer (we’ve gotten a couple of those already this year - namely the Children’s Hospital), but we’ve yet to see the building of many of the projects already announced.  I suspect that this spring we will see the following projects start or get going in earnest:

1) VCU Health’s Adult Out-Patient Tower

2) VCU Health’s in-patient Children’s Hispital

3) The New General Assembly Building

4) South Falls in Manchester

5) Maybe later this year we may see movement on Dominion Energy’s second tower

6) “The Current” in Manchester

And these are the ones I can think of right off the top of my head. I probably missed a few others, but those are the major projects. Perhaps we will see a surprise announcement or two this spring as well. I would love to see a tall mixed use building announced for the Monroe Ward. We saw a little movement in that part of town this winter, but I predict there will be more soon ( just my uneducated guess).  There are other projects in Scott’s Addition that I didn’t even mention. The list goes on and on.  I think the city is in a state of major construction right now (or will be this summer).  So, despite the “slow down” in announcements, there is still a lot to be done.  Also, who knows what’s already in the planning phase!  There could be so much more we don’t even know about yet. I’d say the future is still bright. 

Oh, and I didn’t even mention the new arena (Navy Hill)...not sure if it’s officially dead yet, but with each passing day, the public’s opinion of the development probably wanes, which is not good.  Otherwise, I think Richmond is looking pretty good.  I’d like to see more private development downtown (i.e. more companies moving downtown), but not sure how likely that is with the city government the way it is (that’s a very frustrating part of all this).  Just think what would happen if the city had decent leadership?!  Holy smokes the city would see so much more development!  Maybe in time.  

[eandslee]

In the absence of any major developments to talk about, I thought I’d ask the group a fun question:

Which of all the proposed projects for Richmond that didn’t end up happening (for whatever reason) do you wish had come to fruition?  Where was it supposed to be built and post a rendering if you can.

I’ll start it off with Centennial Towers.  Really wish that the real estate bubble bust in the 2000s did not kill this project.  It would have made for a very prominent place in the skyline- just imagine it!  It was to go on the 500 block between 5th and 6th streets:

Edited March 13, 2019 by eandslee

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

If Centennial Towers was the 'it' project that never happened, close 2nd place goes to Pinnacle Place

Strangely enough, I can't find a single picture on the internet for it. I wonder if I'm even remembering the name correctly

[Downtowner]

Yeah I was really bummed when I found out centennial towers wasn’t being built. One I’m definitely bummed about is the 321 at the locks tower when suntrust was supposed to take space in it. When I found out it had been scaled down to what it is now I was highly disappointed. Another one I was bummed about that’s more recent is that residential tower that was supposed to be built on grace street. That one looked like it was a really good spot for that tower. I’m not really sure what happened to that one.


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[Brent114]

Around 1991 there was a 14 floor apartment building planned for Franklin Street ( diagonally across from the YMCA).  NIMBYism, not market forces, killed it.  It was brick with dark green balconies (very Richmond) yet there were cries to “save the identity of the neighborhood” and city hall rejected the SUP. 

It has been nearly 30 years and the lot is still empty.   Barely any new construction has happened in Monroe  Ward since.  I can’t help but wonder if this building could have started the residential ball rolling downtown. 

[eandslee]

27 minutes ago, RVA-Is-The-Best said:

If Centennial Towers was the 'it' project that never happened, close 2nd place goes to Pinnacle Place

Strangely enough, I can't find a single picture on the internet for it. I wonder if I'm even remembering the name correctly

I just looked myself and couldn’t find the rendering either.  I just remember that the rendering flared out the top of that tower to the point where it looked weird.  Would have been nice though, so I agree!

Does anyone else remember the spiraled (twisted) tower that was proposed for Hull St, and 150 (Chippenham Pwy)?

[Downtowner]

I just looked myself and couldn’t find the rendering either.  I just remember that the rendering flared out the top of that tower to the point where it looked weird.  Would have been nice though, so I agree!
Does anyone else remember the spiraled (twisted) tower that was proposed for Hull St, and 150 (Chippenham Pwy)?

I’ve heard of it but it was during before I was born. I was born in 1988. I would of loved to of been around during the time it was proposed. It’s a shame it wasn’t going to be built downtown somewhere.


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[eandslee]

Here it is (ha ha ha):

Was proposed in 1985!

http://www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/neverbuilt/images.asp?id=11

[Downtowner]

Here it is (ha ha ha):
Was proposed in 1985!
http://www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/neverbuilt/images.asp?id=11

I always felt like that was one ugly building. The height is nice but design wise yuck.


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[eandslee]

27 minutes ago, Downtowner said:

I always felt like that was one ugly building. The height is nice but design wise yuck.


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Well, it doesn’t have a flat roof like most towers in Richmond and it has a spire!!

[Icetera]

13 hours ago, Downtowner said:

I always felt like that was one ugly building. The height is nice but design wise yuck.


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The location was awful.  If I recall, it was supposed to be near Cloverleaf rather than around downtown.

[CitiWalker]

16 hours ago, Downtowner said:

I always felt like that was one ugly building. The height is nice but design wise yuck.


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This was suppose to be 600 Ft. it would have been the tallest building in Va.

[Icetera]

Hey, just a heads up on the down-votes.  I notice a lot of down-votes that may be more a reaction to the subject of the post rather than meant to be a negative towards the poster.  I doubt the reputation really has any significance, but I do not think that is the intent of the down-vote as it drops the user's reputation.  From playing with the system I think all the others, with exception of the of the sad, are positive to the user's reputation.

Edited April 1, 2019 by Icetera
Grammar

[RiverYuppy]

RTD had a pretty cool "From The Archives"

RVA then and now

It's photos from the 60s and 70s lined up with google street view.

Edited April 8, 2019 by RiverYuppy