Richmond off-topic postings

[KJHburg]

Tomorrow kicks off the Year of the Trail in NC and I would encourage you to head south to hike, bike, or canoe on one of our trails, greenways, mountain bike trails or blueways. 

https://greattrailsnc.com/

You have all heard of the Appalachian Trail which crosses NC for miles before entering into VA but you may not know of the Mountains to the Sea Trail that will be 1400 miles when completed from the highest peaks in the state to highest sand dunes on the east coast in the Outer Banks.

https://trails.nc.gov/state-trails/mountains-sea-state-trail

Here is a little video intro and whether it our Rail Trail in Charlotte that is featured on the sandy trails on our coast come down to NC this year or the highest mountain peaks in the east. 

Some of cities have some of the best greenway systems in the nation like Raleigh and Cary for example:

Look at this map of just Raleigh's greenways. 

https://cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/drupal-prod/COR24/raleigh-greenway-map.pdf

Happy New Year from Charlotte and NC! 

 

[Hike]

37 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Tomorrow kicks off the Year of the Trail in NC and I would encourage you to head south to hike, bike, or canoe on one of our trails, greenways, mountain bike trails or blueways. 

https://greattrailsnc.com/

You have all heard of the Appalachian Trail which crosses NC for miles before entering into VA but you may not know of the Mountains to the Sea Trail that will be 1400 miles when completed from the highest peaks in the state to highest sand dunes on the east coast in the Outer Banks.

https://trails.nc.gov/state-trails/mountains-sea-state-trail

Here is a little video intro and whether it our Rail Trail in Charlotte that is featured on the sandy trails on our coast come down to NC this year or the highest mountain peaks in the east. 

Some of cities have some of the best greenway systems in the nation like Raleigh and Cary for example:

Look at this map of just Raleigh's greenways. 

https://cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/drupal-prod/COR24/raleigh-greenway-map.pdf

Happy New Year from Charlotte and NC! 

 

I like the NC trails, hike them as often as we can. We do a regular trek to Blowing rock, Julian Price camp ground on the Blue Ridge parkway or on to Pisgah or all the way to the Smokies, beautiful scenery and great hikes, Mt. Mitchell, just good stuff. Some of it reminds me of the New England trails, the high country of NC. VA is doing the same thing, all the state parks are free tomorrow. We’re staying away from the trails as our preference is to see as few people as possible, we really like to be quite, listen for wildlife, walk alone and just be away from crowds, no passing other hikers or walking behind them etc. ruins it for us. This does make sense for getting new people out and introducing them to hikes, we did that ourselves and met in a hiking club, but now, we’re experienced, older and enjoy it differently and yes, go hike tomorrow, wherever you can!  Happy new year and to a great 2023,  walk on everyone, walk on! 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, Hike said:

I like the NC trails, hike them as often as we can. We do a regular trek to Blowing rock, Julian Price camp ground on the Blue Ridge parkway or on to Pisgah or all the way to the Smokies, beautiful scenery and great hikes, Mt. Mitchell, just good stuff. Some of it reminds me of the New England trails, the high country of NC. VA is doing the same thing, all the state parks are free tomorrow. We’re staying away from the trails as our preference is to see as few people as possible, we really like to be quite, listen for wildlife, walk alone and just be away from crowds, no passing other hikers or walking behind them etc. ruins it for us. This does make sense for getting new people out and introducing them to hikes, we did that ourselves and met in a hiking club, but now, we’re experienced, older and enjoy it differently and yes, go hike tomorrow, wherever you can!  Happy new year and to a great 2023,  walk on everyone, walk on! 

Great to hear and love the area you mentioned.  Our NC state parks are free year round except for a couple of them.  Mt Mitchell is like hiking in southern Canada and is always the coldest place in the state due its elevation of 6684 feet.  Some of my favorite NC state parks close to Richmond would be Merchants Millpond in northeastern NC and of course Jockeys Ridge in Nags Head.  Pettigrew State Park is really nice too. 

[Hike]

3 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Great to hear and love the area you mentioned.  Our NC state parks are free year round except for a couple of them.  Mt Mitchell is like hiking in southern Canada and is always the coldest place in the state due its elevation of 6684 feet.  Some of my favorite NC state parks close to Richmond would be Merchants Millpond in northeastern NC and of course Jockeys Ridge in Nags Head.  Pettigrew State Park is really nice too. 

Nice having them free, I know NC does a good job promoting the outdoors, as does VA. We have a VA state park life pass, got that about 7 or 8 years ago, can’t remember the cost, but it’s “free” now, though we paid back then. I’ve done 2 of the 3 parks mentioned but need to look up Pettigrew and make a trip at some point or stop by on the way to another destination.  We’re lucky having 2 beautiful states to explore and enjoy. I almost hate saying this as I really love VA but feel NC small towns have done a much better job and have figured out how to take advantage of their location and how to attract tourists with their arts, crafts, inns, access, trails, housing, restaurants, etc, where here, many of our small towns in the hills and valleys have mostly remained just rural towns, gas stations, deer checking stations, fast food, etc., working poor towns, there are a few, like Damascus, but even that is not the same.  Hats off to NC, its outdoor scene is good, but we have plenty here too so it’s good to have our connection and take advantage of both and make the trip to each other’s offerings!

[KJHburg]

@HikeTry a section of that Mountains to the Sea trail and  you might have already been on it as it goes through Mt Mitchell.  We  have a great regional trail system not all linked but growing called the Carolina Thread Trail encompassing 2 states and about 15 counties in and around Charlotte.   Richmond itself has some great trails along the river correct?  My friends who lived there both moved away so I will be exploring some down in VA Beach next year.  I grew up in the NoVa suburbs of DC so they have lots of great places but I was not as much into hiking then.   But now anytime I go somewhere I look up greenways or trails in the area.  and yes I have conquered Mt Trashmore in Va Beach already! 

[Hike]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

@HikeTry a section of that Mountains to the Sea trail and  you might have already been on it as it goes through Mt Mitchell.  We  have a great regional trail system not all linked but growing called the Carolina Thread Trail encompassing 2 states and about 15 counties in and around Charlotte.   Richmond itself has some great trails along the river correct?  My friends who lived there both moved away so I will be exploring some down in VA Beach next year.  I grew up in the NoVa suburbs of DC so they have lots of great places but I was not as much into hiking then.   But now anytime I go somewhere I look up greenways or trails in the area.  and yes I have conquered Mt Trashmore in Va Beach already! 

Mt. Trashmore, never thought of that one, too funny. As for river trails in RVA, yes, plenty there but I’m not doing those very often anymore, mostly go west to the hills now. I’ve hiked some small sections of the MST as it crisscrosses the Blue Ridge parkway. I do like this trail because when we hike it there’s rarely anyone on it, at least where we were, it has nice views and it’s well blazed, never overnighted on it unfortunately. We’re the same way, all our trips now are based on hikes, parks mountains and trails.

[eandslee]

Happy New Year everyone!  It’s now 2023 - a year that may prove one of the busiest for seeing seeing projects move forward in RVA.

just for fun:

What are you most looking forward to this new year?  Also, what do you hope happens that hasn’t been formally announced?

[Hike]

25 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Happy New Year everyone!  It’s now 2023 - a year that may prove one of the busiest for seeing seeing projects move forward in RVA.

just for fun:

What are you most looking forward to this new year?  Also, what do you hope happens that hasn’t been formally announced?

Happy new year to you as well. 
I’m most looking forward to CoStar getting going with cranes up and maybe a surprise project like the Monroe building being updated and converted to more downtown living.

[I miss RVA]

7 hours ago, eandslee said:

Happy New Year everyone!  It’s now 2023 - a year that may prove one of the busiest for seeing seeing projects move forward in RVA.

just for fun:

What are you most looking forward to this new year?  Also, what do you hope happens that hasn’t been formally announced?

Happy New Year, my dear friend!! I'll give you my answer to your question in what has become our RVA UP bi-annual tradition - forthcoming (I need to put together the workup and I've got NFL Red Zone on at the moment so I'm a tad distracted )

[Shakman]

On 1/1/2023 at 6:00 AM, eandslee said:

Happy New Year everyone!  It’s now 2023 - a year that may prove one of the busiest for seeing seeing projects move forward in RVA.

just for fun:

What are you most looking forward to this new year?  Also, what do you hope happens that hasn’t been formally announced?

Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl.  Announcement of Virginia's tallest tower in Downtown.

Edited January 3, 2023 by Shakman

[eandslee]

2 hours ago, Shakman said:

Announcement of Virginia's tallest tower in Downtown.

This one would definitely be a surprise!  Not expecting it, but isn’t that how it works sometimes?  Out of the blue we’ll get some news that was just off of anyone’s radar. Would be nice though!  We’ll see just how good 2023 is to Richmond and it’s downtown skyline. 
 

Speaking of which…CoStar should be starting in earnest any day now.  Locals, please keep your eyes peeled!

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, Shakman said:

Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl.  Announcement of Virginia's tallest tower in Downtown.

How about a Super Bowl matchup of Buffalo vs Minnesota? SOMEONE would break their curse! 

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, eandslee said:

This one would definitely be a surprise!  Not expecting it, but isn’t that how it works sometimes?  Out of the blue we’ll get some news that was just off of anyone’s radar. Would be nice though!  We’ll see just how good 2023 is to Richmond and it’s downtown skyline. 
 

Speaking of which…CoStar should be starting in earnest any day now.  Locals, please keep your eyes peeled!

"Cranes!! Cranes!! My kingdom for tower cranes!!"  

Edited January 3, 2023 by I miss RVA

[flaneur]

i'm most excited about all the infill going in downtown--the 15 story student housing already underway, the lovely new 8 story building near quirk, and others in the works. i'd rather have a lot of that than one large office tower, though i do look forward to seeing costar rise. i'm also excited about the diamond district, the coliseum rfp process, the work to get started on the national slavery center/museum, and hopefully keeping the pulse and other bus transit free.

unannounced--i would love to see capital one seize upon low commercial space rents and move some of its west creek functions downtown.

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, flaneur said:

i'm most excited about all the infill going in downtown--the 15 story student housing already underway, the lovely new 8 story building near quirk, and others in the works. i'd rather have a lot of that than one large office tower, though i do look forward to seeing costar rise. i'm also excited about the diamond district, the coliseum rfp process, the work to get started on the national slavery center/museum, and hopefully keeping the pulse and other bus transit free.

unannounced--i would love to see capital one seize upon low commercial space rents and move some of its west creek functions downtown.

To your first point: we got us "a whole lotta shakin' goin' on" these days in RVA.   I've never -- EVER -- seen THIS level of such robust development happening so broadly on a citywide scale. So much focus has been on Manchester and Scott's Addition - and now it's really nice to see downtown stepping up and really getting into the mix. It is absolutely unprecedented. 

And to your second point: from your keyboard to God's eyes, my friend! 

[flaneur]

speaking of prognostications, here's bizsense's crystal ball for 2023. i am interested in seeing how the old beaufont mall turns out across from cloverleaf, and stony point too as it has a lot of potential, even though i really dislike malls. 
https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/01/03/the-bizsense-crystal-ball-things-to-watch-in-2023/

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, flaneur said:

speaking of prognostications, here's bizsense's crystal ball for 2023. i am interested in seeing how the old beaufont mall turns out across from cloverleaf, and stony point too as it has a lot of potential, even though i really dislike malls. 
https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/01/03/the-bizsense-crystal-ball-things-to-watch-in-2023/

The complete transformation of the old Beaufont site with skating rinks, etc., really is quite the interesting project. It'll be neat to see this get built out and see how well it does. I hope it's successful!

[Child2021]

Here's an update: 

2 mobile cranes at westminister canterbury, along with and actual crane.

Spring rock green site has been fenced off for the first phase, and is set to be demolished. 

8 story in scotts addition continues to rise in terms of height with precast sticking out. 

Kemps storage development is moving at a rapid pace as the first unit has largely topped off.

Henrico plaza development continues to get bulit also. 

Costar seems to be making so progress.

[Brent114]

I’m currently in Denver waiting  on my flight home.  Gotta say, this place is a dump.   It’s not that Denver is terrible, it’s just that it is so overhyped.   There is a ton of construction happening, of course, but downtown is looking terrible.  It seems upwards of 60% of all the retail and restaurant spaces are empty (with peeling paper on the windows) and the inner suburbs are just fugly (and have been since the 60’s).   

I've been coming here pretty much annually since 1986 (have lots of family here) and I’ve never been happier to go home.  I’ve also never been more proud to live in Richmond. 
 

In all fairness Denver is at an awkward size.  It has grown too big to be a boutique, quaint city but not big enough to keep the businesses open.   I’ve always found the suburbs to be extremely ugly and this, my first trip back since COVID, really reinforced my feelings.  I used to love  downtown but it is just very ugly too at the moment.  I saw the nice areas (my sister lives in one, Cherry Creek) but they are surrounded by decaying strip malls and ranches.  The lack of trees does a huge disservice (all of the ugliness is on display in very direction instead of being shielded by trees).  I’m only being so harsh because this town is so hyped. 
 

On a side note I spent time on this trip in Fort Collins too (4th visit to that city).  It is adorable and keeps getting better.

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, Child2021 said:

Here's an update: 

2 mobile cranes at westminister canterbury, along with and actual crane.

Spring rock green site has been fenced off for the first phase, and is set to be demolished. 

8 story in scotts addition continues to rise in terms of height with precast sticking out. 

Kemps storage development is moving at a rapid pace as the first unit has largely topped off.

Henrico plaza development continues to get bulit also. 

Costar seems to be making so progress.

Really good stuff!  Now, the one in Scott's - that's the Novel, north of the Acca yards/across from the Diamond District, yes?  And cranes at Westminster Canterbury - any chance for a couple of pix? 

Edited January 8, 2023 by I miss RVA

[blopp1234]

1 hour ago, Brent114 said:

I’m currently in Denver waiting  on my flight home.  Gotta say, this place is a dump.   It’s not that Denver is terrible, it’s just that it is so overhyped.   There is a ton of construction happening, of course, but downtown is looking terrible.  It seems upwards of 60% of all the retail and restaurant spaces are empty (with peeling paper on the windows) and the inner suburbs are just fugly (and have been since the 60’s).   

I've been coming here pretty much annually since 1986 (have lots of family here) and I’ve never been happier to go home.  I’ve also never been more proud to live in Richmond. 
 

In all fairness Denver is at an awkward size.  It has grown too big to be a boutique, quaint city but not big enough to keep the businesses open.   I’ve always found the suburbs to be extremely ugly and this, my first trip back since COVID, really reinforced my feelings.  I used to love  downtown but it is just very ugly too at the moment.  I saw the nice areas (my sister lives in one, Cherry Creek) but they are surrounded by decaying strip malls and ranches.  The lack of trees does a huge disservice (all of the ugliness is on display in very direction instead of being shielded by trees).  I’m only being so harsh because this town is so hyped. 
 

On a side note I spent time on this trip in Fort Collins too (4th visit to that city).  It is adorable and keeps getting better.

Got an Aunt and Uncle who live in Fort Collins and I’d absolutely agree it’s a great small city. They have a dedicated BRT line which is very cool for a city of that size and are working to get Amtrak to Denver within the next 10-15 years. Want to go out there again soon!

 

As far as Denver goes, I haven’t spent much time there and have only been downtown for a Rockies game and to the airport a few years ago. I’d say outside of the mountains the views there are barren and ugly and most of the buildings that weren’t built before World War 2 appear pretty ugly. Phoenix from the outside seems to be like this too, but I could be wrong, will be able to determine for myself in a week when I fly out there.
 

 

[I miss RVA]

@Brent114and @blopp1234-- I realize you guys are focusing on aesthetics. I can't speak to "overhyping" of Denver - but I'll say this - with a city population of 715,000, an MSA of just under 3 million and a CSA of 3.6 million (not to mention clubs in ALL of the "big four" U.S. professional sports leagues) - the city (which grew by 19% during the 20-teens) and region are certainly doing something right. Denver is the 19th largest city in the U.S. and its CSA is the 17th largest.  It's also the fifth-largest state capital in the country.

I hear you that Denver's not your preference - which is cool. Much as I like visiting Phoenix, it's not my preference either (but that has more to do with the weather and the fact that so much stuff is spread out). I do enjoy visiting there, though. Great place to play golf! 

Either way,  I only wish Richmond could tap into some Urban Miracle Grow and that we could really boost our numbers and bump up our rate of growth. At the rate we're going, I fear that could live to be 100 and the city will still be stuck still with a population figure beginning with the number "2" and the metro will still have a population figure beginning with the number "1" ... 

That's not even remotely acceptable to me. I absolutely cannot abide by Richmond being some small antiquated quaint, boutique "city". Those aren't cities to me and it's certainly not what I envision for Richmond's future, God-forbid!! Mind you, I realize that technically Boston, New York, San Francisco can be classified as "boutique" cities - which is fine because they're not these small, quaint places that haven't changed one iota in the past 100 years - and they have (in TRAINLOADS) what I want most for Richmond - SIZE. (and LOTS of it!)

I would have no problem at all with RVA as a boutique city along the line of THOSE metropolises (Boston, NY, SF) -- and she need not remain "small" to do it. Robust - even supercharged growth - and aesthetics are NOT in any way mutually exclusive.

Edited January 8, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Brent114]

I’m not suggesting that Richmond stay small to avoid becoming ugly.  We already have plenty of ugly areas as a small city, they are just obscured by trees .  
 

When I first started visiting Denver it was more precious, for lack of a better word. Downtown was the place to be and it was healthy and beautiful.  Now, even though the city  is much, much bigger it has lost its luster, IMO.  When it grows bigger (which it certainly will) downtown will fill back in.   Now it’s largely empty and very evident that the working population hasn’t really returned.  It made me appreciate Richmond more.  

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, Brent114 said:

I’m not suggesting that Richmond stay small to avoid becoming ugly.  We already have plenty of ugly areas as a small city, they are just obscured by trees .  
 

When I first started visiting Denver it was more precious, for lack of a better word. Downtown was the place to be and it was healthy and beautiful.  Now, even though the city  is much, much bigger it has lost its luster, IMO.  When it grows bigger (which it certainly will) downtown will fill back in.   Now it’s largely empty and very evident that the working population hasn’t really returned.  It made me appreciate Richmond more.  

RVA's ugly obscured by trees - THIS, my dear friend, is SOOOOO true! 

To your point of Denver's downtown filling back in as the city grows and how this relates to RVA, that's my biggest hope for Richmond. As folks recently have commented on here -- downtown RVA is a ghost town, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. Mind you, it spent a good 30 or 40 years working hard to become a ghost town and I speak from experience, having worked downtown throughout the '80s when the decline was readily apparent. (It was a HUGE drop-off from what downtown was like just 10 and 20 years prior). Honestly, I think as RVA grows and gets bigger - particularly as she gets MUCH MUCH bigger, we'll see that ugly be stripped away and no longer need trees to obscure it. I would argue that Denver doesn't "need" to get any larger as much as Richmond most DEFINITELY NEEDS to get a LOT bigger. She has SO much freakin' potential that - if she just inches along and is still at less than 300,000 population 20 or 30 years from now - will be absolutely and irrevocably wasted.

So often we talk about how downtown needs a baseline population of 30,000 residents (as was pointed out some 40 years ago by my urban planning professors at VCU). Okay - but why stop at 30,000? Why not 50,000? Or 80,000 living downtown? Why cannot all those empty blocks in the Sea of Parking Lots that is Monroe Ward be filled to bursting with huge residential development? And for those who would have a sudden case of the vapors and clamor how 80,000 downtown residents is more than ______________________________ (fill in the blank "major" city has in its downtown) - I say - SO WHAT?? WHY NOT aim for that? We'll never fly any higher than the treetops if we don't aim for the stars. And this city has spent the better part of five decades NOT getting very far off the ground. It's only been the last five to ten years that she's finally starting to get somewhere - and the sky's the limit.

I say the only thing standing in between Richmond and her becoming the truly great and amazing upper-end midsize/lower-end "big" city she's capable of becoming (a.k.a. the "stars") is air and opportunity. And given the momentum she's been building over the past five to ten years, it seems quite apparent that said opportunity is starting (or minimally trying) to knock. Let's grab ahold of that opportunity and fly with it! 

I just hope and pray I live long enough to see it.

Edited January 8, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Child2021]

The Wegmans project is soundly moving along, note that this is an older picture.