Richmond in Pictures III

[I miss RVA]

5 hours ago, Icetera said:

If you think that is beefy wait until the children's hospital is finished.  I actually worry that it may be too much of a bulky monster in the skyline.

It'll be a big, square, glass block! Very beefy!

Something about the G.A. building - it looks "muscular" if that makes sense. Gorgeous architecture.

[wrldcoupe4]

New ambulatory care tower will make a big impact on the skyline approach Coming west on 64. 

[I miss RVA]

FANTASTIC photo, coupe! Looks great! Where on the Northside did you take this picture?

Man - the Children's Hospital expansion is showing some visible verticality as well. That will most definitely add some muscle to the skyline coming from the north and from the east on I-64.

AND - just imagine if the block immediately to the west is redeveloped as we're hoping will happen - having a 20-story tower across the street from the Ambulatory Care hospital will beef things up on that vista all the more!

[skycity]

 

[I miss RVA]

Nice video!!! So cool to see the new construction chugging along around MCV/VCU - and over in Manchester... and ohhhhh the sea of parking lots just WAITING for high rise buildings to be built!! (And plenty of parking decks and smaller box buildings waiting to be REPLACED with high rise buildings!!)

[georgeglass]

First pic is from Rocketts with General Assembly, Children's Hospital, and Adult Patient Tower in view.

 

2nd is the construction of the apartment building across from Shiplock Park taken from Dock St looking up toward Main.

[eandslee]

Thanks for taking and posting these pics!  On these days where there is little information on new and current projects, photos like these give me motivation!  I needed this, so thanks again!

[wrldcoupe4]

You can see the elevator core of the new General Assembly Building. It will have a pretty prominent presence. Stumbled across this rendering. An angle from Broad Street I don't recall seeing before.

https://silman.com/work/projects/view/va-gab/

Edited August 3, 2020 by wrldcoupe4

[eandslee]

19 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

You can see the elevator core of the new General Assembly Building. It will have a pretty prominent presence. Stumbled across this rendering. An angle from Broad Street I don't recall seeing before.

https://silman.com/work/projects/view/va-gab/

Excellent find, Coupe!  I have never seen the rendering from that angle either!  Nice!

[I miss RVA]

13 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

You can see the elevator core of the new General Assembly Building. It will have a pretty prominent presence. Stumbled across this rendering. An angle from Broad Street I don't recall seeing before.

https://silman.com/work/projects/view/va-gab/

This is one beefy, beautiful building. Classic architecture. Would love to see more highrises like this (only a lot taller!!) begin to grace the Richmond skyline!

[eandslee]

View of Richmond after the hurricane - taken today! (credit to mgc1991 on reddit)

 

[I miss RVA]

Wow!! The Outpatient Hospital building really adds some heft and muscle to the far northern end of the skyline. Looking forward to see how high up the Children's Hospital expansion and the G.A. building ultimately reach. I think with any crown or cornice, the top of the G.A. building might be a tad taller than the elevator shaft we currently see.

[Icetera]

8 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Wow!! The Outpatient Hospital building really adds some heft and muscle to the far northern end of the skyline. Looking forward to see how high up the Children's Hospital expansion and the G.A. building ultimately reach. I think with any crown or cornice, the top of the G.A. building might be a tad taller than the elevator shaft we currently see.

I think City Hall is going to vanish from this view.  The new outpatient tower really adds a much needed impression traveling East on I-64/95.  Now we just need something of substance on the City Centre lot to fill in the gap between Monroe Tower and the new GA.

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, Icetera said:

I think City Hall is going to vanish from this view.  The new outpatient tower really adds a much needed impression traveling East on I-64/95.  Now we just need something of substance on the City Centre lot to fill in the gap between Monroe Tower and the new GA.

Children's Hospital likely will -- for the most part -- obscure City Hall from this vantage point (which by the looks of things is that end of Grace Street behind the old WRVA studeos).

Re: City Center - I hope and pray for something epic - TALL - let's cut through the crap and get something 40-plus stories built there. Or barring that, at least multi-tower. It needs to be a significant focal point of downtown to anchor a significant part of downtown.

When I see pics from the old WRVA overlook, I am reminded that one of my aunts worked in the Monroe building for about 10 years or so back in the day - AND - I did some temping WAAAAY back when in the old DOT building on Broad Street. Seeing both buildings prominently displayed from this view brings back those memories.

[I miss RVA]

Apologies for the graininess. I took the picture that appeared in this morning's RTD story about the Council re-zone vote debacle - blew it up and cropped to emphasize the skyline. In this shot from the VCU campus - notice how much the new MCV/VCU Outpatient Hosptial building stands out on the north end of the skyline. It's taller than one might think, relative to the skyline - and really makes a bold visual statement. It'll be really interesting to see this same perspective when the G.A. building and the new Children's Hospital expansion are complete.

[eandslee]

29 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Apologies for the graininess. I took the picture that appeared in this morning's RTD story about the Council re-zone vote debacle - blew it up and cropped to emphasize the skyline. In this shot from the VCU campus - notice how much the new MCV/VCU Outpatient Hosptial building stands out on the north end of the skyline. It's taller than one might think, relative to the skyline - and really makes a bold visual statement. It'll be really interesting to see this same perspective when the G.A. building and the new Children's Hospital expansion are complete.

...and just think - there could be a 20-story tower right next to the Adult Outpatient tower in the near-ish future that will beef up that side of downtown tremendously!

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

...and just think - there could be a 20-story tower right next to the Adult Outpatient tower in the near-ish future that will beef up that side of downtown tremendously!

We can only hope!! Haven't seen any further movement on that. OMG - if that block gets redeveloped and the 20-story building rises at the north-end of the block along Leigh - THAT WOULD BE EPIC for the northern part of the skyline. If built as rendered, that is a fine looking building - and being two stories (plus crown) taller than the Outpatient building would be fantastic. From this perspective, although it would be angled relative to the camera position, it would present the narrower profile. Can you imagine looking at downtown from a north/south perspective? Either north of the I-95-64 ramps - or even from Manchester?

OK - here's another one to consider: what if (even without NH as a project) Hyatt comes in and builds that 550-600 Hyatt Regency north of 6th & Marshall? It would have the same profile as the new/proposed office building we're discussing here - but could be 23 (25 maybe?) stories tall! It would far-and-away be the tallest building north of Broad and one of the tallest in the city. Picture THAT guy just to the right of the Coliseum in this picture - about where that big hole in the roofline of the buildings there is. Man oh man...

Throw in City Center - if THAT complex ever gets built - south side of Grace between 6th and 7th - in this picture it would fill in that spot just to the right of the CNB building. (OFF TOPIC -- I still remember the original set of letters that graced the top of that building - they would change color depending on the weather - red meant hot, green meant cold, I forget what white meant, and if it was flashing on and off, it meant rain was in the forecast.) Anyway - if City Center gets built - and has ANY kind of size/height to it - imagine THAT bad boy right smack in the middle of that gap between the CNB building and the Monroe building in this picture.

And what I'd love to see - the southern half of this view being at least partially obscured by a forest of new high-rise buildings in Monroe Ward. Imagine so many new residential towers (maybe a few office buildings) that this view would be dramatically changed. Holy wow...

EPIC...

Edited September 29, 2020 by I miss RVA

[Icetera]

14 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Hyatt comes in and builds that 550-600 Hyatt Regency north of 6th & Marshall? It would have the same profile as the new/proposed office building we're discussing here - but could be 23 (25 maybe?) stories tall! It would far-and-away be the tallest building north of Broad and one of the tallest in the city.

Keep in mind that a hotel would have shorter floorplates, so that many stories may actually be the same height, if not shorter, than the office tower.  It still would have a nice impact, though.

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, Icetera said:

Keep in mind that a hotel would have shorter floorplates, so that many stories may actually be the same height, if not shorter, than the office tower.  It still would have a nice impact, though.

True - but I can't help but wonder if a hotel had, say, 5 or 6 (or more) floors than City Hall - would they be about the same height - or might the hotel be even a tad taller? 

[Icetera]

3 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

True - but I can't help but wonder if a hotel had, say, 5 or 6 (or more) floors than City Hall - would they be about the same height - or might the hotel be even a tad taller? 

Using Westin VA Beach as an example (13' per flr) vs City Hall (17' per flr), the additional 6 stories would put it 3' shy of City Hall's height, which is identical to the Riverfront East and West towers.  With a crown that would be easily fixed.

[wrldcoupe4]

City hall isn’t 17’ per floor is it? Maybe including the radio spire?

[Icetera]

19 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

City hall isn’t 17’ per floor is it? Maybe including the radio spire?

The actual roofline is 316' which is where I am getting 17' (actually 16.6') per floor.  The spire is 450'.  I think the top mechanical level pushes the average up since the observation level is the listed top floor (I do not recall if it has a 13th).

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, Icetera said:

The actual roofline is 316' which I where I am getting 17' (actually 16.6') per floor.  The spire is 450'.  I think the top mechanical level pushes the average up since the observation level is the listed top floor (I do not recall if it has a 13th).

The mechanical level would be counted in the height - but the communications spire atop the building would not since it is not an integral part of the architecture. That makes me pine for a pointy-top building. Atlanta has several... ditto Philly... of course New York. While I love damn near EVERY new highrise that goes up downtown, I do wish we'd get a few pointy-top buildings - they would be taller if for no other reason than there are enherant setbacks that would "techically" meet the 4:1 B-4 height limiter (which I still say is TOO draconian - why not at LEAST 8:1??) If a building stair-stepped its way up - then had a beautiful sloping crown that ended up in a point with an actual spire, Richmond could easily get a 600 or 700-foot-tall building. Too bad developers haven't gone that way here yet. The BoA building in Atlanta is an outstanding example. Gorgeous building.

[eandslee]

What Richmond is lacking really, is a company with deep pockets to build such a tower (one that is tall and pointy).  I thought that Dominion Energy might do it before they came out with their two tower campus setup.  There is still hope for others:  I'm looking at you Atlantic Union Bank (banks are usually more flashy like that - like the BOA tower in Charlotte - wowsa - beautiful building and crown) and maybe...maybe CoStar (that might be a long shot).  Still, as Richmond grows in popularity and hopefully draws in more companies, maybe we can land one that will want to build tall downtown.  I still hold out hope for Richmond's REAL signature tower (and I'm not talking about the Monroe tower or even the Federal Reserve tower).  I'd also like to see Richmond regain the title of having the state's tallest.  The Monroe tower held the title for years (but is really ugly at 449'), then VA Beach won out with the Westin Virginia Beach Town Center (at 508') in 2008...then later the Capital One Headquarters (at 470') at Tyson's Corner got close (in 2018), but still beat out Richmond's Monroe tower.  There are plans for even taller towers to be built at Tyson's Corner, so Richmond has some work to do!  None of these taller towers are out of reach for Richmond - really, the bar is still relatively low, so there really is no excuse not to try to regain the title of Virginia's tallest (with a pointed top)!

[Downtowner]

What Richmond is lacking really, is a company with deep pockets to build such a tower (one that is tall and pointy).  I thought that Dominion Energy might do it before they came out with their two tower campus setup.  There is still hope for others:  I'm looking at you Atlantic Union Bank (banks are usually more flashy like that - like the BOA tower in Charlotte - wowsa - beautiful building and crown) and maybe...maybe CoStar (that might be a long shot).  Still, as Richmond grows in popularity and hopefully draws in more companies, maybe we can land one that will want to build tall downtown.  I still hold out hope for Richmond's REAL signature tower (and I'm not talking about the Monroe tower or even the Federal Reserve tower).  I'd also like to see Richmond regain the title of having the state's tallest.  The Monroe tower held the title for years (but is really ugly at 449'), then VA Beach won out with the Westin Virginia Beach Town Center (at 508') in 2008...then later the Capital One Headquarters (at 470') at Tyson's Corner got close (in 2018), but still beat out Richmond's Monroe tower.  There are plans for even taller towers to be built at Tyson's Corner, so Richmond has some work to do!  None of these taller towers are out of reach for Richmond - really, the bar is still relatively low, so there really is no excuse not to try to regain the title of Virginia's tallest (with a pointed top)!

Yes I know there is one in Tyson’s that’s supposed to soar over 600 feet. I think it’s called the view at Tyson’s. I wish Richmond could get the ball rolling and claim the states tallest again. If nova starts getting 700 and 800 foot towers any chance for Richmond getting the states tallest we can kiss goodbye sadly.


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