As we exhale ever so briefly after one hell of a year, it’s time again to sift through the thousands of news stories the BizSense crew produced over the last 12 months and pick out the cream of the crop.
Below you’ll find a list of our biggest scoops, best reporting, best writing, catchiest headlines and quirkiest characters of the year. You’ll notice an interesting mix, as we hustled hard to cover all the ways the pandemic seeped into the local economy, while not losing track of our usual brand of nitty gritty “normal” local business news.
Digging through the archives is a cathartic exercise in normal times. It becomes an emotional roller coaster to do so after everything the world has been through of late.
I’d like to thank the hard-working band of BizSense reporters for keeping the news flowing in crazy times. And thank you to our loyal readers and everyone who shared their stories, sent us news tips and helped point us in the right direction when we were on the hunt with chaos all around.
Cheers, happy holidays and we’ll see you in the New Year.
Navy Hill
Remember Navy Hill? Remember when, just prior to the pandemic turning life upside down, it felt like all of Richmond gravitated around the success or failure of that ill-fated project? With nearly a year’s worth of hindsight, it’s extra interesting to go back and re-read these two Q&As – one with Mayor Stoney and one with two Navy Hill opponents on the City Council.
Douglas Jemal’s company offered to purchase 15 acres of the Navy Hill area.
Douglas Jemal speaks out
If anything good came of the Navy Hill debacle it was that Douglas Jemal, the maverick Washington, D.C. developer who for more than a decade had eluded BizSense’s efforts to get him on the phone, finally called in. He was in the mood to vent about how Navy Hill was being handled and how he might handle it better.
GreenCity and the future of Richmond Coliseum
From the ashes of Navy Hill came the proposal for GreenCity, a similar arena-anchored development to be built in Henrico. And with that arose renewed questions about what to do with the shuttered Richmond Coliseum.
Trader Joe’s
The rumor of a second Trader Joe’s opening in Richmond had come and gone for years. It took at least two BizSense reporters, some helpful sources and a lot of shoe leather to finally get the scoop on the grocer’s plans on the Southside. You’ll also find this story on our most-read list of 2020.
A conceptual drawing for a planned high-rise at Commerce and Porter that could house a grocery store.
A Manchester grocery store?
Also on the grocery front, a long-sought grocery store for Manchester may finally come to fruition.
Big box scoop
More on the retail front, this was a sneaky little scoop early in the year about Container Store expanding into Richmond for the first time.
Pharma startup makes a splash
Perhaps drowned out somewhat by the coverage of the pandemic during the summer of unrest, BizSense got the jump on an upstart pharmaceutical company that took several big steps this year toward becoming a major player.
Credit card startup on a mission
We got the jump on another startup that’s quietly but quickly growing in Richmond, with more growth expected in the New Year.
The Robert E. Lee Monument
Judges play hot potato with Lee Monument controversy
The Confederate statues on Monument Avenue were in the spotlight throughout the summer as the subject of protests and lawsuits. Then a tip from a loyal reader came in that put some of that spotlight on the judges handling those lawsuits.
Richmond restaurants’ DoorDash revolt
As local restaurants hustle to survive the pandemic, several have begun to question their own use of certain national delivery apps and whether it’s better to go it alone.
Snag-a-mansion
This one was all about the headline.
John and Paul Kincaid IV, the new owners of the Can Can Brasserie.
Business owners telling their story well
Often the difference between a decent story and a great story is when the human subjects – in our case, local business people – are willing to wear their emotions on their sleeve and share their stories in a way that allows the quotes to jump off the page. This year’s standouts include the new owners of Can Can, a business owner going through the collapse of his family’s company, and several local coffee shop owners trying to survive the pandemic.
CoStar goes big downtown
Real estate data giant CoStar was the subject of several huge scoops this year, including its deal to pay $20 million for riverfront acreage downtown where it may build a new office tower for its local employees. If those eight figures weren’t enough, then we learned the company is buying the building next door in a deal that will eclipse $100 million.
The Bow Tie Cinemas property at Boulevard and Leigh with the Movieland theater in the distance.
Brookland Park building
Sometimes it pays to revisit old stories. In this case we checked in on a long-stalled project at an old bank building in Brookland Park and came away with an interesting new twist in the ongoing tale.
Rolling the dice for some big casino news
Careful source work helped us get solid intel on one of the possible sites for a casino in the city – the Bow Tie Cinema property on Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
Homing pigeons head for the North Pole
Finally, we leave you with perhaps our quirkiest story of the year. This one had it all – the long-vacant North Pole restaurant property in Goochland and pigeon racing. It’s a fun read.
As we exhale ever so briefly after one hell of a year, it’s time again to sift through the thousands of news stories the BizSense crew produced over the last 12 months and pick out the cream of the crop.
Below you’ll find a list of our biggest scoops, best reporting, best writing, catchiest headlines and quirkiest characters of the year. You’ll notice an interesting mix, as we hustled hard to cover all the ways the pandemic seeped into the local economy, while not losing track of our usual brand of nitty gritty “normal” local business news.
Digging through the archives is a cathartic exercise in normal times. It becomes an emotional roller coaster to do so after everything the world has been through of late.
I’d like to thank the hard-working band of BizSense reporters for keeping the news flowing in crazy times. And thank you to our loyal readers and everyone who shared their stories, sent us news tips and helped point us in the right direction when we were on the hunt with chaos all around.
Cheers, happy holidays and we’ll see you in the New Year.
Navy Hill
Remember Navy Hill? Remember when, just prior to the pandemic turning life upside down, it felt like all of Richmond gravitated around the success or failure of that ill-fated project? With nearly a year’s worth of hindsight, it’s extra interesting to go back and re-read these two Q&As – one with Mayor Stoney and one with two Navy Hill opponents on the City Council.
Douglas Jemal’s company offered to purchase 15 acres of the Navy Hill area.
Douglas Jemal speaks out
If anything good came of the Navy Hill debacle it was that Douglas Jemal, the maverick Washington, D.C. developer who for more than a decade had eluded BizSense’s efforts to get him on the phone, finally called in. He was in the mood to vent about how Navy Hill was being handled and how he might handle it better.
GreenCity and the future of Richmond Coliseum
From the ashes of Navy Hill came the proposal for GreenCity, a similar arena-anchored development to be built in Henrico. And with that arose renewed questions about what to do with the shuttered Richmond Coliseum.
Trader Joe’s
The rumor of a second Trader Joe’s opening in Richmond had come and gone for years. It took at least two BizSense reporters, some helpful sources and a lot of shoe leather to finally get the scoop on the grocer’s plans on the Southside. You’ll also find this story on our most-read list of 2020.
A conceptual drawing for a planned high-rise at Commerce and Porter that could house a grocery store.
A Manchester grocery store?
Also on the grocery front, a long-sought grocery store for Manchester may finally come to fruition.
Big box scoop
More on the retail front, this was a sneaky little scoop early in the year about Container Store expanding into Richmond for the first time.
Pharma startup makes a splash
Perhaps drowned out somewhat by the coverage of the pandemic during the summer of unrest, BizSense got the jump on an upstart pharmaceutical company that took several big steps this year toward becoming a major player.
Credit card startup on a mission
We got the jump on another startup that’s quietly but quickly growing in Richmond, with more growth expected in the New Year.
The Robert E. Lee Monument
Judges play hot potato with Lee Monument controversy
The Confederate statues on Monument Avenue were in the spotlight throughout the summer as the subject of protests and lawsuits. Then a tip from a loyal reader came in that put some of that spotlight on the judges handling those lawsuits.
Richmond restaurants’ DoorDash revolt
As local restaurants hustle to survive the pandemic, several have begun to question their own use of certain national delivery apps and whether it’s better to go it alone.
Snag-a-mansion
This one was all about the headline.
John and Paul Kincaid IV, the new owners of the Can Can Brasserie.
Business owners telling their story well
Often the difference between a decent story and a great story is when the human subjects – in our case, local business people – are willing to wear their emotions on their sleeve and share their stories in a way that allows the quotes to jump off the page. This year’s standouts include the new owners of Can Can, a business owner going through the collapse of his family’s company, and several local coffee shop owners trying to survive the pandemic.
CoStar goes big downtown
Real estate data giant CoStar was the subject of several huge scoops this year, including its deal to pay $20 million for riverfront acreage downtown where it may build a new office tower for its local employees. If those eight figures weren’t enough, then we learned the company is buying the building next door in a deal that will eclipse $100 million.
The Bow Tie Cinemas property at Boulevard and Leigh with the Movieland theater in the distance.
Brookland Park building
Sometimes it pays to revisit old stories. In this case we checked in on a long-stalled project at an old bank building in Brookland Park and came away with an interesting new twist in the ongoing tale.
Rolling the dice for some big casino news
Careful source work helped us get solid intel on one of the possible sites for a casino in the city – the Bow Tie Cinema property on Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
Homing pigeons head for the North Pole
Finally, we leave you with perhaps our quirkiest story of the year. This one had it all – the long-vacant North Pole restaurant property in Goochland and pigeon racing. It’s a fun read.
I realize that you can’t cover everything but you missed a big one. VCU acquired two properties on Hermitage Road in 2020 that will be a part of its future athletic village. It’s important because once they acquire the current ABC headquarters (VCU has the first right of refusal) they will be in a position to move forward with their project, which most probably will include a new home for The Richmond Flying Squirrels sharing a new baseball stadium with VCU.