A conceptual map of the city blocks and properties involved in the city’s new City Center plan and their potential uses. (Images courtesy of the City of Richmond)
A plan for Richmond’s City Center – sans the Richmond Coliseum – is officially on the books, laying the groundwork for redevelopment of the shuttered arena and other city-owned property in that part of downtown.
At its meeting last week, the Richmond City Council formally approved the adoption of what’s now called the City Center Innovation District Small Area Plan, an amendment to the Richmond 300 master plan that’s aimed at guiding growth over a roughly 20-block area anchored by the to-be-demolished Coliseum.
The Planning Commission adopted the plan in December, and the council’s approval last week makes the amendment official. It sets the stage for next steps that include demolition of the 50-year-old arena, an area-wide rezoning, and solicitations for the sale and redevelopment of the city-owned properties, which make up the bulk of the 26-acre area.
A timeline included in the plan calls for those solicitations, or requests for offers, to go out early this year. Sharon Ebert, Richmond’s deputy chief administrative officer for economic and community development, said Monday that the city is aiming for those to go out this spring.
Initially called the Coliseum Framework Plan, the document was requested by council members amid the defeat of the Navy Hill project in early 2020, and has since evolved from being centered on a potential new arena to what’s now envisioned as a so-called innovation district. The concept is aimed at encouraging development that would feed off and enhance existing anchors such as the VA Bio+Tech Park, Greater Richmond Convention Center, Reynolds Community College and VCU Health.
With a new regional arena now proposed in Henrico as part of the $2.3 billion GreenCity project, city leaders decided against a competing arena in Richmond and the plan was shifted to a new vision for downtown — one that planners acknowledged is a change-in-course for the city.
At the Planning Commission’s meeting in December, Chairman Rodney Poole said, “It was not just a small shift; it was a tectonic shift to go from the Coliseum to the City Center concept. I think it’s a far better use of that property, and I’m very happy with the plan.”
A map shows city-owned properties in the plan area.
The plan defines innovation districts as consisting of startups and business incubators and accelerators, as well as transit-oriented development that mixes office, retail and residential uses. For City Center, the plan also calls for green space, a plaza and open spaces, a hotel and entertainment uses, and additional transportation.
With the biotech park, convention center and other existing anchors in place, the area has an advantage over other innovation districts that took years to fully form, said Kevin Vonck, the city’s planning director.
“We have the core tenants there, which is the really hard thing to do. If you look at Silicon Valley, Research Triangle Park — it took a while to grow those core institutions,” Vonck said.
“We have an advantage in that we have demographics and a workforce that seek urban amenities, and those two (places) are not urban,” Vonck said. “You have an urban fabric here in which to build, and I think that makes the potential that much more exciting for what we have to do here.”
The plan calls for a phased approach to development over the next 10 to 15 years, with the first order of business being the Coliseum demolition. Preparation for the demolition is currently underway with an effort to salvage arena inventory, some of which is to be auctioned off for additional revenue for the city.
While she said phasing would be subject to change over the course of the plan’s implementation, Maritza Pechin, a deputy planning director who led the plan’s development, said the Coliseum needs to be addressed first for the rest of the puzzle pieces to fall into place.
“We think doing something with the Coliseum is the most important thing to get out of the gate, because it is such an eyesore, and who’s going to want to put a lot of money into something next to that eyesore or next to a hole in the ground?” Pechin said during the meeting. “We think that’s the first one, and we’ll see how it goes as we do the solicitation (in 2022).”
Ebert said Monday that the city will be seeking a developer to pay for the Coliseum demolition. City estimates at the time that Navy Hill was being considered put the cost of demolition between $8 million and $12 million.
A rendering of how development could look facing north from Clay Street between Eighth and Ninth streets under the city’s City Center plan.
Along with the Coliseum site, first priorities in the plan include the Marshall Street parking garage between Sixth and Seventh streets, also to be demolished, and the Blues Armory building, which would be restored through an adaptive reuse project.
Another initial step that’s already underway is the Public Safety Building site at 500 N. 10th St., where work has started on a planned 20-story, VCU Health-anchored tower and mixed-use office complex. Crews are in the midst of remediation work to prepare the building for demolition, which is slated for this spring, said developer Michael Hallmark with Capital City Partners. Hallmark said construction on that $325 million development is scheduled to start this year.
Related to that project, work is also underway to relocate the GRTC transfer station from beside that building to the parking lot across Ninth Street, where bus bays will be located along Ninth, Eighth and Clay streets. GRTC has said the new bays could be in place this month.
One aspect of the plan that received scrutiny from commissioners is a recommendation to retain the below-grade stretch of Leigh Street beside the Coliseum. Past proposals have called for bringing that stretch back up to grade and realigning it with the surrounding street grid, but the plan calls for preserving it with enhancements to the streetscape.
Pechin said doing so would preserve access to the Altria building across the street from the Coliseum, as well as to new development that would replace the Coliseum and could involve underground parking.
“The Altria building has a bunch of loading dock and access there, and the Coliseum, if we use that hole to do parking, it sort of makes sense,” Pechin said, adding, “I don’t think this plan precludes that as an option.”
The approved plan can be viewed on the city’s website here.
The City Center plan’s adoption came as the city is currently soliciting requests for offers for development of the Diamond District site, including a replacement of its namesake baseball stadium. Meanwhile, a similar planning effort for Shockoe Bottom, called the Shockoe Small Area Plan, is slated to be presented in coming weeks after several years of development.
A conceptual map of the city blocks and properties involved in the city’s new City Center plan and their potential uses. (Images courtesy of the City of Richmond)
A plan for Richmond’s City Center – sans the Richmond Coliseum – is officially on the books, laying the groundwork for redevelopment of the shuttered arena and other city-owned property in that part of downtown.
At its meeting last week, the Richmond City Council formally approved the adoption of what’s now called the City Center Innovation District Small Area Plan, an amendment to the Richmond 300 master plan that’s aimed at guiding growth over a roughly 20-block area anchored by the to-be-demolished Coliseum.
The Planning Commission adopted the plan in December, and the council’s approval last week makes the amendment official. It sets the stage for next steps that include demolition of the 50-year-old arena, an area-wide rezoning, and solicitations for the sale and redevelopment of the city-owned properties, which make up the bulk of the 26-acre area.
A timeline included in the plan calls for those solicitations, or requests for offers, to go out early this year. Sharon Ebert, Richmond’s deputy chief administrative officer for economic and community development, said Monday that the city is aiming for those to go out this spring.
Initially called the Coliseum Framework Plan, the document was requested by council members amid the defeat of the Navy Hill project in early 2020, and has since evolved from being centered on a potential new arena to what’s now envisioned as a so-called innovation district. The concept is aimed at encouraging development that would feed off and enhance existing anchors such as the VA Bio+Tech Park, Greater Richmond Convention Center, Reynolds Community College and VCU Health.
With a new regional arena now proposed in Henrico as part of the $2.3 billion GreenCity project, city leaders decided against a competing arena in Richmond and the plan was shifted to a new vision for downtown — one that planners acknowledged is a change-in-course for the city.
At the Planning Commission’s meeting in December, Chairman Rodney Poole said, “It was not just a small shift; it was a tectonic shift to go from the Coliseum to the City Center concept. I think it’s a far better use of that property, and I’m very happy with the plan.”
A map shows city-owned properties in the plan area.
The plan defines innovation districts as consisting of startups and business incubators and accelerators, as well as transit-oriented development that mixes office, retail and residential uses. For City Center, the plan also calls for green space, a plaza and open spaces, a hotel and entertainment uses, and additional transportation.
With the biotech park, convention center and other existing anchors in place, the area has an advantage over other innovation districts that took years to fully form, said Kevin Vonck, the city’s planning director.
“We have the core tenants there, which is the really hard thing to do. If you look at Silicon Valley, Research Triangle Park — it took a while to grow those core institutions,” Vonck said.
“We have an advantage in that we have demographics and a workforce that seek urban amenities, and those two (places) are not urban,” Vonck said. “You have an urban fabric here in which to build, and I think that makes the potential that much more exciting for what we have to do here.”
The plan calls for a phased approach to development over the next 10 to 15 years, with the first order of business being the Coliseum demolition. Preparation for the demolition is currently underway with an effort to salvage arena inventory, some of which is to be auctioned off for additional revenue for the city.
While she said phasing would be subject to change over the course of the plan’s implementation, Maritza Pechin, a deputy planning director who led the plan’s development, said the Coliseum needs to be addressed first for the rest of the puzzle pieces to fall into place.
“We think doing something with the Coliseum is the most important thing to get out of the gate, because it is such an eyesore, and who’s going to want to put a lot of money into something next to that eyesore or next to a hole in the ground?” Pechin said during the meeting. “We think that’s the first one, and we’ll see how it goes as we do the solicitation (in 2022).”
Ebert said Monday that the city will be seeking a developer to pay for the Coliseum demolition. City estimates at the time that Navy Hill was being considered put the cost of demolition between $8 million and $12 million.
A rendering of how development could look facing north from Clay Street between Eighth and Ninth streets under the city’s City Center plan.
Along with the Coliseum site, first priorities in the plan include the Marshall Street parking garage between Sixth and Seventh streets, also to be demolished, and the Blues Armory building, which would be restored through an adaptive reuse project.
Another initial step that’s already underway is the Public Safety Building site at 500 N. 10th St., where work has started on a planned 20-story, VCU Health-anchored tower and mixed-use office complex. Crews are in the midst of remediation work to prepare the building for demolition, which is slated for this spring, said developer Michael Hallmark with Capital City Partners. Hallmark said construction on that $325 million development is scheduled to start this year.
Related to that project, work is also underway to relocate the GRTC transfer station from beside that building to the parking lot across Ninth Street, where bus bays will be located along Ninth, Eighth and Clay streets. GRTC has said the new bays could be in place this month.
One aspect of the plan that received scrutiny from commissioners is a recommendation to retain the below-grade stretch of Leigh Street beside the Coliseum. Past proposals have called for bringing that stretch back up to grade and realigning it with the surrounding street grid, but the plan calls for preserving it with enhancements to the streetscape.
Pechin said doing so would preserve access to the Altria building across the street from the Coliseum, as well as to new development that would replace the Coliseum and could involve underground parking.
“The Altria building has a bunch of loading dock and access there, and the Coliseum, if we use that hole to do parking, it sort of makes sense,” Pechin said, adding, “I don’t think this plan precludes that as an option.”
The approved plan can be viewed on the city’s website here.
The City Center plan’s adoption came as the city is currently soliciting requests for offers for development of the Diamond District site, including a replacement of its namesake baseball stadium. Meanwhile, a similar planning effort for Shockoe Bottom, called the Shockoe Small Area Plan, is slated to be presented in coming weeks after several years of development.
Yep, this ought to go well……..
It’s a much better plan than financing an arena with 80 blocks of real estate for 40 years than finding the arena is obsolete in year 20. Build office and apartments. The city needs affordable housing.
The City needs affordable housing and yet the butcher projects aimed to do so like the one here in Jackson Ward. They were supposed to build single family homes designated as affordable housing but then at the last minute changed the project to make apartments. The City approved and now instead of building wealth and having something affordable, they’ll stay trapped in the cycle of paying rent.
The coliseum was not obsolete. What ruined the coliseum is ignorant and feckless governance in the city of Richmond. It is the liberal Democrat who can govern nothing more difficult than which side of the plate the fork lays, that has devastated the city of Richmond.
Now they’ll supplant the coliseum with more tech businesses, gentrifying the middle class who will no longer be able to live in the area, who will be relegated to the outskirts living in poverty as they serve elitist liberals now occupying their homes.
Take a breath and get a grip. Don’t bring that Fox News stuff here.
By “not obsolete,” you surely mean”not JUST obsolete, but woefully and disparagingly obsolete?”
Sure, what could go wrong?
Scrapping the Coliseum because Stoney chose to shut down the functional building, cancelling active leases, etc, in an attempt to push a corrupt development. He is seriously the worst mayor. I hope we don’t have amnesia when he tries to run for higher office.
Functional?
The Coliseum was unable to host concerts from certain acts in the 80s, I’m really not sure what your definition of “functional” would be.
Yes, functional. I did not say state of the art, but yes functional. So functional, their last concert was just a month before Stoney chose to shut it down. The act? Snoop Dogg and Bone Thugs n Harmony. Maybe not your music, but the place was packed, the vibes were nice, and the Convention Center was functional to support the production.
That fire station rendering is pulled from a project in DC that combined a fire station, residential, and a squash gym. Are there plans to put in residential and a squash gym for that parcel as well?
Garbage plan that will just turn downtown Richmond into another silicone valley, with a middle class planted for wealthy tech workers and a serf class that can no longer afford real estate in the area, or even rentals, living on the outskirts in trailers and dilapidated homes, after being gentrified and pushed out of their existing neighborhoods downtown for the wealthy white liberal who will metastasize like a cancer throughout Richmond; vilifying police, creating a massive homeless population, crime and filth – destroying this city, again assaulting the middle class, and further making downtown Richmond a place no one who… Read more »
If you’re concerned about Richmond becoming like Austin TX, I don’t think you have too much to worry given our current leaders ability to deliver. However, if we ever did become like Austin, a rising tide would lift all boats.
A “rising tide lifts all boats”?
That literally never happens.
Stock market up? Good for rich people\
Real estate up? Good for Rich people.
Let’s just be honest here, it’s Ok if you don’t want to have any policies that benefit the working poor, but let’s not pretend.
In response to Lars Dance the Coliseum was functionally obsolete. One example is the fact that two elevators were the only way to get concert equipment to the main floor. At the John Paul Jones (JPJ) arena in Charlottesville you can bring equipment in at ground level from multiple bays.
JPJ is also a larger venue so the quality acts opted for JPJ rather than Richmond. There was simply no way to fix these issues, and be competitive.
Also, the roof of the Coliseum could not hold up a lot of the equipment that shows wanted to use, such as large light arrays.
Ed, the weight of newer products, especially lighting, has been dramatically reduced with LED lighting Entire football stadiums can imstantly change light levels and colors, things that couldn’t be dreamed of in the past.
Good point
Floors of sports arenas, such as the Royal Farms Arena, are being lowered, increasing seating capacity, and allowing for luxury boxes. Big projects such as arenas and stadiums ought to be built downtown where the infrastructure already exists instead of creating more Bay-destroying exurban sprawl. Powers that be in Virginia have no concept whatsoever of smart growth!
And don’t forget that Richmond charges an admissions tax while Charlottesville doesn’t.
Indeed RVA could and should support a state of the art performance venue. We could sell out a large venue easily. Been here nearly 20 years, still waiting
It will be interesting to see if they actually build to 17,000 seat arena in Henrico. That is larger than JPJ and only 2,500 or so smaller than DC or Philly facilities. PNC Center is Raleigh is 18k-19k depending on arrangement but it is home to college basketball and an NHL hockey team. What will Green City be home too?
A new City Hall, a new Social Services building, a new courthouse. The plan mentions redo, rebuilds, or new buildings at new sites for all these facilities. We can not even afford to fix are schools that need fixing but somehow we will be able to fund all this work. Bond capacity wise our credit card is maxed and will be for several years after Wythe is replaced. Glad the consultant got his payment. Could we at least try and get the Diamond District underway before we start on this RFP. I could care less that City Hall or the… Read more »
Ed Christina laments that policies don’t help the working poor. That’s simply not true. Here are six (6) programs that do just that:
1.Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
2.Food stamps (SNAP)
3.School lunch programs.
4.Medicaid
5.Child Tax Credit (CTC) and
6.Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
My question to Ed is how many more does he think are needed?
@Brian, aren’t the folks that benefit from the rise in Real Estate and stocks also employng those same working poor, or must they work for government. Don’t the people that move into those big houses vacate the smaller homes? Did those big houses build themselves?
Some that actually work would be nice.
I’d also like to see zoning that encourages affordable starter homes so people can bu real estate and build wealth that way.
School lunch?
Which of the 6 listed don’t actually work?
I am also very curious about what the zoning rules would dictate about a house being affordable. Would that mean you can’t sell that home for more than you paid for it in 10 years? Homes can’t exceed 1,000 square feet?
Smaller lot sizes and setbacks as well as less restrictive building materials can all contribute to less costly dwellings.
What are “less restrictive” building materials?
@Jackson, poor term on my part. Sorry. Whether to require brick foundations or not, types of siding that is allowed are examples of costs being mpacted by minimum requirements. Perhaps “less costly” is a more accurate term.