Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas points out components of the GreenCity project to Varina Supervisor Tyrone Nelson and others at Monday’s announcement. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
Henrico’s GreenCity project received an early valentine Monday in the announcement of a developer and operator for the $2.3 billion development’s arena.
ASM Global has signed on to develop and manage the 17,000-seat arena that’s planned to anchor GreenCity, a massive mixed-use development set to fill 200 acres along the Interstate 95 corridor.
ASM Global, a venue management company whose 350-plus venues around the world include Richmond’s Altria Theater and Dominion Energy Center, is also investing in other parts of GreenCity, including retail and hospitality uses that are planned to support the arena and the larger so-called “ecodistrict” development.
“To be the best arena requires us to have the best operator. That also means the largest operator,” Michael Hallmark of developer Green City Partners said at a press conference Monday. “We want global connections for Henrico County’s arena. We want to be able to tap into the best talent that’s available anywhere in the world, and ASM Global is able to do that for us.”
Michael Hallmark of Green City Partners discussed the project during Monday’s event on the Best Products site.
Hallmark, who has had a hand in designing sports and event venues across the country, said ASM also brings sustainability and green-building standards that fit with GreenCity and the arena, which he said would be “the greenest in the country.”
Liam Thornton, ASM’s executive vice president of development, said GreenCity’s concept and location along I-95 made it an appealing project for the company, which operates other venues along the East Coast artery.
ASM Global’s Liam Thornton
“We believe that this is an optimal location within the greater region for a new arena, as the I-95 corridor connects touring shows from Boston to Miami, providing ASM’s booking and talent teams the ability to bring great entertainment content to Central Virginia,” Thornton said.
With more than 40 certified green buildings under management, Thornton said ASM and collaborator Honeycomb Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm out of Colorado, would work with Green City Partners to deliver such a facility for GreenCity.
“ASM and Honeycomb have a strong commitment to sustainability and are excited about developing and operating the greenest venue ever,” Thornton said.
The announcement was the latest in a string of recent milestones for GreenCity, which was announced in 2020 and has been progressing in the years since through planning and approval stages.
A development agreement was approved late last year, and last month, county supervisors created a community development authority (CDA) to help finance the arena and other initial development, which is slated to get underway later this year.
County Manager John Vithoulkas
“While it may not look like it on-site right now, there’s tremendous momentum and energy with this project,” said County Manager John Vithoulkas, who described GreenCity as the largest private development ever undertaken in Henrico’s history.
Citing an economic analysis that local firm Mangum Economics recently completed for the county, Vithoulkas said GreenCity at buildout would support more than 8,100 jobs, produce $620 million in labor income and total $1.4 billion in economic impact.
The CDA would issue 30-year bonds to finance a portion of the arena, which is projected to cost $250 million, and infrastructure improvements within the 93-acre former Best Products property, which makes up about half of the GreenCity site. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is expected to lead the underwriting.
Green City Partners is scheduled to close on its purchase of the county-owned Best Products site later this month, in the first of three payment installments over a two-year period allowed by a recently amended purchase agreement.
The agreed-upon price remains $6.2 million – the amount the county paid for the property in 2011. The first installment of $500,000 is due Feb. 28, while another $500,000 would be paid 12 months after that. The remaining balance of $5.22 million is to be paid 12 months after that, in February 2025.
Under the development agreement, Green City Partners would have naming rights to the arena and the rest of the development.
In addition to the arena, GreenCity is approved for 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail, two 300-room hotels, 2,400 residential units and green space.
A rehab of the former Best Products headquarters building is slated for completion in 2025, while the arena is now targeted for completion in 2026. The initial phase would also include the first of the two planned hotels and other initial development, while full buildout of the entire GreenCity project is anticipated in 2033.
County-supported project
A conceptual rendering shows the arena in relation to other buildings in the proposed GreenCity mixed-use development.
In introducing county supervisors who were present for Monday’s announcement, Vithoulkas also noted support that the board has shown GreenCity from the start.
“Without political support, none of this is possible,” he said. “The history of this region shows what happens to facilities like this without political support.”
The comment seemed to reference another arena-anchored project, Richmond’s Navy Hill plan, which a divided City Council rejected in 2020. That plan would have replaced the shuttered Richmond Coliseum, which is now slated for demolition as part of a new redevelopment effort by the city.
Hallmark and Susan Eastridge, his fellow principal in Green City Partners, were on the development team behind Navy Hill. In more recent years, they also were driving a planned redevelopment of Richmond’s Public Safety Building property – a multimillion-dollar project that effectively died last week when the city took back ownership of the site.
At Monday’s announcement, Hallmark and Eastridge said they would not comment at this time on why the Public Safety Building project did not go forward, other than to say that its demise has no bearing on GreenCity.
“That has no effect on this project at all,” Eastridge said, adding that the projects and the respective development teams are different.
A site plan of the GreenCity project, which includes the Best Products site to the south and Riverstone Properties-owned land to the north. (File image courtesy Green City Partners)
Monday’s announcement also came a week after Riverstone Properties, which owns the northern half of the GreenCity site, filed a conceptual layout with Henrico for residential development of that land, which Green City Partners has planned to eventually purchase.
Eastridge said the plan is still to purchase that land, though she noted that that phase of GreenCity remains several years out and relies on access from a planned extension of Magellan Parkway. The extension would follow the east-west alignment of Scott Road and bisect the GreenCity site, which spans from East Parham Road to I-295 along the east side of 95.
“The plan is that we would acquire it eventually, but in the meantime, if they (Riverstone) move forward as they are willing to do to plan and even improve the property further with infrastructure, to the master plan standards, we see that as a really welcome sign and a great partnering move on their part,” Eastridge said.
Eastridge is president of Falls Church-based development firm Concord Eastridge, and Hallmark leads urban planning firm Future Cities. Now based in Richmond, Future Cities’ portfolio includes several arena-anchored projects, including the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center in San Francisco. Hallmark also was the principal architect on the Staples Center in Los Angeles, now called Crypto.com Arena.
Pictured clockwise from top left: ASM Global’s Distrito T-Mobile in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Smoothie King Center in New Orleans; LA Live in Los Angeles; and Target Center in Minneapolis. (ASM Global images)
After Monday’s announcement, Vithoulkas said he wasn’t familiar with the Public Safety Building deal but that its demise is not a cause for concern about GreenCity.
“I have absolutely zero concern,” Vithoulkas said.
Noting Hallmark’s experience designing arenas across the country, as well as ASM’s involvement in the project, Vithoulkas said he has every confidence in the developers’ ability to make GreenCity a success.
“In instance after instance, they’ve done what we’ve asked them to do – all of the political touchpoints, all of the governmental touchpoints have been taken care of,” he said.
“From here on out, it literally is a matter of the private development doing what private developers do, and that is form relationships with folks that are going to bring dollars to the table, which is what I think ASM is looking to do and ultimately all of the other partners that will be part of this deal. There’s more to come.”
Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas points out components of the GreenCity project to Varina Supervisor Tyrone Nelson and others at Monday’s announcement. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
Henrico’s GreenCity project received an early valentine Monday in the announcement of a developer and operator for the $2.3 billion development’s arena.
ASM Global has signed on to develop and manage the 17,000-seat arena that’s planned to anchor GreenCity, a massive mixed-use development set to fill 200 acres along the Interstate 95 corridor.
ASM Global, a venue management company whose 350-plus venues around the world include Richmond’s Altria Theater and Dominion Energy Center, is also investing in other parts of GreenCity, including retail and hospitality uses that are planned to support the arena and the larger so-called “ecodistrict” development.
“To be the best arena requires us to have the best operator. That also means the largest operator,” Michael Hallmark of developer Green City Partners said at a press conference Monday. “We want global connections for Henrico County’s arena. We want to be able to tap into the best talent that’s available anywhere in the world, and ASM Global is able to do that for us.”
Michael Hallmark of Green City Partners discussed the project during Monday’s event on the Best Products site.
Hallmark, who has had a hand in designing sports and event venues across the country, said ASM also brings sustainability and green-building standards that fit with GreenCity and the arena, which he said would be “the greenest in the country.”
Liam Thornton, ASM’s executive vice president of development, said GreenCity’s concept and location along I-95 made it an appealing project for the company, which operates other venues along the East Coast artery.
ASM Global’s Liam Thornton
“We believe that this is an optimal location within the greater region for a new arena, as the I-95 corridor connects touring shows from Boston to Miami, providing ASM’s booking and talent teams the ability to bring great entertainment content to Central Virginia,” Thornton said.
With more than 40 certified green buildings under management, Thornton said ASM and collaborator Honeycomb Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm out of Colorado, would work with Green City Partners to deliver such a facility for GreenCity.
“ASM and Honeycomb have a strong commitment to sustainability and are excited about developing and operating the greenest venue ever,” Thornton said.
The announcement was the latest in a string of recent milestones for GreenCity, which was announced in 2020 and has been progressing in the years since through planning and approval stages.
A development agreement was approved late last year, and last month, county supervisors created a community development authority (CDA) to help finance the arena and other initial development, which is slated to get underway later this year.
County Manager John Vithoulkas
“While it may not look like it on-site right now, there’s tremendous momentum and energy with this project,” said County Manager John Vithoulkas, who described GreenCity as the largest private development ever undertaken in Henrico’s history.
Citing an economic analysis that local firm Mangum Economics recently completed for the county, Vithoulkas said GreenCity at buildout would support more than 8,100 jobs, produce $620 million in labor income and total $1.4 billion in economic impact.
The CDA would issue 30-year bonds to finance a portion of the arena, which is projected to cost $250 million, and infrastructure improvements within the 93-acre former Best Products property, which makes up about half of the GreenCity site. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is expected to lead the underwriting.
Green City Partners is scheduled to close on its purchase of the county-owned Best Products site later this month, in the first of three payment installments over a two-year period allowed by a recently amended purchase agreement.
The agreed-upon price remains $6.2 million – the amount the county paid for the property in 2011. The first installment of $500,000 is due Feb. 28, while another $500,000 would be paid 12 months after that. The remaining balance of $5.22 million is to be paid 12 months after that, in February 2025.
Under the development agreement, Green City Partners would have naming rights to the arena and the rest of the development.
In addition to the arena, GreenCity is approved for 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail, two 300-room hotels, 2,400 residential units and green space.
A rehab of the former Best Products headquarters building is slated for completion in 2025, while the arena is now targeted for completion in 2026. The initial phase would also include the first of the two planned hotels and other initial development, while full buildout of the entire GreenCity project is anticipated in 2033.
County-supported project
A conceptual rendering shows the arena in relation to other buildings in the proposed GreenCity mixed-use development.
In introducing county supervisors who were present for Monday’s announcement, Vithoulkas also noted support that the board has shown GreenCity from the start.
“Without political support, none of this is possible,” he said. “The history of this region shows what happens to facilities like this without political support.”
The comment seemed to reference another arena-anchored project, Richmond’s Navy Hill plan, which a divided City Council rejected in 2020. That plan would have replaced the shuttered Richmond Coliseum, which is now slated for demolition as part of a new redevelopment effort by the city.
Hallmark and Susan Eastridge, his fellow principal in Green City Partners, were on the development team behind Navy Hill. In more recent years, they also were driving a planned redevelopment of Richmond’s Public Safety Building property – a multimillion-dollar project that effectively died last week when the city took back ownership of the site.
At Monday’s announcement, Hallmark and Eastridge said they would not comment at this time on why the Public Safety Building project did not go forward, other than to say that its demise has no bearing on GreenCity.
“That has no effect on this project at all,” Eastridge said, adding that the projects and the respective development teams are different.
A site plan of the GreenCity project, which includes the Best Products site to the south and Riverstone Properties-owned land to the north. (File image courtesy Green City Partners)
Monday’s announcement also came a week after Riverstone Properties, which owns the northern half of the GreenCity site, filed a conceptual layout with Henrico for residential development of that land, which Green City Partners has planned to eventually purchase.
Eastridge said the plan is still to purchase that land, though she noted that that phase of GreenCity remains several years out and relies on access from a planned extension of Magellan Parkway. The extension would follow the east-west alignment of Scott Road and bisect the GreenCity site, which spans from East Parham Road to I-295 along the east side of 95.
“The plan is that we would acquire it eventually, but in the meantime, if they (Riverstone) move forward as they are willing to do to plan and even improve the property further with infrastructure, to the master plan standards, we see that as a really welcome sign and a great partnering move on their part,” Eastridge said.
Eastridge is president of Falls Church-based development firm Concord Eastridge, and Hallmark leads urban planning firm Future Cities. Now based in Richmond, Future Cities’ portfolio includes several arena-anchored projects, including the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center in San Francisco. Hallmark also was the principal architect on the Staples Center in Los Angeles, now called Crypto.com Arena.
Pictured clockwise from top left: ASM Global’s Distrito T-Mobile in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Smoothie King Center in New Orleans; LA Live in Los Angeles; and Target Center in Minneapolis. (ASM Global images)
After Monday’s announcement, Vithoulkas said he wasn’t familiar with the Public Safety Building deal but that its demise is not a cause for concern about GreenCity.
“I have absolutely zero concern,” Vithoulkas said.
Noting Hallmark’s experience designing arenas across the country, as well as ASM’s involvement in the project, Vithoulkas said he has every confidence in the developers’ ability to make GreenCity a success.
“In instance after instance, they’ve done what we’ve asked them to do – all of the political touchpoints, all of the governmental touchpoints have been taken care of,” he said.
“From here on out, it literally is a matter of the private development doing what private developers do, and that is form relationships with folks that are going to bring dollars to the table, which is what I think ASM is looking to do and ultimately all of the other partners that will be part of this deal. There’s more to come.”
I hope this arena comes online before the Tredegar amphitheater is built and stops it.
https://www.oregonhill.net/2022/07/17/new-amphitheater-proposal-threatens-riverfronts-environment/
The two arenas will not be all that competitive. They’ll serve different acts. Besides, the Green City arena will be year-round, whereas Tredegar will be a fair weather venue. However, Tredegar is funded and it has immediate access. There are fewer hurdles to jump, so it’ll come on line first. It’ll be a boon to Downtown businesses, especially restaurants and hotels.
Plus Green City with have solar!
From the conceptual plans that I’ve seen I’m most concerned about parking for the arena, the convention center and the hotels. There’s a lot of density on the plans and circulation before and after events will be crucial for its success.
The original plan that is still quoted in this article calls for 2.2 million Square feet of office. I seriously doubt that would get built but if did and you use 175 sq ft per employee then that would be office space for 13,700 employees. That’s not even counting the “retail” component. The reality is that almost all of those would drive to work solo so you would need 10 – 12K parking spots. Not sure where those spots are shown on the plans but I would think there would be great synergies in parking between an arena and office… Read more »
Can you name a development in Henrico that is not surrounded by a sea of parking? Parking decks and lots are rarely drawn into conceptual plans because they don’t help sell the idea. I wouldn’t worry about a lack of parking given there is no other way to access this development other than driving, so it’s understood it’ll be part of the plan.
Again, we go again. Politically favored developers get subsidized loans through the community development authority. Politically unfavored developers and local taxpayers pay the difference between market and subsidized interest rates, one way or the other.
When I lived in Norfolk, I owned an office building downtown. I tried to generate opposition among local landowners against the highly subsidized construction of the MacArthur Mall. I predicted then that when the subsidies ran out, it would become a bat cave. That prediction has proven true. I make the same prediction for this development.
If these developers need my tax money to make money, where’s my 20% ownership?
I’m just glad it’s no longer the Richmond taxpayers’ problem to worry about. We’ll do just fine without more corporate handouts. But more attempts are incoming soon.
“Hallmark also was the principal architect on the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.”
“Dan Meis, FAIA, RIBA (born 1961) is an American architect best known for designing sports and entertainment facilities including Staples Center“
Are there 2 Staples Centers in LA??
It is strange; his firms must be some kind sub or facility center (design of seats or arena space) specialty. . I found NBA press statement on the Barclays Center annoucement that lists he was involved with “His projects have included some of the country’s leading sports facilities including Staples Center, America West Arena and Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Safeco Field in Seattle, Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Fleet Center in Boston, and MCI Center in Washington DC, as well as renovations to Madison Square Garden in the early 1990’s.” But AECOMM and SHoP Architects were the Barclays Center leads.
“Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan”
Please explain that quote! My coworkers and I are seriously trying to figure out the orphan part! Not trying to be a jerk about it just curious! Thanks.
Lots of folks try to take credit for a success, but many of those same people are quick to distance themselves from the blame when things fail.