The 3-acre Public Safety Building property at 500 N. 10th St. (BizSense file photo)
After the demise of its previous plan for the property, VCU appears to be moving forward with a more expensive development project for the former Public Safety Building site downtown.
VCU’s Board of Visitors is slated to approve a $415 million capital project for its planned VCU Dentistry Center, which would replace the School of Dentistry’s Lyons Dental Building and Dental Building 1 on the nearby MCV Campus.
VCU has said the new 314,000-square-foot facility is envisioned for the 3-acre site at 500 N. 10th St., which until recently had been planned for a private development with VCU Health signed on as a master tenant.
That project, valued at $325 million, effectively died last month, when the City of Richmond took back the property after finding the private developer, Capital City Partners, in default of the terms of the development agreement for the project.
That 2021 agreement had called for a 20-story tower and three-building complex totaling 240,000 square feet of office space, 150,000 of which was to be used by VCU Health to support its nearby Children’s Hospital Pavilion and Adult Outpatient Pavilion.
A rendering of the previously proposed office tower and complex that had been planned to replace the Public Safety Building. (Courtesy of Capital City Partners)
The board is scheduled to vote at its meeting today (Friday) to initiate the Dentistry Center project and amend VCU’s six-year capital plan to reflect the project’s revised cost estimate. VCU has previously requested funding approval from the General Assembly for pre-planning of the project.
The amendment and project authorization are included in the board’s consent agenda, consisting of items typically voted on as a group and with minimal discussion.
A memo to the board describes the Lyons Dental Building, at 520 N. 12th St., and Dental Building 1, at 521 N. 11th St., as “beyond their useful life” with more than $90 million in deferred maintenance needs. The buildings were built in 1975 and 1954, respectively, and “do not meet current educational or patient care needs” and “present accessibility concerns,” the memo states.
The new facility would serve more than 500 students and include various classrooms, simulation and practice labs with manikin stations, academic labs, practice clinics with operating rooms, and support spaces. The memo states that the size and scope of the facility would be refined through the planning phase.
Architecture firm Hanbury is the pre-planning consultant on the project.
The memo does not provide more details about the project, such as whether VCU would buy the Public Safety Building property from the city. University ownership would take the 3-acre property off the city’s tax rolls, as VCU is exempt from paying city real estate taxes.
The previous Capital City Partners project called for VCU to lease that building, which as a privately owned property would have remained taxable. As the master tenant, VCU Health had agreed to contribute to real estate tax obligation payments tied to the project. In a statement last month, VCU said the university and health system “will uphold our obligations as they relate to prior real estate tax commitments.”
The same statement described the Public Safety Building property as “designed to be a signature development for VCU and Richmond” and said its “desired centerpiece” is a new facility for the School of Dentistry and potentially a new research building to replace the aging Sanger Hall, a 486,000-square-foot building at 1101 E. Marshall St., a block away. Sanger Hall is not mentioned in the latest memo about the Dentistry Center project.
The 3-acre Public Safety Building property at 500 N. 10th St. (BizSense file photo)
After the demise of its previous plan for the property, VCU appears to be moving forward with a more expensive development project for the former Public Safety Building site downtown.
VCU’s Board of Visitors is slated to approve a $415 million capital project for its planned VCU Dentistry Center, which would replace the School of Dentistry’s Lyons Dental Building and Dental Building 1 on the nearby MCV Campus.
VCU has said the new 314,000-square-foot facility is envisioned for the 3-acre site at 500 N. 10th St., which until recently had been planned for a private development with VCU Health signed on as a master tenant.
That project, valued at $325 million, effectively died last month, when the City of Richmond took back the property after finding the private developer, Capital City Partners, in default of the terms of the development agreement for the project.
That 2021 agreement had called for a 20-story tower and three-building complex totaling 240,000 square feet of office space, 150,000 of which was to be used by VCU Health to support its nearby Children’s Hospital Pavilion and Adult Outpatient Pavilion.
A rendering of the previously proposed office tower and complex that had been planned to replace the Public Safety Building. (Courtesy of Capital City Partners)
The board is scheduled to vote at its meeting today (Friday) to initiate the Dentistry Center project and amend VCU’s six-year capital plan to reflect the project’s revised cost estimate. VCU has previously requested funding approval from the General Assembly for pre-planning of the project.
The amendment and project authorization are included in the board’s consent agenda, consisting of items typically voted on as a group and with minimal discussion.
A memo to the board describes the Lyons Dental Building, at 520 N. 12th St., and Dental Building 1, at 521 N. 11th St., as “beyond their useful life” with more than $90 million in deferred maintenance needs. The buildings were built in 1975 and 1954, respectively, and “do not meet current educational or patient care needs” and “present accessibility concerns,” the memo states.
The new facility would serve more than 500 students and include various classrooms, simulation and practice labs with manikin stations, academic labs, practice clinics with operating rooms, and support spaces. The memo states that the size and scope of the facility would be refined through the planning phase.
Architecture firm Hanbury is the pre-planning consultant on the project.
The memo does not provide more details about the project, such as whether VCU would buy the Public Safety Building property from the city. University ownership would take the 3-acre property off the city’s tax rolls, as VCU is exempt from paying city real estate taxes.
The previous Capital City Partners project called for VCU to lease that building, which as a privately owned property would have remained taxable. As the master tenant, VCU Health had agreed to contribute to real estate tax obligation payments tied to the project. In a statement last month, VCU said the university and health system “will uphold our obligations as they relate to prior real estate tax commitments.”
The same statement described the Public Safety Building property as “designed to be a signature development for VCU and Richmond” and said its “desired centerpiece” is a new facility for the School of Dentistry and potentially a new research building to replace the aging Sanger Hall, a 486,000-square-foot building at 1101 E. Marshall St., a block away. Sanger Hall is not mentioned in the latest memo about the Dentistry Center project.
This is tremendous news. Although the site would be be removed from tax rolls, the overall positive impact on the City would overcome that loss. Besides, it’s not generating any taxes today anyway. VCU Medical Center growth is growth for the region.
Ahhh yes, Bruce. Continued expansion of state run health care. What could possibly go wrong?
Annnnnnnnnnd your alternative is what, exactly? 🤔
Just an idea, but how about a Co-Op system instead of a for profit hospital or the government. Both may let people die because it’s less expensive.
Blood sucking Corporations don’t get to fleece people.
Just a question: How much land in the City of Richmond belongs to VCU?
I’m amazed at how fast and how large VCU has grown a lot of the skyscrapers were not their ten years ago.
Would love to know!!
According to the VCU fact card, the Monroe Park campus is 127.5 acres and the MCV campus is 70 acres, so 197.5 acres of the City’s land. According to wikipedia the City’s land area is 60 square miles, which converts to 38,400 acres. VCU owns 0.5% of the land in the City.
So for 29K VCU students, and 4K MCV students, they take up almost 200 acres and counting. 19K of those students do at least one course online not coming to campus. Oh, and tuition keeps rising….for fewer students. smdh.
I really think replacing the old dental building would be great the inside of the old building is very dark and narrow. And they have all kinds of weird steps and stairs in it which make it not a good place for a wheelchair or even to navigate. I think this new dental building is good news.
I hope they add a 400 to 1000 car parking garage with this building so the dental school can have it’s own building vs having the share parking with MCV.
I’d build you a new facility for $375m. Show me the money and I’ll get it done.