The lot is bound by East Cary, East Canal, South Seventh and South Eighth streets. (Mike Platania photos)
Construction crews are busy at work at one of downtown’s most prominent empty lots, but its long-term future remains unknown.
Dominion Energy recently began work to restore and reopen the sidewalks and traffic lanes around the vacant city block it owns at 701 E. Cary St.
The 2-acre plot has been fenced off with jersey barriers since 2020, when the downtown-based utility giant imploded its 21-story One James River Plaza office building. The barriers also have been blocking off the surrounding sidewalks and a few lanes of traffic, but a Dominion spokesperson said work is ongoing to replace the sidewalks and move the barriers in, a measure that will “improve pedestrian and vehicular traffic around the block.”
The barriers are to be moved to reopen the surrounding sidewalks.
Dominion is aiming to have the project completed by early September. Once completed, the bulk of the plot will continue to be fenced off.
As for its future beyond that, Dominion is mum.
The company spent the late 2010s planning to build a 17-story office tower on the site. It was to be a sister building to the 21-story Thomas F. Farrell II Building office next door that Dominion completed in 2019.
But those plans were scrapped in 2021 and a year later Dominion began fielding development proposals for the lot. It briefly planned a “clean energy park” for the site that would have included parking spaces, electric vehicle chargers and green space, but punted on those plans last year and put the land – valued in a recent city assessment at $10 million – formally on the market.
Also listed at the time was Dominion’s 20-story Eighth & Main office tower, which previously had been eyed for a residential conversion.
Those listings were short-lived, though. Around six months later the company took all of its downtown land off the market and began reevaluating the properties.
A Dominion spokesperson said this week the company has no further updates on future plans for the land.
The company has made real estate deals elsewhere in the city, though.
Last year it sold 5 acres of land it owned in the Fan for $15 million to developers already busy building on the site. Over two dozen townhomes are taking shape at 219 S. Stafford Ave. in a project from local firm WVS Cos., and D.C. developer Audeo Partners is converting a three-story former Dominion office compound at 2400 Grayland Ave. into 125 apartments.
Audeo also is planning to build a pair of four-story buildings on a lot it bought from Dominion at 2501 Grayland Ave. That project would bring 221 more units to the Fan.
The lot is bound by East Cary, East Canal, South Seventh and South Eighth streets. (Mike Platania photos)
Construction crews are busy at work at one of downtown’s most prominent empty lots, but its long-term future remains unknown.
Dominion Energy recently began work to restore and reopen the sidewalks and traffic lanes around the vacant city block it owns at 701 E. Cary St.
The 2-acre plot has been fenced off with jersey barriers since 2020, when the downtown-based utility giant imploded its 21-story One James River Plaza office building. The barriers also have been blocking off the surrounding sidewalks and a few lanes of traffic, but a Dominion spokesperson said work is ongoing to replace the sidewalks and move the barriers in, a measure that will “improve pedestrian and vehicular traffic around the block.”
The barriers are to be moved to reopen the surrounding sidewalks.
Dominion is aiming to have the project completed by early September. Once completed, the bulk of the plot will continue to be fenced off.
As for its future beyond that, Dominion is mum.
The company spent the late 2010s planning to build a 17-story office tower on the site. It was to be a sister building to the 21-story Thomas F. Farrell II Building office next door that Dominion completed in 2019.
But those plans were scrapped in 2021 and a year later Dominion began fielding development proposals for the lot. It briefly planned a “clean energy park” for the site that would have included parking spaces, electric vehicle chargers and green space, but punted on those plans last year and put the land – valued in a recent city assessment at $10 million – formally on the market.
Also listed at the time was Dominion’s 20-story Eighth & Main office tower, which previously had been eyed for a residential conversion.
Those listings were short-lived, though. Around six months later the company took all of its downtown land off the market and began reevaluating the properties.
A Dominion spokesperson said this week the company has no further updates on future plans for the land.
The company has made real estate deals elsewhere in the city, though.
Last year it sold 5 acres of land it owned in the Fan for $15 million to developers already busy building on the site. Over two dozen townhomes are taking shape at 219 S. Stafford Ave. in a project from local firm WVS Cos., and D.C. developer Audeo Partners is converting a three-story former Dominion office compound at 2400 Grayland Ave. into 125 apartments.
Audeo also is planning to build a pair of four-story buildings on a lot it bought from Dominion at 2501 Grayland Ave. That project would bring 221 more units to the Fan.
It would be great if the built the tower the promised.
There you go, Dominion will have a grand new office tower and you’ll be footing the bill with higher rates.
That’s good news, swinging around those barriers can be difficult at times.
This is good news and for all of us that pass through that area (in vehicles, on foott, on bike, or chair), can say, “about time.”
As much as I like Tower 1, Tower 2 would have presented a much friendlier, active engagement with the city (more commercial space, actual public space) on all 4 sides. A real pity the plug was pulled. It’s an incredibly valuable piece of real estate and I hope that whatever comes next will take full advantage of the site and its potential.
Why is it going to take another 3 months to fix the road and sidewalks?? Is it just me or does that seem excessive for an area already fenced off.
Uhh … why have city-owned lanes been closed so long?