Site work for the new CarMax Park stadium, visible beside The Diamond it will replace. (BizSense file photos)
The year that finally saw construction begin on a new baseball stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels started off with uncertainty – and ended with a $40 million lawsuit tied to the broader Diamond District project.
After the city’s Economic Development Authority pitched in $1 million toward the stadium’s design at the close of 2023, the city set the stage for the larger Diamond District development with initial land transfers to the EDA, which planned to sell those parcels to the project’s then-development team, RVA Diamond Partners.
But behind the scenes, as it was later revealed in BizSense, a battle had been brewing over the stadium’s size and scope. And the development team’s lead, D.C.-based Republic Properties, had months earlier stopped participating in the $2.4 billion project to redevelop the 67-acre site into a ballpark-anchored mixed-use neighborhood.
A rendering of the ballpark-anchored Diamond District development along Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
With Republic out, teammates Loop Capital and Thalhimer Realty Partners scrambled to raise millions of dollars from Richmond investors to make up the capital needed to move the project forward.
Meanwhile, Machete Group, a Houston-based firm that led a runner-up project team and by then was advising the Squirrels on the new stadium, engaged another development firm about potentially getting involved. Thalhimer and Loop engaged another.
But by spring, the city opted to stick with Thalhimer and Loop and their Diamond District Partners, a new development team entity that did not include Republic.
The deal changed the mixed-use project’s scope to a 30-acre first phase, with the rest of the 67-acre site, minus the stadium, to be sold and developed in subsequent phases. It also changed the project’s financing approach, with the city taking on $170 million in bond debt for the ballpark and first-phase infrastructure improvements. Tax revenue from the new development is to be used to pay off the bonds.
The future CarMax Park that will anchor the 67-acre Diamond District development. (BizSense file)
An arrangement also was made to allow the Squirrels and Machete to separately take the lead on the stadium’s design and development, leaving Diamond District Partners to focus on the mixed-use.
But development and lease agreements between Richmond and the Squirrels remained unsigned, while the EDA kicked in another $1.5 million toward the ballpark design.
The development agreement with Diamond District Partners received City Council approval in May, while the city’s financing pivot prompted a legal challenge from local activist Paul Goldman, who called for a referendum for city voters to weigh in. That lawsuit was later dismissed, but the city would end up missing a deadline for expiring state sales tax incentives it planned to use for the project.
A rendering of the stadium’s outfield.
Unknown at the time, but soon after the new deal for the mixed-use development was OK’d by council, Chicago-based Loop began backing away from the project, ultimately bowing out as an investor and leaving locally based Thalhimer to lead the team solo.
Two months later, Republic hit Thalhimer and Loop with a $40 million lawsuit, alleging that they breached a venture partnership with Republic when they formed the Diamond District Partners entity and entered the new agreement with the city.
Thalhimer is fighting the lawsuit, which its CEO has called “baseless,” while Loop contends that it never signed on to either team iteration and should be dropped from the suit.
Mascot Nutzy joins Flying Squirrels officials in September’s groundbreaking ceremony for CarMax Park.
Despite that litigation hanging over the Diamond District, the year ended on a positive note for the stadium part of the project, as the city locked in its ballpark bond sale, the EDA and the Squirrels signed their agreements, and the long-awaited stadium that had been promised to the Squirrels since the ballclub arrived in Richmond 15 years ago officially broke ground with the name CarMax Park.
Construction for the new ballpark is now in full swing and on track for its targeted opening in 2026, while the legal fight between the mixed-use developers is only getting started.
2025 will be a pivotal year for both.
The production facilities, distribution centers, and office buildings are all gone. The area is nothing but unaffordable apartment buildings. What do these new residents do for income? The last time I visited the nearby Whole Foods the parking lot was packed and I saw customers who could afford to buy groceries there by the cart load. What am I missing?
And I think a hotel or two. Funny how is the revenue going to work now when basically all the business and sale taxes from the additional structure no longer exist??? Real estate will come into play but it appears nominal; even space for restaurants outside of the ballpark appear to be minimal now. This is similar to pronouncements of Broad Street CDA and Bon Secours Redskins Park. Ancillary development does not occur as projected and revenue never materializes but no one goes back to check to see what this will mean for estimated tax revenues.