Richmond's Suburban Developments

[burt]

Construction will begin on a large entertainment center in western Chesterfield across from the Commonwealth Center Regal Cinemas off of Rt. 288 and Hull Street Road. The first building in a planned complex will be a 40-lane bowling alley with a couple of restaurants. A hotel will be the second phase of development.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/business/2011/jun/10/construction-on-entertainment-complex-in-chesterfi-ar-1096628/

[burt]

Highwood Properties seek new zoning for Innsbrook which would transform the suburban office park into an urban setting of 450,000 s/f of new office space, 115,000 s/f of new retail, 6,000 new residential units, plus 1,000 new hotel rooms.. If new zoning is approved, Henrico, which has long restricted the height of buildings to 8 stories, would allow towers up to 250 feet.

It's estimated that 1,300 jobs would be created during the construction phase, and 14,600 NEW jobs over a 20-year period (didn't Innsbrook have about 15,000 workers in its golden years before the recession?.)

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...all-ar-1164159/

Edited July 11, 2011 by burt

[540_804]

Wow, that would be a MAJOR development.

But there is one correction to your post, burt.

The 450,000 sq ft of office space is only the first face. In all, they hope to add 3.5 MILLION sq ft of NEW space.

For reference, at 250 ft height limit would allow residential buildings as tall as ~25/26 stories depending on floor-to-floor heights. An office building would have higher ceilings so you'd likely not see any more than 20 (but probably in the 16-18 story range).

[burt]

Wow, that would be a MAJOR development.

But there is one correction to your post, burt.

The 450,000 sq ft of office space is only the first face. In all, they hope to add 3.5 MILLION sq ft of NEW space.

For reference, at 250 ft height limit would allow residential buildings as tall as ~25/26 stories depending on floor-to-floor heights. An office building would have higher ceilings so you'd likely not see any more than 20 (but probably in the 16-18 story range).

I stand corrected about the 450K first phase.

But the news story says the 250' limit woul allow buildings of 16 stories, which seemed odd to me.

A good example of residential (hotel) height vs office is the downtown Omni in James Center. It is 16 stories high but looks considerably shorter than its 21-story office tower neighbor.

[burt]

While suburban urbanization is the hot topic at Innsbrook, The City of Richmond should get its act together and show how it can happen downtown as well.

This story from today's Richmond Biz Sense has a model of how Innsbrook might look after Henrico OK's zoning to allow higher buildings. If these flat-topped, squatty looking buildings are what's proposed, Richmond could show how it really should be done in the blocks bounded by 2nd, 6th, Main Streets and the Downtown Expressway.

This is from today's Richmond Biz Sense:

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2011/07/12/adapt-or-die/

[burt]

Construction has begun on the second phase of The Corner at Short Pump.  A huge Kroger store was the first phase.  

Tenants in Phase Two will be Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Olive Garden and Bassett Furniture.

Incidentally, if you explore this website you'll discover that crime is no stranger to Short Pump and the far West End.

From Downtown Short Pump blog:

http://www.downtowns...-at-short-pump/

[burt]

ACAC is breaking ground for its new building at West Broad Village. It appears to be a large spa/helath club.

From Downtown Short Pump blog

http://www.downtowns...-broad-village/

As a refresher: West Broad Village is in the area generally known as Short Pump. It is about a mile east of Short Pump Town Center and about a half mile west of Innsbrook along the West Broad Street corridor.

WBV has a large number of residential units and quite a few retail/restaurant options. Among them are Whole Foods, Dave and Buster's, Kona Grill, Keagan's Irish Pub and an ALoft Hotel. Trader Joe's is just across the John Rolfe Pkwy to the west of WBV.

Edited October 5, 2011 by burt

[blake_p]

There's a fairly large crane and some new steel going up on the Reynold's Crossing property this week. From the interstate, it appears to be going up in the northwest corner of the property near the on ramp from Glenside to I-64 East.

[blake_p]

It appears to be a new 64,000 sq. ft. medical office building.

http://www.henrico.us/comments/main.php?Permit=POD2011-00095&Action=related&Submit=Submit

Can anyone use the information in the link above to get the actually POD? The only document I can find are the departments' comments on the plans.

If it's three stories as the renderings show, then the steel was topped out by Friday afternoon.

Potential Rendering:

http://readinform.com/on-the-boards/on-the-boards-2/

And here are some (older?) mixed-use site plans:

http://www.dba-architects.com/place.html

[burt]

More development coming to the Short Pump area.

Atack Properties has just purchased 70 acres in far western Henrico County with 1,240 feet of frontage on West Broad Street near the junction with Rt. 288.

An urban mixed-use concept is being discussed.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...ico-ar-1416114/

[TBurban]

This is unreal. I can't exactly picture where the development is supposed to be located, but being that it's neighboring 288 it's not exactly within the area considered by many to be "downtown" Short Pump. West Broad Village is still being built out and has plenty of vacancies. I can't imagine that now or 2-3 years from now is a good time for another mixed use development. I'd rather see Innsbrook's infill get built out before a new plot of farmland is developed.

[Icetera]

This is unreal. I can't exactly picture where the development is supposed to be located, but being that it's neighboring 288 it's not exactly within the area considered by many to be "downtown" Short Pump. West Broad Village is still being built out and has plenty of vacancies. I can't imagine that now or 2-3 years from now is a good time for another mixed use development. I'd rather see Innsbrook's infill get built out before a new plot of farmland is developed.

Judging by the article, I would say that this is the land on the Southside of Broad Street between Rt. 288 and halfway to Strange's Florists. I have been wondering when that would fill in considering the growth and infrastructure developments just West in Manakin-Sabot.

[burt]

Icetera and Tommy, the last commentor under the story says pretty authoritatively that the property is on the north side of Broad.

http://www2.timesdis...ico-ar-1416114/

Edited October 31, 2011 by burt

[Icetera]

Icetera and Tommy, the last commentor under the story says pretty authoritatively that the property is on the north side of Broad.

http://www2.timesdis...ico-ar-1416114/

I wonder what his source is. The North side property does not appear to border Goochland County (the gravel company is in between) and has several more homes. It also does not border Rt. 288 (though the article does not claim to).

[burt]

When the word "trolley" is bandied about in Richmond these days it does not refer to the kind that runs on tracks.

An entrepreneur who brought Segways to Richmond is behind a move to revive a sort of "tour trolley" with an old fashioned street car chassis mounted on rubber wheels.

From today's Richmond dot com:

http://www2.richmond...ure-ar-1444451/

[burt]

When the word "trolley" is bandied about in Richmond these days it does not refer to the kind that runs on tracks.

An entrepreneur who brought Segways to Richmond is behind a move to revive a sort of "tour trolley" with an old fashioned street car chassis mounted on rubber wheels.

From today's Richmond dot com:

http://www2.richmond...ure-ar-1444451/

OOOps -- brain freeze.

I meant to put this in the thread titled "Richmond Region Transportation."

I'd move it, if I knew how to do it.

[burt]

Mondial Assistance, a large travel insurance company, had leased four floors at the former Circuit City Headquarters called Deep Run and has now decided to add the 5th (and top) floor. Thus, they will be the sole tenant in the building when they move in during 2012.

They now employ about 900 but plan to expand to 1,000.

From today's Richmond biz sense:

http://www.richmondb...for-one-tenant/

[Brent]

That's crazy! I worked for them for about 7 years, there were only about 300 of us at the time.

[Icetera]

Living one block away, I find this disappointing.

Benedictine Catholic school is moving, after 100 years in Richmond, to Rt. 288 and River Road in Goochland County.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/local-education/2011/dec/06/1/goochland-supervisors-approve-benedictine-move-ar-1525575/

[Shakman]

Living one block away, I find this disappointing.

Benedictine Catholic school is moving, after 100 years in Richmond, to Rt. 288 and River Road in Goochland County.

http://www2.timesdis...ove-ar-1525575/

This is quite unfortunate though the Benedictine school has been planning this move for the last few years.

[burt]

The fight over Benedictine's move to Goochland isn't over yet as residents petition to prevent it.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...tin-ar-1585342/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

I was searching for photos of construction for the ACAC Fitness Center in WBV, and ended up stumbling on this little online version of the Virginia Town & City, which celebrates the progress of Henrico County in 400 years, even though it's 400th birthday ended 13 days ago, just might want to share with you guys. If you go a little deeper into the packet, you'll see a section on Henrico's "Urban mixed use" designation, and how the county apparently designated 3,500 acres dedicated to UMU, and so far, out of those 3500 acres, we've seen WBV and Rockett's Landing, both of which are included. It also explores how Henrico hopes to transform Innsbrook into a massive UMU development. It also serves as somewhat of a tourism packet for the county. The one thing that kind of ticks me off though is how cities in Hampton Roads and Harrisonburg advertise in here.... this belongs to Henrico!

http://www.vml.org/VTC/11VTC-PDF/11OctVTC_web.pdf

[burt]

Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, which is in the Mechanicsville section of Hanover County near I-295 and Atlee Road, has big plans for future growth.

From Carol Hazard in today's RTD (with story and rendering.)

http://www2.timesdis...-gr-ar-1772580/

[burt]

Collegiate School on Moreland Road in western Henrico has sold bonds to finance new construction and improvements on its arts campus.

Collegiate has 1,500 students and charges between $17,000-$20,000 per year for tuition.

From today's Richmond Biz Sense:

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2012/04/06/academic-amenities/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

The developers are planning huge. The 420-unit apartments complex has turned out to be only a small part of what will be a massive development by the name of "BACOVA". Named rightly for the road that is now a hotspot for developers, Robert Babcock has claimed the huge 136 acre plot for himself. The entire thing is scheduled to be completed by 2017. It will involve single family homes, a 6 acre park, a road extension, clubhouses and pools for the new residents, and even a 60,000 sq. ft. office building.

http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2012/05/09/massive-development-slated-for-henrico/