Richmond's Suburban Developments

[I miss RVA]

This will look really sweet tucked in there on Augusta Avenue. Wow! I'm quite impressed.

 

[Flood Zone]

This is exactly what we (as I live within 0.5 miles, I'm entitled to say "we") need here. Many of the office buildings on this stretch are outmoded, and Willow Lawn needs more density in order to be able to get and keep interesting restaurants.

[I miss RVA]

7 hours ago, Flood Zone said:

This is exactly what we (as I live within 0.5 miles, I'm entitled to say "we") need here. Many of the office buildings on this stretch are outmoded, and Willow Lawn needs more density in order to be able to get and keep interesting restaurants.

AMEN!  THANK YOU!!!

VERY glad to see folks such as you who live near to a new development with this kind of density coming out IN SUPPORT of the project - UNLIKE the NIMBY knuckeheads near Thompson and Grove. PLEASE - I strongly encourage you to voice your support to the city and help make sure there's no chance this project gets truncated, kneecapped or worse by any potential NIMBY kvetching. 

[I miss RVA]

Another possible school conversion to residential is being teed up - this time in Chesterfield. The former Matoaca Elementary School may be converted into as many as 36 apartments. Nice to see continued emphasis on increasing residential density all over the metro area.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/10/07/chesterfield-weighing-residential-reuse-of-former-elementary-school/

[Child2021]

Henrico plaza has went vertical.

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, Child2021 said:

Henrico plaza has went vertical.

Thanks so much for taking and posting these, @Child2021!  Remind me - this is the one on Mechanicsville Pike, yes?

[plain]

22 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Thanks so much for taking and posting these, @Child2021!  Remind me - this is the one on Mechanicsville Pike, yes?

 

Yes .

 

Also , as an aside, I'm confident that those older wire hung traffic signals will be replaced with modern pole mounted ones. Will look so much better.

 

I hope for more development around there in the future. That whole strip can seriously use some sprucing up. And business.

[I miss RVA]

I meant to post this up on Friday and somehow forgot.

The area's first Echo Hotel is slated to be built in the West End  near the I-64/Gaskins Road interchange. Now - correct me if I'm wrong - but a couple of years ago, wasn't there an Echo Hotel originally planned for the canal, I'm thinking in more or less about the same place where Tom Papa is now planning to build the Locks 7 and 8 complex? The building design and the "Echo" name look AWFULLY familiar to me for some reason.

From Friday's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/10/21/2m-land-deal-clears-path-for-new-to-market-echo-hotel/

 

[plain]

From WRIC, the latest Brandermill proposal clears another hurtle.

 

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/chesterfield-county/massive-brandermill-project-gets-past-another-step-of-approval/

[I miss RVA]

16 minutes ago, plain said:

From WRIC, the latest Brandermill proposal clears another hurtle.

 

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/chesterfield-county/massive-brandermill-project-gets-past-another-step-of-approval/

Great looking project at the 288 beltway & Hull Street Road interchange.

 

[blopp1234]

Glad to see infill instead of sprawl, although it will add more traffic to the already terrible  288/360 interchange. Some sort of improvements will have to be done soon to that area of hull street before it becomes a parking lot that is impossible to traverse.

[I miss RVA]

Capital Square have locked down the site of their new headquarters in Short Pump - paying a cool $1 M for the parcel on Old Brick Road in the middle of West Broad Village. One item of note from the RBS article -- timing of when this project might get underway.

"The timetable for Capital Square’s move is unclear. President Mike Waddell said in an email that the firm’s next steps are to finish designing the building and time the beginning of construction 'when market conditions are more favorable.'”

I'm thinking this applies across the board to a LOT of developments that are in the pipeline (and have been in the pipeline for quite some time). This no doubt would explain why so many projects that were announced seemingly a lifetime ago are still undeveloped and interminably delayed.

Anyway - it's a sweet looking development that fills a missing puzzle piece in an otherwise really sweet urban-core suburban locality. I really like what's been done in West Broad Village - in a lot of ways it reminds me of a very similar development here in Chicago's far north-northwest suburbs - "The Glen" in the suburb of Glenview.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/10/31/capital-square-drops-1m-for-site-of-future-hq-in-short-pump/

 

[I miss RVA]

It's been quite a while since the East End suburbs have lit up the radar screen. Nice story in today's RBS about local development group - Dorado Capital - reviving a pair of subdivision projects that were approved more than a decade ago (story does not specify what year(s)) in Highland Springs. Nice projects just inside (west of) the I-295 beltway along Meadow Road north of I-64.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/11/02/local-developer-picking-up-two-subdivision-projects-near-highland-springs/

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

Great story in today's RBS: the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust -- a housing non-profit that develops income-based housing -- is breaking ground on a 10-home subdivision in Chester to be called "Ettrick Landing". Construction will be on the old site of the Dupuy Elementary School -- and no doubt will be huge for families that meet the income qualifications. I don't think we can ever have enough opportunities like these for folks looking to attain home ownership but who otherwise would be priced out at market-rates. Always very glad to see these projects get up and running.

From Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/11/04/housing-nonprofit-starts-construction-on-small-subdivision-in-chester/

 

[rjp212]

Ah yes, depicting pedestrians without any sidewalks. 

[I miss RVA]

6 hours ago, rjp212 said:

Ah yes, depicting pedestrians without any sidewalks. 

Minor oversight by the art department! 

[eandslee]

Cool construction video of the current construction status of the multipurpose sports facility being built at VCC:

 

[Virginian11]

Awesome progress - now I want to see that same video of the Green City Arena being built - what’s going on with that, anyway?

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, Virginian11 said:

Awesome progress - now I want to see that same video of the Green City Arena being built - what’s going on with that, anyway?

Not sure, but last I heard is that they opening of the new arena is now 2026 (originally pitched to open in 2025).

[I miss RVA]

Here's another good article that might slip under our radar screens - demonstrating just how robust RVA's manufacturing sector is and how out-of-state companies continue to invest substantial sums of money into their plants around metro-RVA. Minneapolis-based Super Radiator Coils -- which manufactures specialty cooling coils for the food industry, the U.S. military, data centers and other economic sectors -- just completed the third expansion of their Chesterfield facility. The roughly $9M dollar project added 56K square feet to the plant, bringing the total size of the manufacturing center to 156K square feet. The increased capacity is creating (according to the RBS article) "several dozen" new jobs at the plant. YES!!!!

Super Radiator Coil opened the Chesterfield facility in 1980. 

This is yet another of those seemingly small wins that are, in reality, HUGE wins for RVA. The company has manufacturing facilities in only three locations in the U.S. -- Minneapolis, Phoenix and Richmond. So we're in pretty exclusive company.

Again - this is nothing short of a BIG WIN for metro Richmond!

From today's Richmond BizSense:

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Shakman]

Damn only $9 for building 56k of space?  

Perhaps developers looking to keep construction cost down can hire this contractor.  

[I miss RVA]

35 minutes ago, Shakman said:

Damn only $9 for building 56k of space?  

Perhaps developers looking to keep construction cost down can hire this contractor.  

WHOOOPS!!! Good catch!

Guess they were gettin' it done on the cheap! 

Edited November 14, 2022 by I miss RVA

[eandslee]

So, this tid bit was just released regarding the Richmond, Virginia Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints open house (where the public can go in and tour the building before it is formally dedicated).  I will be going down to tour it and if any of you want to go with a friend (me and my family), you are welcome to come too. I haven’t pin-pointed which day I’m going down yet, but I will let you know when we’ve decided which day.  Let me know if you are interested.  Otherwise, you can go without me…just show up on one of the open house days (ALL are welcome).  Here are some details:

 

 

Creative Dog Media recently did some photos of the exterior found here. Simply beautiful photos:

Edited November 15, 2022 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

So, this tid bit was just released regarding the Richmond, Virginia Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints open house (where the public can go in and tour the building before it is formally dedicated).  I will be going down to tour it and if any of you want to go with a friend (me and my family), you are welcome to come too. I haven’t pin-pointed which day I’m going down yet, but I will let you know when we’ve decided which day.  Let me know if you are interested.  Otherwise, you can go without me…just show up on one of the open house days (ALL are welcome).  Here are some details:

 

 

Creative Dog Media recent did some photos of the exterior found here. Simply beautiful photos:

 

WOW - look at the size difference between the CJCLDS Temple and the church (in the right portion of the photo) - holy moly!  And that church building (to the right) doesn't exactly look like a "small" building by any stretch - so that should put into perspective just how large the Temple building is. Wow... 

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

WOW - look at the size difference between the CJCLDS Temple and the church (in the right portion of the photo) - holy moly!  And that church building (to the right) doesn't exactly look like a "small" building by any stretch - so that should put into perspective just how large the Temple building is. Wow... 

Yes, so the church building to the right is where we worship each Sunday (one of many church buildings in the area; guessing about 10-12?) and is about 16,000 square feet (which is pretty large).  The temple on the other hand, is not open on Sundays (because we are all going to church), and this particular one is about 40,000 square feet.  It will serve members of the church living from Norfolk, all of Central Virginia, to the Shenandoah Valley, and even parts of West Virginia!  There are approximately 100,000 members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Virginia.