Manchester Development

[Downtowner]

Yes I see this as a good sign to us. Yes chipotle big deal there all over but Manchester that is a very big deal to have them locate here. I think it shows we are getting closer and closer to getting a new grocery store for Manchester and the Southside of Richmond. I’m rooting for Richmond to get one for those citizens and I’m very excited for what our city is going in form of my transformation. Going to add my thoughts to city center thread here in a moment. 

[whw53]

Couple spot rezoning updates to track - 

On 9/16/2021 at 6:49 PM, whw53 said:

Another day, another rezoning in Manchester. This one would take the block bounded by Maury, Albany, 6th and 7th from heavy industrial to TOD-1.

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/selfservice#/plan/6ba494ef-a73c-402f-a1cb-2f61c5156a2d

This is the 3rd TOD-1 rezoning along Maury in the last year or so.  The second snip below highlights the site of today's filing inrelation to 2 rezonings approved earlier this or last year (labels highlighted) and 2 new higher density rezonings filed this year that are in review (red star).

 

 

 

Rezoning request described above moves in front of the Planning Commission this week. Planning staff reccomends approval of the this tract - 'the Merben tract'  to TOD-1 from its current industrial zoning.

I've attached a snip from the Applicants report which shows the location of the property within an illustration provided from Richmond 300. 

Full applicant\staff reports can be found here- 

https://richmondva.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5392221&GUID=0179B71D-1AD2-4D52-A369-67B64C3E2B4B&Options=&Search=

Edited February 22, 2022 by whw53

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, whw53 said:

Couple spot rezoning updates to track - 

Rezoning request described above moves in front of the Planning Commission this week. Planning staff reccomends approval of the this tract - 'the Merben tract'  to TOD-1 from its current industrial zoning.

I've attached a snip from the Applicants report which shows the location of the property within an illustration provided from Richmond 300. 

Full applicant\staff reports can be found here- 

https://richmondva.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5392221&GUID=0179B71D-1AD2-4D52-A369-67B64C3E2B4B&Options=&Search=

Okay fellas - what's the over/under on the height of whatever gets developed here? I'm setting it at six stories MAX. I pray I'm wrong and something much bigger goes up here - but we seem to see a trend of upzoning to TOD-1 only for a 6, 7 or 8 story building being built. And I'm not gonna do a Snoopy dance for an 8-story building, although given the location, farther south and east of the main core of development in lower Manchester, 8 stories wouldn't be too bad, all in all.

Edited February 22, 2022 by I miss RVA

[rjp212]

Tall buildings are expensive. The land value there and the possible rents, wouldn’t warrant anything of substantial height.  It’ll come, but not yet. 

if you want a snippet of how this works, look at Southend Charlotte.  About a decade ago, everyone complained about 4-6 story apartments.  Now it’s nearly a weekly report of a 20+ story high rises being built there. 

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, rjp212 said:

Tall buildings are expensive. The land value there and the possible rents, wouldn’t warrant anything of substantial height.  It’ll come, but not yet. 

if you want a snippet of how this works, look at Southend Charlotte.  About a decade ago, everyone complained about 4-6 story apartments.  Now it’s nearly a weekly report of a 20+ story high rises being built there. 

My fear is that if it took a decade for the transition to be made in Charlotte, it'll be two or three decades for that same transition to happen in RVA. I can easily see things happening much faster in Charlotte than they do here. Plus - what happens if in 10 or 20 years, all the available, developable parcels have 6-story apartment buildings already sitting on them and there are no more vacant blocks left. Where will the 20-plus story buildings go? I don't know anything about Southend Charlotte, but I tend to suspect it does not have an old-school, gridded, legacy urban footprint like Manchester does and thus has more developable space available, whereas Manchester -- at some point -- will run out of room. Then what happens?

Edited February 23, 2022 by I miss RVA

[upzoningisgood]

My bet is probably 4 story surface parking type deals at first

[I miss RVA]

5 minutes ago, upzoningisgood said:

My bet is probably 4 story surface parking type deals at first

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. Why bother upzoning to TOD-1 then? Couldn't a simple variance take care of the zoning for said project if that's all that's going to get built there?

[whw53]

Speaking of Markham (see Monroe Ward thread) we got 2 more rezoning applications from her consultancy in the past week - the first private sector driven spot rezonings of the year!

The 600 Decatur site we are familiar with - it's the one controlled by Fountainhead\Tom Papa currently being used as a staging area for the Box development. The 500 Maury rezoning submittal is new but the theme is similar to the post above (and is actually adjacent to that item). Landowners on the outskirts - but within the grid -  of lower or old Manchester are not waiting on council to best situate their holdings from an entitlement perspective. They are moving now. 

I've outlined the extents of these new rezoning submitalls sloppily below in  pink- the 600 Decatur site is applying for B-4, the new Maury site TOD-1.

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/8a7162fa-e60f-492a-961f-f81ce9270363

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/656d1320-2d8f-4f54-9f89-1cd296f22ce3

 

 

 

[upzoningisgood]

I think a couple things. 1) TOD-1 also has a bunch of architectural requirements that other zoning wouldn’t about glassy foyers and that kind of thing. So you’re making sure the new apartments are set up well instead of like short pump. 2) iirc TOD has no parking requirements so the surface lots can be smaller. 3) I think a lot of the multi family districts are outdated so if you’re going to up one to MF you might as well do TOD.

@I miss RVA and one more thing: if you have the political capital to do it now, you should. Period.

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, whw53 said:

Speaking of Markham (see Monroe Ward thread) we got 2 more rezoning applications from her consultancy in the past week - the first private sector driven spot rezonings of the year!

The 600 Decatur site we are familiar with - it's the one controlled by Fountainhead\Tom Papa currently being used as a staging area for the Box development. The 500 Maury rezoning submittal is new but the theme is similar to the post above (and is actually adjacent to that item). Landowners on the outskirts - but within the grid -  of lower or old Manchester are not waiting on council to best situate their holdings from an entitlement perspective. They are moving now. 

I've outlined the extents of these new rezoning submitalls sloppily below in  pink- the 600 Decatur site is applying for B-4, the new Maury site TOD-1.

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/8a7162fa-e60f-492a-961f-f81ce9270363

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/656d1320-2d8f-4f54-9f89-1cd296f22ce3

 

 

 

B-4? You don't say!

Hmmm... that says maybe something a tad bigger than 8 stories.

[Jordon]

13 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

B-4? You don't say!

Hmmm... that says maybe something a tad bigger than 8 stories.

When I watched the Manchester Alliance meeting video on facebook the speaker for that specific issue said they would be building a ‘sister project’ to The Box development once that’s complete.

[whw53]

1 hour ago, Jordon said:

When I watched the Manchester Alliance meeting video on facebook the speaker for that specific issue said they would be building a ‘sister project’ to The Box development once that’s complete.

hopefully its a big sister. 

 

Nice to know we have an operative embedded in the Manchester Alliance. With @Jordonthere and @ancientcarpenterdrawing the short stick for the  Historic Jackson Ward group the Richmond Urban Planet group moves ever closer to the levers of power. All part of the Grand Plan as outlined... doh ! am i talking out loud again...ahem

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by whw53

[I miss RVA]

31 minutes ago, whw53 said:

hopefully its a big sister. 

 

Nice to know we have an operative embedded in the Manchester Alliance. With @Jordonthere and @ancientcarpenterdrawing the short stick for the  Historic Jackson Ward group the Richmond Urban Planet group moves ever closer to the levers of power. All part of the Grand Plan as outlined... doh ! am i talking out loud again...ahem

 

Now if only we could place an operative or two in City Hall...

WHOOPS!! Did I say that? 

[whw53]

@I miss RVA you volunteering? Naw, I think we might stick you with the Fan District Association.

Edited February 23, 2022 by whw53

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, whw53 said:

@I miss RVA you volunteering? Naw, I think we might stick you with the Fan District Association.

I'd be happy to volunteer if I can get my round-trip airfare from Chicago covered! 

[rjp212]

The “say no to drugs” building near Hull and Cowardin is being gutted.  Could this be a precursor for other commercial redevelopment to  finally jump Cowardin?

[I miss RVA]

55 minutes ago, rjp212 said:

The “say no to drugs” building near Hull and Cowardin is being gutted.  Could this be a precursor for other commercial redevelopment to  finally jump Cowardin?

Aren't there a couple of projects slated to get underway very close to Cowardin and Hull along the Hull Street corridor? I know one was the building for lower-income housing that we all were ragging on the design (it honestly DOES look like a prison or some other kind of institutional building)... that's supposed to go up across the street from the Manchester Courthouse...  but that's down farther, closer to Commerce Road.

Jesus - there are so many projects in the pipeline for the Hull corridor, it's hard to keep track of all of them!

Edited February 27, 2022 by I miss RVA

[rjp212]

Another drive-thru in what should be an urban corner.

https://www.thalhimer.com/sites/default/files/listings_files/418CowardinAveUpdated.pdf

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, rjp212 said:

Another drive-thru in what should be an urban corner.

https://www.thalhimer.com/sites/default/files/listings_files/418CowardinAveUpdated.pdf

PLEASE - GOD -- MAKE THIS STOP!!!

What is WITH these Thalhimer folks? Can they PLEASE get their heads out of the 1960s or 70s or 80s or 90s and kindly GET WITH THE PROGRAM?!?!?!?!?!

[I miss RVA]

I believe it's time to invoke Bill Maher's "NEW RULES" ...

"NEW RULE - from this point forward, Thalhimer realty will NO LONGER be permitted to own or develop property within the boundaries of the city limits of Richmond. They are free to purchase and develop all the silly, outmoded, ridiculous suburban-style drive-through retail establishments they desire to their collective hearts' content out in SUBURBIA . They can take their fast food eateries and ice cream parlors and WaWa gas stations and little strip malls out to Henrico and Chesterfield and Hanover. Oh wait - Henrico is beefing up and building urban grid footprints with real urban buildings, complete with 10-story residential buildings (I'm lookin' a YOU Libbie Mill/Midtown - Westwood, Innsbrook, Short Pump) - and Chesterfield has even started getting in on the act by going UP-density...  Perhaps Thalhimer can build somewhere near Ashland... "

[Shakman]

Yes.  Deport Thalhimer to Ashland.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Shakman

[rjp212]

Looks like the Caravati’s redevelopment is underway. 

[Brent114]

This one  is pretty far along.  All of the new interior walls are up.   I keep waiting for them to clear the lot and start building across the street.  My current view is of that junk yard.  A new building cannot come soon enough. 

[Shakman]

Now which one in this?

(Feel pretty good having to ask this type of question about my adopted home.)

[whw53]

Another spot rezoning request for the lower Manchester area . Again,  out of the Markham shop ... this one poised to take 1200 Dinwiddie - over 3 acres-  from M-1 industrial zoning to B-7 mixed use commercial.

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/767d8bd8-2c2f-4a8a-897c-e84461e6df72