Manchester Development

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, flaneur said:

 good urban design that will age well and enhance the urban fabric!!!

 !!!! 

[Brent114]

Looks like Plant Zero demo may start Jan 2nd.  I saw this on a door just now.

 

[I miss RVA]

8 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

Looks like Plant Zero demo may start Jan 2nd.  I saw this on a door just now.

 

Refresh my memory - for which development is this one? (There are SO many nowadays, it's hard to keep track of all of 'em!)

[Brent114]

I too am unclear about the details but there was mention of this building being redeveloped maybe 6 months ago? I’ve been looking for signs of it happening (thus reading the notice in the window). 
 

From  what I recall it will be  a 6-8 story building.  It is located at Hull and 3rd Streets. I don’t know that there were any renderings.  I’ll scroll back through here and look for more details.  

Some updates around Manchester…

 

Port Richmond (?) is rising. 
 

Two of the elevator shafts for the Commodore has topped out.
 

And  the Box is looking  pretty good, IMO

 

 

[Brent114]

From the development map….

Here’s  a drawing of the Plant Zero development. 
 

[I miss RVA]

23 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

I too am unclear about the details but there was mention of this building being redeveloped maybe 6 months ago? I’ve been looking for signs of it happening (thus reading the notice in the window). 
 

From  what I recall it will be  a 6-8 story building.  It is located at Hull and 3rd Streets. I don’t know that there were any renderings.  I’ll scroll back through here and look for more details.  

Some updates around Manchester…

 

Port Richmond (?) is rising. 
 

Two of the elevator shafts for the Commodore has topped out.
 

And  the Box is looking  pretty good, IMO

 

 

HUMBLE HUMBLE thanks, @Brent114for taking and posting these amazing photos! Holy WOW - all of this is just AMAZING to see as it continues to progress and come together. Is it just me - or when we see these pix - it's honestly like we're looking at an entirely DIFFERENT city? As in - this CAN'T be happening in Richmond - surely this is a different city... Baltimore maybe... or Boston or ... somewhere... and then it's "pinch me and make sure I'm not dreaming - because this IS HAPPENING IN RICHMOND!!! WOWWWWWWWWWWW!!! 

PortRVA? That's the former 12-story building at 5th and Hull, yes? Ugh... Mazal Tov to them, I suppose... 

On a more potentially joyful note: The second photo in this group -- looking northwest from across Hull at the Commodore construction site. In the distance (right side of the photo) is River's Edge I - and Avery Hall's glorious 17 and 16 story towers would rise right behind that building. Now - by the time ground is broken and construction will be underway, the Commodore would block the view from this vantage point - but imagine being positioned maybe a block or so to the east of 7th and Hull - or looking from any upper northwest-facing window from the Commodore ... and seeing the Avery Hall towers rising in the distance? HOHHH-LEEEE-WOWWWW!! I'm PRAYING Avery Hall sails through the SUP approval process with NO HICCUPS AT ALL - and that they can get underway as soon as possible.

 

24 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

From the development map….

Here’s  a drawing of the Plant Zero development. 
 

THANK YOU for looking this one up, @Brent114!!! VERY much appreciated! Right - this project.  So demo on the site slated to start in January. Wow!

[Hike]

@Brent114 you’re on a roll here with updates and research, thanks for keep us up to date on these projects.  It’s hard to believe that plant zero is going away, when I worked there, about 15+ years ago, that was the only thing going on, food, coffee, etc. art studios, exhibitions,  and now it’s heading to the wrecking ball. The word, back when I worked in Manchester was that Manchester was going to be the next up and coming neighborhood. I was hopeful, because I left Carytown to go to Manchester to work, and had hoped it would become like how it is today. Unfortunately, it never happened in my time, but glad it’s happening for those there now.  Another nice thing about Manchester right now is that the construction is so concentrated in one area, makes it easy to see so much at once, where other projects, you have to drive all over the place to see one, get back in the car, go see another, etc.

[I miss RVA]

23 minutes ago, Hike said:

@Brent114 you’re on a roll here with updates and research, thanks for keep us up to date on these projects.  It’s hard to believe that plant zero is going away, when I worked there, about 15+ years ago, that was the only thing going on, food, coffee, etc. art studios, exhibitions,  and now it’s heading to the wrecking ball. The word, back when I worked in Manchester was that Manchester was going to be the next up and coming neighborhood. I was hopeful, because I left Carytown to go to Manchester to work, and had hoped it would become like how it is today. Unfortunately, it never happened in my time, but glad it’s happening for those there now.  Another nice thing about Manchester right now is that the construction is so concentrated in one area, makes it easy to see so much at once, where other projects, you have to drive all over the place to see one, get back in the car, go see another, etc.

 !!!

Well said, @Hike 

I still harken back to one of the RBS forums a couple of years ago where CRE experts, leaders, etc., came to Richmond and discussed the future of Manchester - and one of the primary themes that came out of the talk was the description of Manchester as "Richmond's version of Brooklyn" - and it definitely fits. The whole urban feel and vibe... the continued amplification of density... the concentration of development... and the juxtaposition of Manchester to downtown across the river - similar to Brooklyn across the East River from Manhattan... (just on a much much smaller scale, obviously!)  It's REALLY cool to see how this is all coming to pass in our time!

Edited November 1, 2022 by I miss RVA

[kllrjnk]

Nahum Goodenow has a few renderings of the Plant Zero Project on his site.

http://www.nahumgoodenow.com/#/ontheboards/

[Brent114]

Those look great. 
It looks like the artist studios stay, which is nice. 

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

On 10/31/2022 at 6:05 PM, whw53 said:

Our friend Nahum must be the principal architect on the Avery Hall project - he has posted renderings of this project to his portfolio. 

Additionally the SUP needed to facilitate this project was submitted last week and is Under Review according to the permit portal.

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/e3d1a3ef-8921-4c1b-b2c5-6b4fef5fee4a

 

 

 

I know right now Manchester is touted  for its views of the downtown skyline but in 10 years heck - i think downtown might be marketed for its views of the Manchester skyline. 

I....uh.... wow. It's not often that renderings leave me speechless.

[I miss RVA]

WOW! The ground is definitely shaking in Manchester. The former UPS Building (originally the HQ of Overnite Transportation Company) is hitting the market.  Bruce weighed in with some excellent commentary about what the future for this site might hold, suggesting if the ENTIRE TForce Freight campus is included, he sees RFPs going out and that significant development -- INCLUDING A GROCER -- could come on the scene.

From Mike's reporting in RBS:

Bruce Milam of Bruce Commercial Realty has been brokering deals in the city for decades, including the nearby, record-setting sale of the River’s Edge II site to Avery Hall Investments. Milam said he suspects if the entirety of TFI’s land goes on the market, a request-for-proposals would be sent out.

Milam said a large institutional investor could come in and plan something mixed use that takes advantage of the Semmes Avenue frontage.

“That’s a pretty good size acreage for a grocery store with apartments above, because the parking is there for it,” Milam said. 

(MY ONLY ARGUMENT RE: BRUCE'S COMMENTARY IS THAT ANY PARKING MUST BE INTEGRATED - NO SURFACE PARKING - LET'S NOT WASTE SPACE!!!)

NOTE: The entire - ENTIRE -- property IS FOUR COMPLETE CITY BLOCKS SQUARE -- the block with the current building on it and three empty blocks. (See map photo below) - in other words, this is a HUGE piece of land that is ripe for development.

Also - it's not currently known what the exact plans for existing office building might be - whether it would be rehabbed or torn down as part of a larger overall redevelopment.

Along those lines...  EVEN BETTER - Charles Macfarlane of Macfarlane Partners (developers who have had their hand in redeveloping some former Overnight Transportation property in Manchester) is REALLY talking up DENSITY.

From Mike's reporting in RBS: (Quoting Macfarlane)

“If you’re looking at some of the more dense development in Manchester and Scott’s Addition, they’re doing 200, 250 units per acre. So this could be as many as 2,000 units, potentially. Conceivably, if you’re going up 15, 16 stories, it could be more, but it would certainly require a lot of capital and a long-term horizon to see it developed.”

No matter how you slice it, it seems like a developmental earthquake is about to unfold in Manchester - and something quite EPIC could eventually go on this huge four-square-block area right off of Semmes. To me, THIS is a case where you HAVE to get UBER-DEEP pocketed OUT-OF-TOWN/STATE investors/developers (someone along the lines of an Avery Hall, for example) to come in here and really make some magic happen - the kind of magic we see in other cities.

ANOTHER QUESTION THAT COMES TO MY MIND: Depending on how this all shakes out and what ends up going there (and over how many years) - does this in any way impact the routing of a north/south PULSE BRT line through Manchester?

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/11/10/swath-of-manchester-up-for-grabs-as-former-ups-office-building-set-to-hit-the-market/

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by I miss RVA

[rjp212]

Every time I walk by these lots, I've been hoping for the day they'd be sold off.    Fingers crossed it's something transformative and not more of those three story quads that line Porter/Bainbridge.

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, rjp212 said:

Every time I walk by these lots, I've been hoping for the day they'd be sold off.    Fingers crossed it's something transformative and not more of those three story quads that line Porter/Bainbridge.

AMEN to that, brother! Like Bruce and Charles Macfarlane both said - this is very ripe fruit to be picked by some extremely deep-pocketed investors/developers who could build out these four blocks into something, as you said, truly transformative to the central portion of Manchester.

Personally, I'd love to see a mixed-use complex that brings together the best of all worlds - high-density (and high-rise!!) residential, at least some office, a good injection of retail INCLUDING A GROCER and perhaps an urban-footprint name-brand retailer like a Target plus at least one major brand-name pharmacy (Walgreens, CVS, etc.), maybe a couple of restaurants and bars, a fitness place, other typical urban-neighborhood storefront retailers (maybe some kind of urban-footprint Office Max, a UPS Store, stuff like that) - maybe - MAYBE - even a hotel!!  Guys, there are a LOT of possibilities if all four blocks are DENSELY built out and built up.

Build it out so that it is TRANSIT-centric rather than strictly car-centric. Turn this four city block "square" into something akin to a legit "town center" -- (which means there would definitely need to be commercial space, including offices to bring businesses into the development as part of the focus) that could perhaps spread to adjacent blocks after these four are built out. 

What do I mean by that?

Despite the annoying screeds of the NIMBYs and their inane "Don't NOVA my RVA"  BS campaign, I think the ideal development would be something akin to what exists in Crystal City, Rosslyn, Pentagon City, Tyson's Corner - only on an obviously smaller scale (we're talking four square blocks in a square to begin with) ... but in other words, laying the groundwork for a "downtown" or an "uptown" Manchester (uptown if lower Manchester - north of Commerce Road to the riverfront, particularly along the Hull Street corridor) could be considered "downtown" Manchester.

I'd love to see each city block designed in a fashion similar to the ORIGINAL proposal for Block D - only with even more density and height (if possible) interjected. Meaning - NO wasted space. No "pedestal" developments (a single building surrounded by a ton of open space).

This four-square-block square has AMAZING potential. We need developers from out of state with HUGE checkbooks to really do this right - and we need someone (said developers?) to push with everything they have to upzone this part of Manchester as far as it can be upzoned -- maybe B-4? (I don't know that the newest level of zoning that's been applied to City Center would gain a lot of traction in Manchester - although I would like to see it applied across the board throughout downtown.)

Either way - I 100% concur, @rjp212-- we DON'T need townhouses, rowhouses, 2 X 2s, 3 X 3s, open spaces, etc. - in other words, SMALL POTATOES, built here. WE NEED TO THINK WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OUTSIDE the RVA box and start thinking more like NOVA or some of our other peer, (competitor) cities - and pursue out-of-state developers who have NO ties to the preservationist rhetoric and who can stand up to the push back, get the city to work with them and then sink the kind of investment into Manchester that will not only transform and uplift the neighborhood, but will keep the speeding train of RVA progress on track, moving forward and -- even better -- accelerating!

Edited November 10, 2022 by I miss RVA

[whw53]

POD filed this morning for 301 Hull - the Sampson Coatings site. for 250 unit mixed use development. No word on height or floor count. 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/18d0cc08-ac02-4c63-bf60-ed5edb2587d5

 

 

Area in square feet of land disturbance is listed as 60,548, while Proposed Floor Area is listed as 312000. 

Low bar we can expect 5 floors if structure rises evenly over the disturbed area -  312000/60548 = 5.15. Probably higher - Thalhimer's Overlook 2 next door will contain 275 apartments and is set to rise 8 stores on a larger block.

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by whw53

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, whw53 said:

POD filed this morning for 301 Hull - the Sampson Coatings site. for 250 unit mixed use development. No word on height or floor count. 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/18d0cc08-ac02-4c63-bf60-ed5edb2587d5

 

 

Area in square feet of land disturbance is listed as 60,548, while Proposed Floor Area is listed as 312000. 

Low bar we can expect 5 floors if structure rises evenly over the disturbed area -  312000/60548 = 5.15. Probably higher - Thalhimer's Overlook 2 next door will contain 275 apartments and is set to rise 8 stores on a larger block.

 

Sounds good all-in-all. So perhaps if the low bar is 5  -- and Overlook 2 is planned for 8 with only 25 more units on a larger footprint - then realistically are you thinking perhaps in the neighborhood of  6 or 7 floors for the Sampson Coatings redevelopment?

Edited November 16, 2022 by I miss RVA

[rjp212]

Could we finally be seeing movement on South Falls II?

 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/8be5f076-512a-41b6-a30c-977b49390a4e?tab=attachments

 

[whw53]

2023 Hull St corridor is going to be insane - here are my rough compilations and subtle projections from info you all have found etc.

1. Plant Zero breaks ground first quarter 2023
2. The Cove (512 Hull) under site work now - will be going vertical first or second quarter
3. The Commodore will be rising and top out mid-year.
4. Trailhead Apartments on 2nd will break ground first quarter.
5. Overlook II will break ground 2nd or 3rd quarter.
6. structures on Sampson Coatings site will be demolished next fall in prep for dvelopment.
7. The View at Belle Isle (Lawson) will break ground 2nd quarter
8. The Beach Cos. finishes their Eddy on the James project (formerly Tidewater) and breaks ground 3rd quarter on their Thurston site. 
9. South Falls II breaks ground 2nd or 3rd quarter.
10. Silos site breaks ground 2nd or 3rd quarters. 

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, rjp212 said:

Could we finally be seeing movement on South Falls II?

 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/8be5f076-512a-41b6-a30c-977b49390a4e?tab=attachments

 

 

 

GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY!!!!!! FINALLY!!!

So - this was a POD? SUP? What was the filing?

Edited November 16, 2022 by I miss RVA

[whw53]

POD has been long approved for SF2 - it's been over a year I think since that amended POD went past council. ZCL and any commercial permits going through now are a sign of imminent development probably. 

[I miss RVA]

20 minutes ago, whw53 said:

POD has been long approved for SF2 - it's been over a year I think since that amended POD went past council. ZCL and any commercial permits going through now are a sign of imminent development probably. 

SWEET!! Can't wait to see this bad boy getting underway!! Another 14-story building courtesy of Mr. Tom Papa!

QUESTIONS:

1.) You're projecting ground breaking for South Falls II and Silos/Hourigan Q2 or Q3 of next year - particularly on the Hourigan project, just curious if you've heard anything that gives you confidence it'll happen then?

2.) Buildings on the site of the Sampson Coatings project - demo not until next fall? Why not sooner?

3.) Since you've included the Tidewater and the proposed building on the Thurston site - both of which are west of the Hull Street corridor - could we add the Avery Hall towers into the mix as well? I'm guessing that their SUP is only for the additional height going above 13 stories - and they've given every indication that they plan to build by-right regardless of what happens with the SUP.  Also - given the investment that they're making (given what they've plunked down just to buy the property) - what's the over/under that both the Planning Commission and City Council approve (with no hiccups, delays, stipulations, etc.) their SUP filing?

AT SOME POINT -- we'll need to get our hands on a drone to get some really good pics of Manchester as she continues to boom.  Decent drones aren't all that expensive anymore - so it could be a worthwhile investment for those who are photographically inclined (and who would like to have the tech boost to really document RVA's growth!)

Edited November 16, 2022 by I miss RVA

[rjp212]

More details from the 10/4/22 building permits:

14 Stories (11 above 3 levels of parking) and 193 units.

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/permit/247f3ab4-f3af-4575-a912-65595e9827d3

 

[I miss RVA]

On 11/16/2022 at 2:57 PM, rjp212 said:

More details from the 10/4/22 building permits:

14 Stories (11 above 3 levels of parking) and 193 units.

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/permit/247f3ab4-f3af-4575-a912-65595e9827d3

 

SUHHH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!  WOW!!! 

Just gorgeous! Basically an ALMOST carbon-copy of South Falls I. 

So Tom Papa is really moving forward with this - wow!!

Edited November 18, 2022 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

Gentlemen: 

Presenting... (drum roll please...)

The BUILDINGS of the NEW SKYLINE of MANCHESTER (RICHMOND, VA) - by 2024-25

In order - clockwise from upper left:

1.) South Falls I

2.) South Falls II

3.) Hourigan/Silos site

4.) Avery Hall - Rivers Edge site

Edited November 16, 2022 by I miss RVA

[skinsfan]

Favorite of the four? 
- Let’s vote!

Thanks      SH1

Confused     SH2

Like       Avery Hall

HaHa     Silos project

 

On 11/16/2022 at 5:06 PM, I miss RVA said:

Gentlemen: 

Presenting... (drum roll please...)

The BUILDINGS of the NEW SKYLINE of MANCHESTER (RICHMOND, VA) - by 2024-25

In order - clockwise from upper left:

1.) South Falls I

2.) South Falls II

3.) Hourigan/Silos site

4.) Avery Hall - Rivers Edge site