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Dominion Resources: New High-rise Building Planned for Downtown


TBurban

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I knew it!!!!! I nearly jumped all over my house this morning when I saw the headline! This will, for sure, be something good; something that will define Richmond and it sounds like they are planning to do it right! Any of you designers out there want to provide us an idea (sample rendering) of what you think this tower will/should look like? This is exciting for sure! It has made my day! Now to soak it all in....

Edited by eandslee
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I was pretty excited when I saw the headline as well.  Heck, I became excited when I heard about their multi-billion dollar spending plan!  I posted on the article, while I hope this thing has great height, I hope it won't stick out like a sore thumb.  ie. (Oklahoma City).  

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Oklahoma_City#/media/File:Downtown_okc_skyline.JPG

 

I hope that it will be seen from all directions approaching the city.  

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No, I kind of of like the "sore thumb" look.  Most importantly, it sets the new height standard for Downtown Richmond.  As of late, no one has been willing to go higher than the Monroe tower because they didn't want to stick out per se.  With a tower that already does that, then that tallest tower sets the new height standard and will likely see more buildings taller than 30 stories (~449 ft).  That's my take.  I just hope it has a pointed tip or some other distinctive feature on top.

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!!! Yes please! Hopefully more of the F500 companies in the area will think of consolidating their employees like this. More towers. This (hopefully won't be (hopefully there's more to come)) is the most exciting development news of the year. This year's Gateway Plaza.

...only bigger (from what it sounds like).

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Would it be possible to incorporate some mixed use into this development? I'm thinking more than just retail, say a hotel? They probably should build more floors than they really need to lease out to other companies and provide themselves some room to grow if need be too. I also envision some sort of unique glass exterior design. Wonder what a 40-story building would look like on the Richmond Plaza property (Photoshop anyone)?

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Mixed use would be pretty out of character for a building dedicated to and owned by the principal tenant.  What I would love to happen is for the city to agree to buy the riverfront buildings from Dominion and use that land to greatly expand the James River park system.  Moving those people up to Cary Street would necessitate at least 10 more floors of space I would think. 

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Mixed use would be pretty out of character for a building dedicated to and owned by the principal tenant.  What I would love to happen is for the city to agree to buy the riverfront buildings from Dominion and use that land to greatly expand the James River park system.  Moving those people up to Cary Street would necessitate at least 10 more floors of space I would think. 

 

I agree.  That would make for incredible riverfront park space.  And relocating these employees to Cary may require an increase to the height of the proposed tower, or it could help fill space in the old tower.  

 

I can't wait until designs are released.   

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I like this idea too. Dominion seems to really want to get the city and public involved (we'll see how that goes down soon) and I think this very idea might be what they want to discuss with the city - to see if there is any interest there to buy the riverfront property. I wonder how long it will take for them to do their real estate evaluation so that they can determine the height and design of this proposed tower? I also hope that it doesn't take a full year to start the demo of the Richmond Plaza. To me, "Within the year" could mean sooner than a year. Still, I'm extremely excited about this one!

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I also hope that it doesn't take a full year to start the demo of the Richmond Plaza. To me, "Within the year" could mean sooner than a year. Still, I'm extremely excited about this one!

 

I much rather them wait to do any demo work until they have a solid plan.  I would hate to see another premature demo like the State Office Building, Centennial Tower and the Performing Arts Center.

 

Personally, I like the feel of Dominion's Campus along the river as we no longer have the old mill's along the shoreline.  I think converting to residential / mixed-use would be the best use of the site (we have plenty of parkland) especially since they built the 2nd St. extension in order to better access the existing development there.

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I much rather them wait to do any demo work until they have a solid plan.  I would hate to see another premature demo like the State Office Building, Centennial Tower and the Performing Arts Center.

 

Personally, I like the feel of Dominion's Campus along the river as we no longer have the old mill's along the shoreline.  I think converting to residential / mixed-use would be the best use of the site (we have plenty of parkland) especially since they built the 2nd St. extension in order to better access the existing development there.

 

I agree that converting the space to residential is be a good idea.  More people with an investment in the Riverfront will only make the area better.  So long as public access to the river is maintained, encouraging permanent residents will only increase the riverfront's vitality.  Imagine a continuous stretch of residential, retail, restaurants, and nightlife from Rockett's to Dominion's current headquarters; I doubt any city in America could match that riverfront.  I hope the next phase of the Foundry Park development includes residential for the same reasons.

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Looking through the RVA flickr albums, I found this image and couldn't help but imagine the gap between the Federal Reserve Building and the current Dominion Building being filled in.  A high rise between 400-500 feet thats mostly glass and NOT another flat top would look awesome. 

 

17450593832_5db6a5743e_b.jpg

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I personally want another flat top, tiered and maybe rotated a few degrees but boxy nonetheless. It's sortof our thing and other cities do it well (Houston, Denver and Seattle for example). Something that compliments the new Gateway building would be nice (same color, lines). Bigger base (square) , three tiers (maybe oval) and a similair ornamentation at the top. I really like the new building but it's scale is awkward from a distance. A buddy building (at least twice the height of course) may ground it a bit better?

Anyhow, I'd rather Richmond look more similar to Seattle than Charlotte.

Edited by Brent
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Just wanted to post these two graphics:

 

Dominion Power's current HQ.  Note Richmond Plaza to the left of the building...this is the city block where a new Dominion Power plans to build their new tower:

 

Dominion%20HQ.jpg

 

Here's a graphic showing the downtown distribution of Dominion employees, whom will likely all be consolidated into the new tower:

 

Dominion%20Map.jpg

Edited by eandslee
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  • 2 weeks later...

The article is pretty poorly written.  The writer seems to think that One James Center Plaza is a different building than the structure at 8th and Main.

 

??  They are two separate towers...  One James River Plaza is between 7th & 8th, Canal & Cary.  Altogether below are the structures involved:

 

[LOCATION] BUILDING

[1 James River Plaza] C01 - OFFICE

[8th & Main] C01 - OFFICE

[Tredegar Campus] C01 - PARKING DECK

[Tredegar Campus] C02 - INDUSTRIAL OFFICE BUILDING

[Tredegar Campus] C04 - GENERAL OFFICE

[Tredegar Campus] C05 - GENERAL OFFICE

[Tredegar Campus] C06 - TRADING FLOOR/PKG DECK 2004

[Grayland Ave.] C01 - 3 Sty Office

[Grayland Ave.] C02 - 1 Sty Garage/Mechanical

[Grayland Ave.] C03 - 1 Sty Whs/Labs/Storage

Edited by Icetera
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  • 3 months later...

You know what I was thinking about if this building ends up being tall enough we could possibly have the tallest building on the east coast from charlotte all the way to as far Philadelphia. It wouldn't take much to do it either. Because the tallest building in Baltimore is only 529 feet tall and the pnc plaza in Raleigh is only 534 feet tall. How cool would it be if Richmond made this a 600-650 foot tall building and make one of of the taller buildings between the cities i mentioned above. Trust me I know no way ever would we ever have a taller building than the tallest in philly or Charlotte as the tallest is a 1000 footer in philly currently under construction. I really think Richmond should strive to make it happen and go taller than any building between philly and Charlotte because Baltimore and Raleigh doesn't have really all that tall of a skyline.

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