Popular Post TBurban Posted May 13, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 (edited) Looks good, but dang, we should have an iconic tower in the center of that skyline! I'm holding out that Dominion Power builds an iconic tower soon next to their current downtown building. I know that they own the ugly building and land on the block just west of their current tower and they've been moving more and more people downtown as if they are looking to make a big move soon...at least that's my idea of what they might be doing. I'm sure they'd want everyone under one roof in a 40+ story building downtown...I just know they do! Holding out hope! Hold out no longer! Dominion plans addition to Richmond's skyline Dominion Resources Inc., the Richmond-based energy conglomerate, plans to demolish a downtown office building it bought four years ago and replace it with a new tower that will “enhance” the city’s skyline. The Richmond Plaza office building on Cary Street, across Seventh Street from Dominion’s 21-story One James River Plaza office tower, will start coming down within a year, said Carter Reid, Dominion’s senior vice president, chief administrative and compliance officer and corporate secretary. The yet-to-be-designed building will include underground parking, office and retail space along with public areas, Reid said. While demolition should start during the next 12 months, she said, there’s no timeline for erecting the new building, or any estimate of how tall it might rise. Edited May 13, 2015 by TBurban 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandslee Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 (edited) 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 May 13, 2015 by eandslee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandslee Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 “One thing we do know is that when we do build, it will be a significant structure,” Aw man! This has signature tower written all over it! My heart is skipping beats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richmonopoly Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoo 07 Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 This is great! Hopefully it will soar at least 650 feet (I'm ok with a new "tallest building" sticking out a bit). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandslee Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVA-Is-The-Best Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 !!! 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meegwell Posted May 14, 2015 Report Share Posted May 14, 2015 !!! 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). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandslee Posted May 14, 2015 Report Share Posted May 14, 2015 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)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K76T Posted May 15, 2015 Report Share Posted May 15, 2015 I live in Norfolk but this is exciting news as I travel to and through Richmond quite often. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbjust Posted May 17, 2015 Report Share Posted May 17, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richmonopoly Posted May 17, 2015 Report Share Posted May 17, 2015 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandslee Posted May 17, 2015 Report Share Posted May 17, 2015 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icetera Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoo 07 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbjust Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Having been down there when the river is up, I honestly wonder whether you could get flood insurance for new homes or businesses down there. I think the building right on the river has gotten wet as recently as 2006 or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varunner Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) 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 May 19, 2015 by Brent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbjust Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Still a shame we couldn't have gone up to 20 stories on Gateway. Tenant demand just wasn't there I think. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandslee Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 (edited) 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: Here's a graphic showing the downtown distribution of Dominion employees, whom will likely all be consolidated into the new tower: Edited May 20, 2015 by eandslee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandslee Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 I found a few more details on this development here: http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2015/may/15/dominion-plans-investment-new-building-upgrades-do/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbjust Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icetera Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) 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 June 4, 2015 by Icetera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbjust Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 My bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downtowner Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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