Dominion Resources: New High-rise Building Planned for Downtown

[blopp1234]

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.

Hi, I have been following Richmond development for about a year but have just joined urban planet. I don't think Richmond will ever pass Charlotte or philly, but this tower could easily be the tallest tower from Philly to Charlotte.

 

Edited September 15, 2015 by blopp1234

[eandslee]

Hi, I have been following Richmond development for about a year but have just joined urban planet. I don't think Richmond will ever pass Charlotte or philly, but this tower could easily be the tallest tower from Philly to Charlotte.

 

Welcome to the forum Blopp!  I certainly hope you two are right.  The only thing is that I don't think Dominion will building anything too extreme because something extremely taller than the current downtown buildings might stick out like a sore thumb (I don't have a problem with it, but others might).  I want it to be tall and tastefully done, but definitely want this to be Richmond's signature tower!  I'm also hoping to hear something soon on this project.  I'm hoping demo starts in January of the Richmond Plaza.  If that's the case, surely they'll have a plan by then, right?  Even if it's conceptual, I want to see something - I want to know what they're thinking as far as scope for this project.

[Downtowner]

 

 

I mean the James Monroe is around 439 feet or along those lines so I mean a 500 footer or even a 600 footer wouldn't stick out to much I would think. I definitely want it to be at the very least 550 feet. So we can at least have the tallest building between the distance mentioned above. Would be cool to have that and as well be the states tallest again. Also I wouldn't think the elevation would be all that high since the richmond plaza is along canal street going downhill . Even if it was 600 feet the elevation of the land to me wouldn't seem like it would make it stick out as much.

 

Edited September 15, 2015 by Downtowner

[blopp1234]

I have also heard that after the new building is completed, dominion will move their employees to the new Richmond plaza site and rebuild one James river plaza. Idk if that will happen, but it would be nice to have two new towers in the skyline.

Edited September 15, 2015 by blopp1234

[blopp1234]

They should be coming out with some preview or rendering in the next couple weeks seeing how it's been about 6 months since they first announced it. Love how they used "massive" to describe it though. 

[OBXastronaut]

They should be coming out with some preview or rendering in the next couple weeks seeing how it's been about 6 months since they first announced it. Love how they used "massive" to describe it though. 

I believe the figure that was getting floated around was 40-50 storeys, so yeah, this should be pretty big. Hopefully it looks good, too

[jbjust]

I guarantee you it won't be anywhere near 40 stories. 

[blopp1234]

Idk if dominion vacates their current building, then the tower could go up to about 40 stories. If not it will probably be about 35.

[eandslee]

If anyone has any idea of how tall this project will get will be someone who works for Dominion as I think leadership is soliciting input from Dominion employees on the design of this building(s).  Any of you work for Dominion?  If rumors of a 40-50 story building are going around, there might be some validity to the rumors (could be as tall as 40-50 stories, but may only end up being 35)...who knows.  I do know that I'm waiting with bated breath to find out the details. If it's anything less than Virginia's new tallest, I will be disappointed. At any rate, I certainly hope the details come out soon as 2016 is just around the corner!  Surely, there is someone somewhere who has some leaked preliminary information...right?  Anyone?

[vaceltic]

I think the rumors of a 40-50+ story tall building are coming from Urban Planet

Edited October 9, 2015 by vaceltic

[wrldcoupe4]

Who's the architect?

[jbjust]

Massive can mean many things.  This thing will be less than 30 floors. 

[eandslee]

Massive can mean many things.  This thing will be less than 30 floors. 

I hope you are just psyching yourself out. I hope you are very wrong...come on, positive thoughts, tall thoughts....

[wrldcoupe4]

I know nothing of the height, but I think jbjust is probably closer to reality. Dominion has never been a flashy company and I don't expect that to change. Not good PR to build a trophy to yourself when you are a monopoly... will seem like people are being overcharged. By massive, my guess (and this is literally a guess) is that there will be a massive parking structure below/adjacent to the office portion of the tower, and the area per floor will probably be north of 25,000 s.f. to achieve greater efficiency. I don't envision residential or hospitality as part of the new tower. Throw in some street level retail space and that about does it.

Anyways, if a new building was 30 floors, I would guess the height would be somewhere around 450' without height from some type of spire element on the roof. That would make it Richmond's new tallest and it may sit at a higher elevation than Suntrust or James Monroe.

[wrldcoupe4]

That would put it at more than double the adjacent Crowne Plaza Hotel. Dominion's tower at One James River Plaza is about 310'

[blopp1234]

I don't think it will be that short due to the fact that dominion is the largest energy provider in the mid Atlantic, so I don't think that it will be 450, however I don' t think with all the information that has been put on here that the tower will reach 600 ft. 35 stories and 550 ft sounds more realistic.

[vaceltic]

General office admin roughly estimates around 162 SF/person. This wouldn't include conference rooms, private offices, mechanical space, reception, bathrooms, etc (maybe 30 percent additional space?). 

(# of office building workers x 162 SF) + 30% = My rough estimate of the building size. If this were 2,500 employees moving in...that equates to about 525,000 SF of new office. Over 600,000 SF if there were 3,000 moving in.

The height would depend on the area per floor of the building. James Monroe building is over 400,000 SF but has a small area per floor. The Federal Reserve is 700,000 SF with three levels below ground.

[jbjust]

Why is everyone assuming a single tower? 

[eandslee]

Why is everyone assuming a single tower? 

You're absolutely right that there is a possibility of multiple buildings, I think it's us on UP, who are hoping for a single, tall tower.  I think the block where this will be built could definitely accommodate at least a building, or multiple buildings, with large floor plans making the height of this thing a lot shorter.  But, we all like to dream.  "Massive" could also mean a big, chunk of a building that is short.  I hope the employee feedback is such that there is a push to make the building tall and not short.  We'll have to see, but I love the conversation going on right now.  Let's think of all the possibilities - one of us will get it right when the plans are released and will have some serious bragging rights!

Are there any examples of any public utility companies out there that built a tall building that you can think of?

[blopp1234]

I think dominion could build a taller tower if they built it taller than needed so they could always grow Into the space. Until then, they could lease out the unused space to smaller companies which could add some extra stories to the tower or towers.

[jbjust]

Duke Energy Tower is the second largest tower in Charlotte at 48 stories.  Duke Energy Tower

[eandslee]

Duke Energy Tower is the second largest tower in Charlotte at 48 stories.  Duke Energy Tower

Boom!  That's the example I was looking for!  See, it could happen - Dominion could build something significantly tall.  Dominion is HUGE and I think deserves to have a building to match its footprint.  Just my 2 cents....

Beautiful tower Duke Energy has, By-the-way.

[eandslee]

Okay, so I just learned that there a multiple tenants in the Duke Energy building, but it could happen here in Richmond too.

[blopp1234]

Having other tenants would be a great way to add floors. With the addition of multiple tenants, the tower could could easily meet expectations. Also with the addition of this tower, we could see some high rise development in Monroe Ward.

[jbjust]

Not gonna happen...