Dominion Resources: New High-rise Building Planned for Downtown

[CitiWalker]

More pics 7-6-18

[eandslee]

I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like the current layer they are building on the parking structure of this project is not going to be for parking.  It appears that this part might be the top of the parking structure, which I understand to be a park with green grass, etc.  I thought the parking structure would be a little taller, but the new deck level they are building looks a lot different from the previous levels.  Just wanted to see if anyone else had noticed the same thing.

[Richmonopoly]

I walked by yesterday and was confused by this as well.  

 

The building loooks great with the crown, though!!! Gosh I wish it could have been 10 stories taller! 

[RVAbigdawg]

No clue, but your guess about green space is a good one.  Maybe some solar panels as well?

[Icetera]

Here are some gorgeous pictures Hourigan posted to their Facebook page today:

 

[eandslee]

These are awesome!  Great find and thanks for posting!

These photos offer a perspective you don’t get anywhere else!

Edited July 9, 2018 by eandslee

[wrldcoupe4]

https://richmondbizsense.com/2018/07/10/dominion-files-plans-second-downtown-tower/

Dominion has submitted plans for a 17 story tower dubbed 700 Canal Place which maybreplace the current Dominion tower. 

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2018/07/10/dominion-files-plans-second-downtown-tower/

Dominion has submitted plans for a 17 story tower dubbed 700 Canal Place which maybreplace the current Dominion tower. 

Of course we kind of knew this was going to happen, but it’s reassuring to know that the formal paperwork has been submitted.  This article indicates a floor increase by one floor (17) versus what had been revealed before (16 floors).  I’d say that’s a positive!  We also get a sense of the timeframe they’re looking at too. Could be next summer/early spring before we see the old tower come down...about the same time the new arena will be breaking ground (hopefully)!  There are going to be a ton of tower cranes in the skyline next year and that is exciting!!

[tparkerzut]

1 hour ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2018/07/10/dominion-files-plans-second-downtown-tower/

Dominion has submitted plans for a 17 story tower dubbed 700 Canal Place which maybreplace the current Dominion tower. 

Glad to see they are serious about this. I like the new tower, but am actually more excited about the prospect or getting rid of the original one. That plaza is just horrible!

[RVAbigdawg]

I do hope they build the second tower.  Be kinda cool to watch a building be imploded. 

[drayrichmond]

So happy that plaza will be history!

So some quick math, since the designs are basically the same the new tower should come out to be ~340ft tall, while the current One James River Plazas stands at about ~300ft. 

Curious as to what Dominion is thinking when they say this:

"Pridgen said Dominion will begin evaluating options for its other properties in the surrounding central business district, including its 20-story tower at 705 E. Main St., three buildings at 120 Tredegar St. and two buildings on Grayland Avenue."

[eandslee]

4 hours ago, RVAbigdawg said:

I do hope they build the second tower.  Be kinda cool to watch a building be imploded. 

I don't see how they'd be able to implode this tower without it damaging the new Dominion Energy tower...which is all GLASS!  There will have to be some other method to get it down, I think.

1 hour ago, drayrichmond said:

So happy that plaza will be history!

So some quick math, since the designs are basically the same the new tower should come out to be ~340ft tall, while the current One James River Plazas stands at about ~300ft. 

Curious as to what Dominion is thinking when they say this:

"Pridgen said Dominion will begin evaluating options for its other properties in the surrounding central business district, including its 20-story tower at 705 E. Main St., three buildings at 120 Tredegar St. and two buildings on Grayland Avenue."

I'm assuming that the employees Dominion has in the other properties surrounding the central business district will eventually occupy the new towers they are building, which means there will be several buildings left empty.  I would assume that they would either sell these off (assuming they own them and not leasing them) or bring more jobs downtown from Innsbrook, for example.  I know that they've been trying to find a buyer for their Innsbrook property.  If they can find one, they can move a lot more employees downtown (I want to say that there may be close to 1,000 more employees out at their Innsbrook site...IIRC).

[RVAbigdawg]

On 7/10/2018 at 12:20 PM, eandslee said:

I don't see how they'd be able to implode this tower without it damaging the new Dominion Energy tower...which is all GLASS!  There will have to be some other method to get it down, I think.

Maybe you're right... maybe the same kind of method that was used to take down the old General Assembly building, with cranes, perhaps?

[eandslee]

Looks like the city has hired Hunden Strategic Patners of Chicago to review the financials that NH District Corp presents as part of their proposal.  They were hired on 25 June and are expected to be done in August.  I posted some quotes from the article below:

Hunden will issue a report of its findings to the Stoney administration in August, said David Rose, a senior vice president with Davenport and Co., the city’s external financial adviser.

“If we get the report mid-to-late August and evaluate it, we'll have a little bit of time to talk with City Council members in advance of September's introduction," Rose said, referring to a timeline for advancing the proposal that the Stoney administration previously shared with members of the Council....

....The Hunden study is a part of what Stoney characterized as his administration’s “unprecedented due diligence” on the proposal that could reshape downtown. But its findings may not matter if negotiations aren't productive, Rose said.

"[Stoney] has said, 'Look, If I don't get something I like, irrespective of what Hunden does, then I'm not bringing it to City Council," Rose said....

...."I wanted someone who was not tied to any of the entities that may be involved in the project," Stoney said.

Hunden has worked with the city before. In 2013, former Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration studied potential uses for City Stadium at the request of the City Council. His administration commissioned a study of athletic uses for the facility that Hunden completed....

https://www.richmond.com/news/plus/stoney-administration-paying-chicago-firm-to-review-coliseum-proposal/article_8469c262-0707-5c6c-b451-0bb2b8a3b36f.html

[eandslee]

Sounds like a sweetheart of a deal for the city!  This is almost a no-brainer to me .  I hope that Hunden comes back with a report saying that the numbers are good.  To me, the numbers seem reasonable.

Sorry, there were more quotes I wanted to add, but feared it would take up too much space. 

[drayrichmond]

I think it's rather incredible that out of the 1.4 billion, only 300 mil is going to be from the TIF. 

Also love all the comments on facebook complaining about the mayor not using an RVA or VA firm to do this. I think we need an unbiased firm to work on this, same way you bring in a jury from out of district for high profile cases. If we picked a firm from RVA or VA they'd be complaining about conflicts of interest!

And this is in no way going to be like the 6th street market place (I, of course, didn't live here in those days), cities have changed a lot since then. The old models of urban renewal were failures across the nation because of the timing and design. Cities were depopulating, people moving to the suburbs, and destroying the street grid in favor of empty plazas and parking garages just killed the city feel. This is quite the opposite.

 

[Brent114]

It does sound promising.  My question is how does $300 million in extra debt effect the city’s bond rating?  It seems like a lot of money but maybe in the scheme of things it isn’t?  If $300 million in new bonds lowers the rating it adds  exponentially to Richmond’s  debt.   

If it has no bearing, I could start to get on board  

[vaceltic]

20 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

It does sound promising.  My question is how does $300 million in extra debt effect the city’s bond rating?  It seems like a lot of money but maybe in the scheme of things it isn’t?  If $300 million in new bonds lowers the rating it adds  exponentially to Richmond’s  debt.   

If it has no bearing, I could start to get on board  

There was an opinion article by Shapiro on RTD about the bonds (you have to be digital subscriber to see it). Apparently, the TIF district is being proposed because the city’s credit card was maxed out during Jones administration deals (so says opinion article). I could stomach the City ponying up less than 1/3 of the total deal, but everything’s about “projections” and “estimates”. The real question I have is, what is a rational estimate?

[drayrichmond]

I've just realized we put this all in the wrong thread, anybody know how to/have the ability to move this stuff to the arena thread?

 

That's a good question on the bond rating and how this may effect it. Let hope the Chicago firm does a good thorough job and the numbers add up. 

Edited July 12, 2018 by drayrichmond

[eandslee]

47 minutes ago, drayrichmond said:

I've just realized we put this all in the wrong thread, anybody know how to/have the ability to move this stuff to the arena thread?

 

That's a good question on the bond rating and how this may effect it. Let hope the Chicago firm does a good thorough job and the numbers add up. 

Oops, I guess that is my fault...but this thread sort of fits because the financials have to do with the Dominion Energy property...well, at least a portion does.  Sorry guys. 

[RVAbigdawg]

20th floor of the new building just got covered up with windows.  Looks like all that's left is to glass up the crown.  Looking good!

[ZUMAN2]

4 minutes ago, RVAbigdawg said:

20th floor of the new building just got covered up with windows.  Looks like all that's left is to glass up the crown.  Looking good!

Is the crown going to have any special lighting effects?

[eandslee]

2 hours ago, ZUMAN2 said:

Is the crown going to have any special lighting effects?

It has lighting (not sure of what level of effects) on the crown, so I assume there will be some good lighting effects.

[Richmonopoly]

You can see the crown pretty well coming from the East on 64W into downtown!  

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, Richmonopoly said:

You can see the crown pretty well coming from the East on 64W into downtown!  

It’s not true unless you post pictures!