Dominion Resources: New High-rise Building Planned for Downtown

[wrldcoupe4]

When will more information be publicly available?

[blopp1234]

10 hours ago, Icetera said:

Ignore above as the reply function seems to hang up on me...

I do not see much beyond suburban-ish projects from Hourigan, with exception of Altria's downtown lab, but Clayco and Pickard Chilton's portfolios show some potential.  Looking foward to seeing what they come up with.

http://www.claycorp.com/our-projects/current-projects/

http://archinect.com/pickardchilton http://pickardchilton.com/

http://www.houriganconstruction.com/projects/

Picard chilton has a really nice portfolio including multiple other signature towers. Hopefully they stick with what they've been doing and add a beautiful tower to downtowns skyline.

Edited January 16, 2016 by blopp1234

[eandslee]

9 hours ago, meegwell said:

Demolition of Plaza Building will start this summer, construction later in the year.  Tower will be ready in summer 2019. Hourigan/Clayco to construct.  Packard Chilton will be arch. design.  PDR Corp interior design.  Timmons Group and Kendall/Heaton also part of the project team.  Looking forward to it!

Where did you get this information?  Was there a public announcement that I missed?  Pleased with what I hear so far!

Edited January 15, 2016 by eandslee

[Downtowner]

Well to make matters more interesting I have known Hourigan got the job for over a good solid month and a half now. My cousin who works for Circle S Branding in Manchester which is a marketing firm in downtown richmond told me hourigan got it over the holidays in december. Hourigan construction is one of there clients. Very excited for the ball to get rolling on this project. This better not be a disappointment as far as height goes and architectural appeal. Oh and plus I told eandslee about it over a week ago and I know he was definitely pumped to hear that. I just didn't want to give the word out until I saw someone else at least give it out or until there was news on it.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Downtowner

[meegwell]

FWIW and as far as I understand the information on the schedule and the firms involved in a previous post was a mass email to employees with no request/designation/expectation of any type of confidentiality.  More updates "as available".

[eandslee]

Since the employees of Dominion were involved in deciding what design would be appropriate for this building(s), I wonder what was discussed and what the design consensus was?  Anyone know any Dominion employees involved?  I hope the consensus was modern and tall!  It needs to make a statement in the skyline and would love for it to be the prominent structure, one which would also gain the notoriety of being Virginia's new tallest!

Edited January 19, 2016 by eandslee

[ric75]

You think this is related? Not sure if Dominion Realty Partners is part of Dominion Resources.

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/article_214de9ae-82aa-54de-9bea-7ec4b8c54779.html

[wrldcoupe4]

Completely unrelated. 

[eandslee]

Interesting comment made on r/rva Reddit today.  I like where this is going!

 

P.S., word on the street is that there is a lot of work and a team already organized to make sure the Dominion tower is quite a unique project for Richmond...or for Virginia. Anyhow, shhhh...http://pickardchilton.com/ just for thoughts. It's gonna be good.

[jbjust]

I saw that.  They have some neat projects on their website (and also some crummy projects).  

[eandslee]

...and, not sure if this is just speculation, rumor, a guess, or if there is any basis for it, but I just noticed on this website (not sure who maintains it - it is Wiki after all) that under proposed Richmond towers, it shows the Dominion tower is estimated at 45-50 stories.  That would be very nice, but I'm not believing it...yet. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Richmond,_Virginia

[Blackbird Fly]

I recently reformatted the 'Tallest Buildings in Richmond' wiki page to make it more attractive and added the Gateway Plaza to our list; so I am probably the main person who edits that page. I added the Locks at 321 to the approved/proposed section earlier today, but I did not put the 45-50 stories estimate. Hopefully someone in the know did so. 

[eandslee]

Well, that's good to know that it wasn't you. If not you, then who was it (muh ha ha ha)?!  Yeah, hopefully you're right...maybe the guy that wrote that is in the know. 

After methodically reading the announcement from last year, a 45-50 story tower does not seem out of the realm of possibility.  Reid said, "part of recruiting and getting people to Richmond is making Richmond an attractive city."  She further noted that part of the aim is to "enhance" the Richmond's skyline.  If the aim is to enhance the skyline, it would stand to reason that this tower would have be a tall or significant enough to be seen from a distance and make a significant difference to the current skyline.  One way to do that is to build taller than anything we currently have or design it in a way that is so different from what you currently see downtown that it sticks out (in a positive way).

Also, Reid said that the company plans a "distinctive and energy efficient design."

"Distinctive" is the key word here.  Distinctive as in something like you see on http://pickardchilton.com?  Quite possibly.

Also, we are talking about putting upwards of 800-1000 Dominion personnel in this tower, which could (it's possible) also include mixed use (a hotel and or condos/apartments).  If the height of the new Suntrust Center (with 200 personnel and 187 apartments) is any indication, the Domonion tower could easily be twice as tall.  Just my analysis based on the "clues" revealed in the announcement last May.

[wrldcoupe4]

Dominion's consolidation could include as many as 2,000 employees, and that excludes the riverfront campus and Innsbrook. They may have 2 full city blocks to work with over time - I don't anticipate that their tower would be mixed use other than including parking and street level commercial space. However, their overall project could be mixed use. I think about what Capital One is doing in Tyson's Corner...

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/12/capital-one-expands-plans-for-tysons-hq-campus.html

I doubt we'll ever get that much density, but something to think about. Hopefully we get a peek behind the curtain soon.

Edited January 22, 2016 by wrldcoupe4

[eandslee]

Okay, I can buy your mixed use argument.  You are probably right in that regard. Still, only 2 city blocks and 2000 people to house, with parking and street-level commercial space (maybe some outdoor park space) is still not insignificant.  Depending on the design (how the development is laid out, etc.) could still mean significant heights.  I just read a lot of naysayer comments out there from time to time that say that Dominion will never build anything taller than maybe 25-30 stories. I tend to disagree, but I'm throwing my thought processes at you guys to keep myself in check (some of you, like you G, are more knowledgeable about this stuff than I am).  A lot of my obsession on this is based on emotion and you guys are my professional, more rational thought on what is reality.  Thanks for sharing the link on the Capital One development. I drive by it from time to time. I like what they are planning.  With a more condensed location of 2 city blocks, things can't be spread out so much...I'm thinking that's where the height comes into play if Dominion were to do something similar. 

[wrldcoupe4]

Does anyone think we won't have a new tallest out of this?

[Blackbird Fly]

I think the 3+ year build timetable is very encouraging for a tall tower. Anybody else have thoughts on what could take so long if it wasn't going to be much taller than these recent buildings we've seen go up in <2 years? Also, I just added the estimated completion time to Richmond's Tallest Buildings wiki page.

[blopp1234]

11 minutes ago, Blackbird Fly said:

I think the 3+ year build timetable is very encouraging for a tall tower. Anybody else have thoughts on what could take so long if it wasn't going to be much taller than these recent buildings we've seen go up in <2 years? Also, I just added the estimated completion time to Richmond's Tallest Buildings wiki page.

That and the fact that it would be very difficult to design a building under 25 stories that can house over 1,000 employees.

[eandslee]

3 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Does anyone think we won't have a new tallest out of this?

I definitely think we'll get at least a city's tallest, hoping to get Virginia's tallest out of this. I agree with the two points already mentioned - the 3 year timetable and the number of employees to house are good indicators of a Virginia's tallest. I also think they know more than they are saying. They might not know the final design yet, but I'm sure they have a good idea of some of the details. Perhaps they are finalizing designs now. Hard to believe they don't know any more than they knew back in May.  They are probably just being hush hush until the big announcement (whenever that will be).

 

Westin VA Beach is 508 feet tall. Gotta beat that. 40 stories would do it at about 550 feet or so. 

Edited January 24, 2016 by eandslee

[Icetera]

2 hours ago, Blackbird Fly said:

I think the 3+ year build timetable is very encouraging for a tall tower. Anybody else have thoughts on what could take so long if it wasn't going to be much taller than these recent buildings we've seen go up in <2 years? Also, I just added the estimated completion time to Richmond's Tallest Buildings wiki page.

Given the location, perhaps they are also accounting for archaeological discoveries.

[Blackbird Fly]

7 minutes ago, Icetera said:

Given the location, perhaps they are also accounting for archaeological discoveries.

Good point! Also, thinking about it; if they are going to dig for underground parking that will take an eternity--just like it did for VCU Health's outpatient peds facility (that project has taken 3 years).

[eandslee]

8 minutes ago, Icetera said:

Given the location, perhaps they are also accounting for archaeological discoveries.

Yikes!  Don't say that...but I can't argue with your assertion. It's quite possible they will find something if they dig (I hope not though). It is for this reason that Gateway Plaza and now the new Suntrust Center will have above ground parking...they don't want to risk delays due to an archeological dig if something is discovered digging a parking deck below ground. 

[Wahoo 07]

This may be a long shot, but I would like to see a public space (restaurant, bar, etc.) on the top floor of this building.  Imagine the views of the James from 700'.

[vdogg]

Is this related to this building? The article is dated 1980 but then it goes on to talk about things that happened in the 90's which is, of course, impossible. 

http://m.styleweekly.com/richmond/dominion-powers-expansion-plan-threatens-a-historic-stretch-of-waterfront-while-offering-little-in-the-way-of-energizing-downtown/Content?oid=1384650

Actually, I think this is a different location. Are there 2 expansions in the works?

[jbjust]

That is totally irrelevant to what's going on today and predates, at a minimum, Dominion's acquisition of the Richmond Plaza building.