Dominion Resources: New High-rise Building Planned for Downtown

[Shakman]

1 hour ago, Hike said:

Just remembered this webcam is still active, it's been redirected to point toward the old tower, which is being gutted  and prepared for the implosion.  Not an expert on imploding , so help me if I need an update, but what I remember is, they clear everything out of the building, all the way down to the skeleton or shell.  They'll then expose parts of the structure notching the columns, like you would a tree to help with the direction when falling, add in the nitroglycerin to do the rest.  It's a staggered and orchestrated ignition, I think they start at the top and sequentially move down to key locations that direct the building when it falls, allowing it to drop straight down.

https://public.workzonecam.com/projects/hourigan/dominionworkplace/time-lapse/archive?archiveId=Home

It's similar to what you have stated.  There are many different ways to implode a structure.  The purpose is to cause the structure to fall and collapse towards an intended direction.  Implosion is a complex method which takes many weeks of preparation and plenty of engineering.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Shakman

[wrldcoupe4]

They are working hard on demo prep. 

[Shakman]

New tower is imminent but when is unknown.

[wrldcoupe4]

After the Navy Hill Vote 

[Shakman]

Sometime after it.  

Edited December 16, 2019 by Shakman

[vaceltic]

They are demolishing  the old tower’s concrete pedestal. I tried to get a pic driving by, but the fencing obstructed any good view of it.

[jbjust]

On 12/13/2019 at 7:53 AM, Hike said:

I know,  looking back,  it says first quarter 2020  for it to come down.  If I we're a betting person, I'd say a new tower is imminent.  Let's say it's built as is shown in the initial design, which I assume is still the plan.  I'm glad the building is turned.  Right now, Cary street  is no mans land with Dominion 1  & McQuire Woods pulled up tight to Kanawah Plaza.  The turn of the building, in the new proposed second phase, will engage with Cary and bring some size back to this side of the street.

The developers of Gateway Plaza couldn't get the owners to sell the piece of the lot closest to Cary Street...

[wrldcoupe4]

That sliver of a lot is so annoying. Is it wide enough to do anything? I’d say you could build a residential sliver tower there but it would have views if nothing. Too narrow for anything else.  Assume the Massey’s are simply happy with their parking revenue. 

[jbjust]

5 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

That sliver of a lot is so annoying. Is it wide enough to do anything? I’d say you could build a residential sliver tower there but it would have views if nothing. Too narrow for anything else.  Assume the Massey’s are simply happy with their parking revenue. 

I think they held out thinking they had more leverage than they did, when the smaller lots actually allowed the developer to make a more striking and vertical building.    I think having that parking lot as a buffer actually helps the parking garage empty out in the evening without unnecessarily backing up Cary Street traffic.  Plus also very nice to leave the original cobblestone street in place. 

[wrldcoupe4]

Definitely allows for better flow onto the downtown expressway

[rjp212]

Looking at that block, it's unfortunate that it will only be one superblock building.   Could easily fit 2-3 towers on that site.

[Shakman]

The footprint of the tower will not be the whole block.  Though I agree; an office and hotel tower.

Edited February 4, 2020 by Shakman

[rjp212]

3 minutes ago, Shakman said:

I agree; an office and hotel tower.

Yes, that's what I am thinking.  Or even better an office tower, underground parking, and either a dual brand hotel or half hotel/half apartment building (get some height).   

[rjp212]

This is a pipe dream of mine. Just seems like a missed opportunity to just do one large building to take up an entire block. Plenty of corporations team up with hoteliers to build hotels adjoining Corporate Centers.  Ritz in Charlotte was a cooperation with BofA.

[Icetera]

34 minutes ago, rjp212 said:

This is a pipe dream of mine. Just seems like a missed opportunity to just do one large building to take up an entire block. Plenty of corporations team up with hoteliers to build hotels adjoining Corporate Centers.  Ritz in Charlotte was a cooperation with BofA.

The Omni is a nice execution of that concept.

[wrldcoupe4]

Since we won’t have a tower here, would you rather have this as green space, a parking lot, a plaza? 

[eandslee]

Wait, what?  Did I miss something?  Dominion Energy isn’t going to build their second tower...for sure?

[wrldcoupe4]

Tune in to part 2 of this episode on feb 24, live from City Hall!

[vaceltic]

On 2/4/2020 at 3:45 PM, rjp212 said:

Looking at that block, it's unfortunate that it will only be one superblock building.   Could easily fit 2-3 towers on that site.

It should be obvious how this should play out. Build two office towers on the site, one for CoStar and second for Dominion (I’m not convinced they actually need one or we would’ve heard this confirmed by now for Navy Hill), and build the Convention Center Hyatt.

3 buildings Richmond’s already been told it needs By the developers. Dominion owns the land and can lease both Hyatt and CoStar and gain money back for the construction.

To those who complain the Hyatt isn’t close enough to the Convention Center, what the heck was the point of BRT then?

Edited February 13, 2020 by vaceltic

[Shakman]

10 hours ago, vaceltic said:

It should be obvious how this should play out. Build two office towers on the site, one for CoStar and second for Dominion (I’m not convinced they actually need one or we would’ve heard this confirmed by now for Navy Hill), and build the Convention Center Hyatt.

3 buildings Richmond’s already been told it needs By the developers. Dominion owns the land and can lease both Hyatt and CoStar and gain money back for the construction.

To those who complain the Hyatt isn’t close enough to the Convention Center, what the heck was the point of BRT then?

Convention hotels should have direct foot access to the Convention Center.  It's a integral part of the convention center.  A great convention hotel helps bring in more conventions thus more tax dollars for our roads, schools and landscaping.  

Edited February 13, 2020 by Shakman

[marinog711]

12 hours ago, vaceltic said:

It should be obvious how this should play out. Build two office towers on the site, one for CoStar and second for Dominion (I’m not convinced they actually need one or we would’ve heard this confirmed by now for Navy Hill), and build the Convention Center Hyatt.

3 buildings Richmond’s already been told it needs By the developers. Dominion owns the land and can lease both Hyatt and CoStar and gain money back for the construction.

To those who complain the Hyatt isn’t close enough to the Convention Center, what the heck was the point of BRT then?

Ok cool .. but I was promised Beyoncé !

none of these projects are going to do that 

pffffft!!! 

[Brent114]

The Marriott can serve as the convention hotel.  It is undergoing a massive renovation at the time. 

[Icetera]

49 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

The Marriott can serve as the convention hotel.  It is undergoing a massive renovation at the time. 

One of the big complaints, which was even stated by the Marriott owners (in relation to the required 10 year renovation per Marriott International), was that they needed more hotels connected to the Convention Center in order to bring in larger shows that they are currently missing.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2019/10/18/downtown-marriott-begins-multimillion-dollar-renovation/
 

“We need another hotel of our size, which is what that Hyatt and the Navy Hill project are proposing,” she said. “There’s just not enough supply of large hotels that are in close proximity of the convention center for them to win those large pieces of business.

“Yes, it’s going to be competition, but it’s competition I welcome, because then we can pursue bigger pieces of business and compete with cities like Baltimore and Atlanta that we’re losing business to because we don’t have enough room nights.”

As far as Dominion and Costar sharing a lot, that would certainly be nice, especially if it combined one tower at 700 Canal.  Unfortunately, CoStar can likely quickly get a new tower in one of the NC cities that is outpacing Richmond.  Probably a much better move for them.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Icetera

[vaceltic]

10 minutes ago, Icetera said:

As far as Dominion and Costar sharing a lot, that would certainly be nice, especially if it combined one tower at 700 Canal.  Unfortunately, CoStar can likely quickly get a new tower in one of the NC cities that is outpacing Richmond.  Probably a much better move for them.

This Doesn’t make sense to me. If that were the case, Richmond would be losing CoStar regardless. Construction in Richmond wouldn’t start tomorrow, 6-months from now, maybe up to a year at best, regardless of the Navy Hill outcome. 

If Dominion were smart, they would have been negotiating this option as a backup in case Navy Hill wasn’t passed, especially considering they’d sign-up a long-term tenant to facilitate payment for demo constructing their second tower.

If CoStar plans to move so quickly, they’ll have a helluva time having to rehire a lot of the 1,000 people already here, who just moved here mere years ago. I could see them moving to a Henrico or nearby county, but a move that displaced employees again, who are just settling in, seems like a poor business practice. 

[Icetera]

3 minutes ago, vaceltic said:

This Doesn’t make sense to me. If that were the case, Richmond would be losing CoStar regardless. Construction in Richmond wouldn’t start tomorrow, 6-months from now, maybe up to a year at best, regardless of the Navy Hill outcome. 

If Dominion were smart, they would have been negotiating this option as a backup in case Navy Hill wasn’t passed, especially considering they’d sign-up a long-term tenant to facilitate payment for demo constructing their second tower.

If CoStar plans to move so quickly, they’ll have a helluva time having to rehire a lot of the 1,000 people already here, who just moved here mere years ago. I could see them moving to a Henrico or nearby county, but a move that displaced employees again, who are just settling in, seems like a poor business practice. 

CoStar has offices all over the country now (including Norfolk) and Richmond is not exactly the quickest when it comes to new developments.  CoStar clearly does not want to be their own landlord and Dominion may not be interested in leasing to another tenant (they may even be restricted from such given the regulated nature of their business).  The county is certainly an option but that goes completely against their reasoning of moving into a live/work city.  Hiring the next 2k can occur elsewhere while retaining the current 1k (actually reading back they may only have a few hundred now, including from closure in Atlanta).  CoStar also stated they wanted to use the arena for conferences and events and moved here when such a venue was an option.  Suddenly not having a facility that we once did is not exactly encouraging to business.

“I want to stress that the proposed arena is one of the most important reasons Navy Hill works well for CoStar Group,” Florance said. “We bring employees from all over the world to Richmond for meetings, and the arena, combined with the new potential hotel and the convention center, is an ideal solution.”