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Dominion Resources: New High-rise Building Planned for Downtown


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4 minutes ago, Hike said:

There's been a truck in the hole at Dominion today from the webcam.  Not sure what it means, surveying for infill, good parking spot?

Hourigan-Construction-Dominion-Workplace-Project-Camera-1_06_07_2021_4_50_13_PM.jpg

I actually tried going to this webcam the other day and it wasn't working.  I just assumed that this was done and there would be no more webcam.  You just renewed a little hope that maybe they will change their minds...but maybe not...

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43 minutes ago, eandslee said:

I actually tried going to this webcam the other day and it wasn't working.  I just assumed that this was done and there would be no more webcam.  You just renewed a little hope that maybe they will change their minds...but maybe not...

here it is in case others want to see the hole on a regular basis...

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

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Maybe it's just a psychological thing to give me (false?) hope that something big might get built there sooner rather than later - I honestly almost prefer the hole remain in place as opposed to it being filled in and turned into green space or a surface lot. I'm fearful that if it becomes something else - (other than a ready-made hole/construction site for a new tower) - that nothing will ever get built there, regardless of what Dominion actually does in terms of additional office space.

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6 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Maybe it's just a psychological thing to give me (false?) hope that something big might get built there sooner rather than later - I honestly almost prefer the hole remain in place as opposed to it being filled in and turned into green space or a surface lot. I'm fearful that if it becomes something else - (other than a ready-made hole/construction site for a new tower) - that nothing will ever get built there, regardless of what Dominion actually does in terms of additional office space.

My thoughts exactly!  Fully agree with what you say here.  They should just keep it a hole.  Seems it would be cheaper to develop if you don't fill it in.  It's going to look ugly either way; a hole or a parking lot.  At least with it being a hole, it's shovel ready and can be developed quicker!

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21 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Agreed. Almost a ready-made developable hole, so to speak. Also -if it gets turned into green space, the NIMBY do-gooders are going to be up in arms, virtue-signaling about the need for more open space, green space, public gathering space, yada yada in the city. No - we don't need any trees and grass on that block - we need a very tall, shiny, new skyscraper on that site, thank you very much! 

They can't say jack about greenspace when we have WHOLE ASS WATERWAY parading through the city with underutilized islands that can be repurposed since this place was found (Mayo and Chapel specifically).   And if want to talk about greenspace let's put more initiative to bringing Bridge park project to the forefront. 

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8 hours ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

Regardless, it sucks. Five years, minimum,  with a giant pit in the middle of downtown. Yay.

Agree. Back in the day, when I was a young lad,  there was a project near the Martin agency, it started, then stopped and remained mostly just a hole for 5 years or so.  But to top that off, in Charlottesville, they have a partially built mid- rise unfinished since 2008 just rotting on the Downtown mall,  now that would suck. 

https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/city-moved-forward-with-dewberry-study-despite-concerns-from-officials/article_8bcfe204-3455-50ec-9ccd-a6507a60491f.html

5e5ac3c54cde0.image.jpg

Edited by Hike
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14 hours ago, Hike said:

Agree. Back in the day, when I was a young lad,  there was a project near the Martin agency, it started, then stopped and remained mostly just a hole for 5 years or so.  But to top that off, in Charlottesville, they have a partially built mid- rise unfinished since 2008 just rotting on the Downtown mall,  now that would suck. 

https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/city-moved-forward-with-dewberry-study-despite-concerns-from-officials/article_8bcfe204-3455-50ec-9ccd-a6507a60491f.html

5e5ac3c54cde0.image.jpg

You should follow Development Fails on Instagram.  They just posted about this project. 

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  • 1 month later...

Looked at the webcam and they've created a barrier on the south end of the pit, my guess is to allow trucks in, also, they're working in the pit.  

Is this to let in dump trucks filled with dirt to level it off?  Wish it was to start a new building but don't believe that's going to happen.  

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

Hourigan-Construction-Dominion-Workplace-Project-Camera-1_07_28_2021_2_45_44_PM.jpg

Edited by Hike
added webcam link
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to continue the theme for the Dominion hole, it seems like they're Fixing a Hole where the rain get's in and it keeps my mind from wandering but it doesn't really matter if I'm wrong or right, because they're fixing the hole where the rain gets in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGRoSJaz-nw

For clarification: the link is the Beatles song "Fixing a Hole" and the message is partial lyrics from the song...

Hourigan-Construction-Dominion-Workplace-Project-Camera-1_08_06_2021_2_25_39_PM.jpg

Edited by Hike
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

https://richmond.com/business/dominion-energy-is-selling-one-of-its-downtown-office-towers/article_e7706c31-84fc-52b0-8419-c08a16b581c1.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

 

Selling their other downtown tower.   I'm blocked by paywall but it would be great if this was going down the path of them eventually building that 2nd tower. Somehow I doubt it.

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5 minutes ago, rjp212 said:

Unfortunately it does not look like there's any movement on a new tower. 

"The company concluded it has enough office space in downtown Richmond at its two remaining office complexes — at 600 Canal Place and at three buildings along the James River on Tredegar Street — to meet current and future needs. Dominion has about 2,500 employees downtown....

The company announced earlier this year that it was not pursuing plans to build a 17-story building that would have been called 700 Canal Place because Dominion could accommodate its office needs in existing buildings. The 700 Canal Place building, which would have been connected to 600 Canal Place, would have been built on the site where the company’s One James River Plaza office tower stood from 1978 until May 2020 when it was demolished."

Fingers crossed they sell off the land and allow a developer to come in to build a mix of uses on the property.   Residential with a hotel component would go great there.

Fully agreed -- a residential plus hotel mixed use, multi-tower complex on that block would be fantastic. Of course, watch Dominion NOT build on the vacant 700 Canal St. parcel - and - NOT sell it to developers who would make good use of it and put something good there. :wacko:

Regarding the Eighth and Main Building - I'm curious to see if this remains an office building or - if like so many of the other highrises in the old Financial District -- it gets converted to residential or hotel space. If it became a residential building, it would be the tallest such in Richmond. Ditto if a major hotelier moved into it.

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2 hours ago, rjp212 said:

Fingers crossed they sell off the land and allow a developer to come in to build a mix of uses on the property.   Residential with a hotel component would go great there.

Question: Why are hotels so much "wanted" in many of these conversations? Wouldn't condos or apartments be more commununity-like and bring in more solid population that would invest in the local or surrounding area? Why the strong pushes for hotels?

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16 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Question: Why are hotels so much "wanted" in many of these conversations? Wouldn't condos or apartments be more commununity-like and bring in more solid population that would invest in the local or surrounding area? Why the strong pushes for hotels?

Because if I had to guess it’s the only way to get any height out of any buildings downtown. Everyone seems to be obsessed with building 12 story apartment and condo buildings and nothing taller than that. Not sure why but I am ready to see some 20 and 30 floor apartments buildings in Richmond I’m tired of just seeing everything being 12 floors or less.

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34 minutes ago, Downtowner said:

Because if I had to guess it’s the only way to get any height out of any buildings downtown. Everyone seems to be obsessed with building 12 story apartment and condo buildings and nothing taller than that. Not sure why but I am ready to see some 20 and 30 floor apartments buildings in Richmond I’m tired of just seeing everything being 12 floors or less.

Just a couple years ago we were seeing 6 or less.  Now we are 11-16.  Perhaps in another couple years the 20+ will become more common.

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28 minutes ago, Icetera said:

Just a couple years ago we were seeing 6 or less.  Now we are 11-16.  Perhaps in another couple years the 20+ will become more common.

I honestly wish we had the opportunity nashville or Raleigh had and bring a company like Oracle which is relocating from California to nashville. Because if we had the opportunity to bring a company downtown like Oracle or Apple that is bringing jobs to those cities by the thousands than I would love to see something like that on the site of ojrp and get dominion to sell to someone like that. 

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1 hour ago, Downtowner said:

Because if I had to guess it’s the only way to get any height out of any buildings downtown. Everyone seems to be obsessed with building 12 story apartment and condo buildings and nothing taller than that. Not sure why but I am ready to see some 20 and 30 floor apartments buildings in Richmond I’m tired of just seeing everything being 12 floors or less.

Construction costs vs projected return (either via sale or rentals) likely are the drivers of the design of residential towers.  The prevailing design for quite a few highrise residential buildings built in RVA over the last 20 years has been to build longer (wider) floorplates and to stack fewer of them. A developer can get the same number of units in a 12 or 13-story tower that is wide/long as it can get in a 26-story tower that is half as wide/long -- and can do so for a much lower cost of construction.  Especially if it has a plot of land with a footprint that lends itself to longer/wider (and more 'squat' appearance) development. Plus, even though demand for central city living space is increasing dramatically, it's not yet to the level to offset the cost of building taller. The real test will come down the road - when RVA has become more significantly "built out" with demand at least as hot has it has been - or if it increases. That will push developers to build bigger/taller - especially if the land footprint isn't as large, but the developer wants to still maximize the number of units constructed.

One final thought: Whether or not that economic calculation is part of the determining factor that the city used when limiting TOD-1 development to 12-stories or less would be interesting to know. (I honestly don't know - is 12 stories an arbitrary number?)  I would tend to think, however, that if land values, construction costs, ROI, demand for living space all start to push developers to want to build bigger/taller in the city, either the TOD-1 regs get changed - or a lot of TOD-1 areas get upzoned to B-4.

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2 hours ago, Downtowner said:

I honestly wish we had the opportunity nashville or Raleigh had and bring a company like Oracle which is relocating from California to nashville. Because if we had the opportunity to bring a company downtown like Oracle or Apple that is bringing jobs to those cities by the thousands than I would love to see something like that on the site of ojrp and get dominion to sell to someone like that. 

We (as a city/metro) have to want it bad enough to do EVERYTHING possible to make RVA as competitive as possible to land those kinds of corporate relos. As one poster from Charlotte pointed out previously, the powers that be in Charlotte WANTED the city to become a big, national city - and went full nuclear on boosterism. They got a hub, they went all-in to plug the city and to recruit, recruit, recruit companies to come there. (Yes, banking regs helped - but you get the point - you can't snag businesses if you don't boost the living hell out of a city/metro). RVA lags way behind a lot of cities (the Nashvilles & Raleighs of the world) in the BIGGEST blue-chip recruitment tool - the airport. Everything else being equal, that RIC can't touch RDU or BNA is the biggest stumbling block to RVA's moving up the hierarchy of cities. Pre-pandemic, when RIC was touting it had topped 4M passengers, RDU was at around 14M and BNA at more than 18M. THAT is the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed if RVA is going to be able to compete with those kinds of mid-level cities that are gobbling up big wins for companies like Amazon and Oracle. We fix that - everything else will begin to fall into place.

Edited by I miss RVA
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