The Locks at 321

[varunner]

Great announcement this morning: 

http://richmondbizsense.com/2016/01/20/new-21-story-tower-planned-for-downtown/ 

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

 

Richmond has a new tower on the horizon.

A 21-story building, dubbed the Locks at 321, is in the works at the corner of 10th and East Byrd streets.

SunTrust announced this morning it will occupy 53,000 square feet of the building, moving about 200 staff members from its current tower at 919 E. Main St.

Locally-based Dominion Realty Partners is the developer. The new building, which will carry the SunTrust name, is scheduled to be completed by December of 2017.

“Richmond is an important market for us, and moving our Richmond main office to this new location reaffirms our commitment to the downtown area and the entire region,” John Stallings, SunTrust’s Virginia division president, said in a news release.

Stay tuned to BizSense for more.

Edited January 20, 2016 by varunner

[wrldcoupe4]

Glad this was finally made public! Exciting!

[evanf]

Very good news!

I guess this is the tower they are referring to? I honestly hope the design has since changed. Not a fan of this one.

http://baskervill.com/portfolio/on-the-boards/item/793-locks-office-tower

[eandslee]

Whoa!  This came as a surprise!  Only 21 stories, but it will be a new prominent tower!  Renderings??!!

[Icetera]

3 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Whoa!  This came as a surprise!  Only 21 stories, but it will be a new prominent tower!  Renderings??!!

That one really slipped under the radar

[vaceltic]

Here is a rendering of what was originally conceptualized

[ric75]

I'm presuming this is going at the SE corner of Byrd and 10th where a portion of the old Reynold's facility currently sits?

[vaceltic]

It will be a mixed-use tower including 187 apartments and 137k of commercial space. This is the biggest mixed-use project ever in the City (i think). The building will replace the one-story brown warehouse on that corner.

[eandslee]

5 minutes ago, vaceltic said:

It will be a mixed-use tower including 187 apartments and 137k of commercial space. This is the biggest mixed-use project ever in the City (i think). The building will replace the one-story brown warehouse on that corner.

With all those apartments too, how is this new tower only 21 stories?!

[eandslee]

The rendering of this new tower has an uncanny resemblance to Gateway Plaza. Looks almost the same. Ugh. Not impressed. Rendering on RTD website.  At least it is all glass!

Edited January 20, 2016 by eandslee

[Richmonopoly]

Very exciting, and unexpected news!!!  I love surprises.  

 

 

[wrldcoupe4]

I'm guessing about 300' tall. Not bad.

[varunner]

delete post

Edited January 20, 2016 by varunner

[eandslee]

I'd like to see more renderings of this new tower. After studying the image a bit, it looks like the tower will be a bit longer than Gateway Plaza. Looks like the side curves over a bit with a shorter portion of the building appearing to wrap around the building (except for the front and right sides). I have a feeling that parking will all be above ground to avoid any archeological digs if something is discovered. Just like Gateway, I also bet the tower could be taller if the foundation were to be able to be placed further underground. Since it cannot be, I bet this tower maxes out at 21 stories. Just my observations.  Now that things have calmed down a bit, what are your observations?

[varunner]

here is the highest resolution image i could find....

 

[TBurban]

Great news! I'm curious to see how it will interface with the Canal Walk. This is a huge opportunity to close the gap on the northern edge between The Locks and Browns Island.

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, varunner said:

here is the highest resolution image i could find....

 

What is that building on the right side?  Is that supposed to be one of the Riverfront Plaza towers?  Appears to be too short. 

[eandslee]

9 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Glad this was finally made public! Exciting!

So you knew this was coming!  You're good to keep this a secret!

[blopp1234]

47 minutes ago, TBurban said:

Great news! I'm curious to see how it will interface with the Canal Walk. This is a huge opportunity to close the gap on the northern edge between The Locks and Browns Island.

Hopefully it connects Browns island to the canal walk. Maybe they will remove the ugly transformers on Browns island and extend the park.

[wrldcoupe4]

24 minutes ago, eandslee said:

What is that building on the right side?  Is that supposed to be one of the Riverfront Plaza towers?  Appears to be too short. 

This will probably be about he same height as Riverfront Plaza which is 312' according to Emporis. 

[Richmonopoly]

Great day to be a downtown development troll in RVA!

This has the potential to set a new precedent for zoning, development, access, etc., in this area... I wish the parking decks bordering that curve along 10th Street could be redesigned for commercial/residential access.  

I, too, hope that canal access is a priority with this development. 

2017 opening date?  Ambitious!  I hope we can keep the great news flowing...

[eandslee]

After reading a little more and gaining an understanding of the shifting that Suntrust will undergo, it's a shame that more personnel that will be housed in Westmark I won't be moved downtown. Apparently about 1,000 employees will be under one roof on Westmark I. Just imagine if all of those people would be moved downtown (they are moving from 3 other suburban locations anyway) - this new tower would be super tall!  It's almost as if there is a height police out there saying that you can't build anything taller than the Federal Reserve or the Monroe Tower. To me, why not house ALL the Suntrust workers downtown in ONE tower...unless there was employee backlash on the idea due to longer commutes for people who live in the west end?  Am I sounding irrational?  I know I'm not a Suntrust Exec and that I'm looking at this from the outside, in...I just got to thinking about the possibilities and about what could have happened. Anyway, I'm still glad we are getting this "surprise" 21-story tower!  Very exciting!  Hopefully, the new Dominion tower will break the "height limits"  that Ricmond has had since the completion of the Monroe Tower!

[wrldcoupe4]

I assume it's all economics driven. The suburban space at the end of the day will be as much as 1/3 cheaper per s.f. And have lots of free parking.  West mark has huuuge floor plates that make it very efficient for large users. So they can take less space, at a lower rate, and have no parking costs. 

[vaceltic]

Updated article on the building. Slight confusion on the number of floors (top 5 tallest in Richnond at 21 floors?) but not based on building height. 

http://richmondbizsense.com/2016/01/21/new-downtown-tower-sends-shock-waves-to-the-suburbs/

Edited January 21, 2016 by vaceltic

[eandslee]

I'm with you on this one, vaceltic. Height based on number of floors is not how to determine a building's height...it's based on actual measurement. If you use measurement to determine the height of this new tower (rather than number of floors), and according to Coupe who has a good grasp on these sort of things - he guessed about 300 feet.  If this building is about 300 feet, then this tower will be nowhere near the top 5 tallest in Richmond (gotta love how the media spun that up).  Monroe tower is 449 ft.  The current Suntrust tower is 400 ft.  Federal Reserve is 394 ft.  Bank of America Center is  331 ft.  City Hall is 315 ft.  Riverfront Plaza is 312 ft for both towers.  One James River Plaza is 308 ft.  Main Street Centre is 305 ft. Then this new tower at about 300 ft, followed by Two James Center at 299 ft.  By my count, this new tower will be the 10th tallest in Richmond. They are WAY off!  What's also interesting is that the newest of Richmond's tallest are the twin Riverfront Plaza towers at 26 years old!  We have to start building some new tallest folks!

Edited January 21, 2016 by eandslee