New Richmond Arena

[drayrichmond]

4 minutes ago, Icetera said:

That building is owned by the fed and contains offices for many other U.S. agencies, as well as the IRS.  I suspect it will be an annoying thorn within the project.

yeah, that's really concerning to me, because if we can't redo the IRS building, the circuit court building, social services, etc... then how can we expect the re-connection of Clay street, make it a better urban space. Only rehabbing/redeveloping half the area isn't going to do much if the other half is still a mess of poorly designed/aging offices.

[Shakman]

If the Feds could get involved in a P3 scenario (Public-Private Partnership), then that would erase any concerns of the Feds becoming an issue.  In addition, I'm positive discussions have already occurred with Richmond or the Mayor's office would not have included this block as part of the over all redevelopment.

 

My comment is just an opinion. 

Edited January 23, 2018 by Shakman

[Brent114]

There’s nothing wrong with the federal building.  The front could use some landscaping (make it all  hardscaped, no suburban grass).  The size and location are fine.  It’s even a decent looking building.  Spending money to replace an existing building that doesn’t need replacing would be infuriating to me. 

The worst thing that could ever happen to Richmond is for a single developer to develop 6 or so contiguous blocks.  There’s no better way to ruin a city.  

Edited January 23, 2018 by Brent114

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, Brent114 said:

There’s nothing wrong with the federal building.  The front could use some landscaping (make it all  hardscaped, no suburban grass).  The size and location are fine.  It’s even a decent looking building.  Spending money to replace an existing building that doesn’t need replacing would be infuriating to me. 

The worst thing that could ever happen to Richmond is for a single developer to develop 6 or so contiguous blocks.  There’s no better way to ruin a city.  

I don't know...have you ever been in the federal building?  I was last in there some 20 years ago and it was a dump then, who knows what it looks like now.  Outside...well, it could use a facelift at the very least.

[Icetera]

20 hours ago, eandslee said:

I don't know...have you ever been in the federal building?  I was last in there some 20 years ago and it was a dump then, who knows what it looks like now.  Outside...well, it could use a facelift at the very least.

Certainly was a dump in 2001 but not concerned there as long as they can improve the exterior for better pedestrian interaction (within security limitations).

Edited January 24, 2018 by Icetera

[Shakman]

It's not necessarily how the building looks but how the building functions.  If the mechanical and electrical systems are not update, then that is additional cost to upgrade and bring to current code requirements.  Energy savings of the current structure needs to be examined.   There are other areas that need to be examined in order to determine the functionality of an existing building.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Shakman

[Brent114]

True that.  But that is for the Feds to fret over,  not a developer tasked with building an arena.  

[wrldcoupe4]

I’ll put $10k on this building not being part of the development scope. 

[Shakman]

I hope you are wrong.   

[drayrichmond]

Honestly though, if we had to choose one of the buildings in the RFP zone to keep, it would be the IRS building in my book, it's the best out of the lot.

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, drayrichmond said:

Honestly though, if we had to choose one of the buildings in the RFP zone to keep, it would be the IRS building in my book, it's the best out of the lot.

This is true, but since that building falls into the scope of the entire area marked for redevelopment, I'm hoping that the IRS building goes too!  When the city marked it for redevelopment, I would assume that the IRS building was free game for getting the wrecking ball.  There is probably going to have to be quite a bit of coordination and money marked from the feds to do it, but hopefully it can be achieved.  We'll see what happens.

[Brent114]

Or, or, the Feds will simply move shop to any number of available buildings in the West End, perhaps one recently vacated by Dominion.   Of course they could just as easily leave the Richmond metro.  Earmarks are dead and the current administration in Washington likes to punish blue states as sport.  Don’t expect the Feds to pony up one red cent just because Richmond wants to Short Pump it’s downtown. 

[wrldcoupe4]

It’s a federal building in a post 9/11 world. They don’t just pick up and move it. It’ll stay where it is. 

[Brent114]

Post Oklahoma City  world  

 

Of course they will stay and the building will remain unchanged....

But they’d probably have an easier time securing a building in an office park than one in the center of the city. 

 

After OKC it was fortified, along  with the federal reserve bank.  The beauilful federal reserve used to sit on a grassy hill (well, it’s still on the grassy hill)  surrounded by large magnolia trees.  It was downright Athian (if Athans had grass lol).  You could walk freely around the lawn and picnic in the shade, playing  in the fountain was frowned upon but it wouldn’t get you taken out by a sniper lol.  Alas, it’s all blast proof walls and fences now.  

Edited January 25, 2018 by Brent114

[drayrichmond]

I got it,

let's just see if the feds will let us cover the building in murals haha

[eandslee]

Well, tomorrow’s the big day when the proposals in response to the mayor’s RFP are due!  That was a quick 90 days (for me anyway).  I hope some details emerge very soon!  Keeping my fingers crossed for something good!

[Downtowner]

Wonder when we will see something in the news next about the new arena? I wonder if they will release the winning proposal and what it entails any time soon? I am really really anxious about this project and I really wanna see what type of proposal's were on the table and what they are considering.

Edited February 10, 2018 by Downtowner

[blopp1234]

Same here. This is a very exciting project for development junkies as these projects only come around once every few decades. I wanna see how big these developers are thinking!

[Brent114]

Keep your expectations low. 

There has been virtually zero interest in the area over the last 30 years.  I’m not sure how saddling developments with decades old debt (on the Coliseum)  makes the area more enticing. 

[wrldcoupe4]

$100 that the original proposal is the winning one. This all seems like a formality to me. 

[meegwell]

On 2/10/2018 at 8:25 PM, wrldcoupe4 said:

$100 that the original proposal is the winning one. This all seems like a formality to me. 

I agree with this.  Have to check the boxes and go through the motions.  imo.

[eandslee]

I also agree, but I’m kind of disappointed that there has been no news released yet about the proposals submitted.  Just crickets.  No one (except us) has even acknowledged that the deadline ended on Friday nor do we know how many proposals were submitted (if any more than the original).  I’d just like an update if nothing else!

[eandslee]

Here it is!  I haven’t read it yet, but it looks like only one proposal was submitted by Ferrell and his group. What happened to all the interested developers so touted by the mayor?  Anyway, going to read the article now and then will comment more:

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/farrell-led-group-submits-lone-proposal-to-replace-richmond-coliseum/article_a9f4a0ec-bbb4-592e-8afb-f51d9565a810.html

[blopp1234]

This seemed pretty obvious. Not many private developers would get into a project on this scope in a city of this size, when they would have competition from a group of local investors. I think the city had been planning to go with the task forces proposal all along, and with the short deadline and numerous requirements, it seemed highly unlikely another developer would have stepped in alone. Anyway, glad that this is moving through because it appears the Ferrell’s group has huge plans for the site. Can’t wait to see the full proposal and possible renderings.

[eandslee]

I agree with your statement.  I just hope that the details are good and that this whole thing does not wreak of a back door deal which will probably become unfavorable in the eyes of the local citizens of Richmond -  that will just kill the whole thing and bring us back to square one.  I’m already seeing negative feedback on Facebook because of the single proposal submitted by a prominent business owner in town - I’m assuming that it  already appears to many that a back door deal was already done and that this thing is going to fall flat on its face. I certainly hope not and I wait impatiently for more details of the proposal!