New Richmond Arena

[wrldcoupe4]

8 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

I was curious about the research on large MSA's  that lack an arena.  I wasn't able to find much detail on it. Can you provide some examples of US cities where the absence of one has allowed the city/region to thrive? What was  the add-on benefit to employment, schools, etc?

Bumping this question. I would like to know about the data on this item since there are people who would be content without one. 

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, DalWill said:

You cried about it? Whoa I didn't know it was that deep for you. Anyway, I think we can both agree that there's a sense of entitlement coming from the influence of constituents  when these decisions are made (on the flip-side, the same could be said about developers too) . I find that to be reckless and unacceptable.

Well... I was speaking metaphorically - though I wasn't happy when the Braves pull up stakes and rode off into that sweet night. 

[Icetera]

10 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Well... I was speaking metaphorically - though I wasn't happy when the Braves pull up stakes and rode off into that sweet night. 

As I grew up on the Norwich Navigators, and personally despise the Atlanta Braves, I am certainly partial and prefer the replacement with my old home team (Richmond Flying Squirrels).

By the way, Norwich, CT (metro 275k) has a baseball stadium and TWO arenas  
 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Icetera

[I miss RVA]

28 minutes ago, Icetera said:

As I grew up on the Norwich Navigators, and personally despise the Atlanta Braves, I am certainly partial and prefer the replacement with my old home team (Richmond Flying Squirrels).

By the way, Norwich, CT (metro 275k) has a baseball stadium and TWO arenas  
 

I love that nickname and the whole concept. I'm so glad that they've become a long-standing part of RIchmond sports lore. 

WOW... a quarter million in the metro and they have two arenas. Are they on-campus arenas for universities or are they civic coliseums?

[Icetera]

14 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

I love that nickname and the whole concept. I'm so glad that they've become a long-standing part of RIchmond sports lore. 

WOW... a quarter million in the metro and they have two arenas. Are they on-campus arenas for universities or are they civic coliseums?

Was somewhat of a joke as they are both part of two of the largest resort casinos in the world: Foxwood's and Mohegan Sun.  Both resorts are native american, built in the late '90s, and have completely transformed the economy in Eastern CT (which sorely lacked when I moved to RVA in '96).

Edited February 26, 2020 by Icetera

[I miss RVA]

58 minutes ago, Icetera said:

Was somewhat of a joke as they are both part of two of the largest resort casinos in the world: Foxwood's and Mohegan Sun.  Both resorts are native american, built in the late '90s, and have completely transformed the economy in Eastern CT (which sorely lacked when I moved to RVA in '96).

TWO Native American-built casios? Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!  Then again, the Northeast doesn't seem to have its head up its backside the way Virginia typically does (outside of NOVA and MAYBE Hampton Roads). 

Who knows - maybe Richmond will get off the schneid and not block the proposed casino. Makes me wonder - if the casino DOES somehow get built and is successful, will THAT have any impact on the arena situation, given that casinos are tourist magnets?

[Icetera]

3 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Who knows - maybe Richmond will get off the schneid and not block the proposed casino.

We should fight it as there will potentially be 4 other casinos within 100 miles.

[vaceltic]

Now you're reallllly stretching 

[marinog711]

I am originally from Erie, PA  (280-300k metro)  with one arena but double A baseball, OHL Ontario Hockey League, Arena Football and NBA G-League team... I would think Richmond could support all those teams and a lot more

[vaceltic]

The coliseum had arena football, the Richmond Rough Riders, until the administration kicked them out and then closed the venue.

Not sure about g-league team availability. Only two NBA teams lack an g-league team and they are on the west coast. I think most g-league affiliates are geographically close to the NBA teams. 

 

[RiverYuppy]

The new offer on the coliseum isn't just a low ball offer, it is absolutely terrible.

The Navy Hill offer guaranteed $900 million in private investment.

This one guarantees nothing and is by a corporation that has a history of sitting on dilapidated properties for years. 

 

With this deal the city can have absolutely no development for a decade or more compared to the Navy Hill plan which would have provided more development than Scott's Addition saw over the last decade. 

 

 

[I miss RVA]

39 minutes ago, RiverYuppy said:

The new offer on the coliseum isn't just a low ball offer, it is absolutely terrible.

The Navy Hill offer guaranteed $900 million in private investment.

This one guarantees nothing and is by a corporation that has a history of sitting on dilapidated properties for years. 

 

With this deal the city can have absolutely no development for a decade or more compared to the Navy Hill plan which would have provided more development than Scott's Addition saw over the last decade. 

 

 

BUT THE SCHOOLS!!!!

 

Well, if nothing else right now we have some nice, city-owned parking lots and a handful of run-down, way-out-of-date public buildings not generating a single penny in tax revenue to the city.

Scott's Addition's transformation has been quite remarkable. I'm loving the density and the prospect of taller buildings in that part of town. Seems like it was slow to get started but once it did, it's been pedal to the metal. If by some miracle the city can manage to somehow make the gorgeous Richmond 300 Scott's Addition master plan become a reality (and not take 50 years to do it!!) that neighborhood has the chance to become really iconic. A true up-and-coming place you'd expect to see in cities like Boston or parts of the North Side of Chicago. I look forward to that dramatic transformation.

I just hope and pray we don't elect anyone to any office (mayor, counsel or otherwise) who might be inclined to tamp down on density and height (and to do so for reasons that only the clinically insane can understand and accept).

Edited February 26, 2020 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, vaceltic said:

The coliseum had arena football, the Richmond Rough Riders, until the administration kicked them out and then closed the venue.

Not sure about g-league team availability. Only two NBA teams lack an g-league team and they are on the west coast. I think most g-league affiliates are geographically close to the NBA teams. 

 

I think you're right about the G-League. It makes sense so clubs can keep a lid on a lot of the basic costs of maintaining the channel within the organization.

Still - it would be interesting to see how a G-League club might fare in Richmond support-wise. I don't know that there is nearly as much support for the Bullets - er Wizards - in Richmond as there is for the Nats or Caps. (And we KNOW the support for the Redskins was, is, and always shall be off the chain. HAIL TO THE REDSKSINS!!!)

Richmond has proven herself to be a hockey town - just as she has proven herself to be a baseball town. Would minor-league pro hoops get some traction with all the support for college bball? (Maybe if the rosters just happened to be fully stocked with VCU, U of R and Virginia Union players!!)

Edited February 26, 2020 by I miss RVA

[vaceltic]

20 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Still - it would be interesting to see how a G-League club might fare in Richmond support-wise. I don't know that there is nearly as much support for the Bullets - er Wizards - in Richmond as there is for the Nats or Caps. (And we KNOW the support for the Redskins was, is, and always shall be off the chain. HAIL TO THE REDSKSINS!!!)

If the Richmond redskins fandom is so off the chain, please tell everyone they need to attend their summer training camps for more days and spend wayyy more money than they are, so Richmond can recoup some money off this terrible investment. 

[DowntownCoruscant]

5 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Would minor-league pro hoops get some traction with all the support for college bball? (Maybe if the rosters just happened to be fully stocked with VCU, U of R and Virginia Union players!!)

We had one of those almost 20 years ago. They played at the Siegel Center and drew, I don’t know, 150 fans a game or so. Pumping NBA type sound effects (de-fense, de-fense) into an empty arena is surreal. The team folded not much before the league did. Minor league basketball associations come and go, but it’s never sustainable. The only reason the G-League survives is because the NBA subsidizes it.

[I miss RVA]

6 hours ago, vaceltic said:

If the Richmond redskins fandom is so off the chain, please tell everyone they need to attend their summer training camps for more days and spend wayyy more money than they are, so Richmond can recoup some money off this terrible investment. 

Oh, the fandom is still there. But you know Richmond sports fans - they ain't gonna spend money - and if they do, they're only gonna spend it on a winner. 3-13 ain't gonna cut it.

I'm hoping I live long enough to celebrate another Redskins' championship. 1991 FEELS like yesterday - but it's been almost 30 years now. Extremely painful.

1 hour ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

We had one of those almost 20 years ago. They played at the Siegel Center and drew, I don’t know, 150 fans a game or so. Pumping NBA type sound effects (de-fense, de-fense) into an empty arena is surreal. The team folded not much before the league did. Minor league basketball associations come and go, but it’s never sustainable. The only reason the G-League survives is because the NBA subsidizes it.

Oh, no question. Without the NBA funding it, the G-League would be a distant memory. Yeah - I vaguely recall a pro team in Richmond in the late '90s - USBL?  Something like that? I think it was a women's professional league that had the misfortune of being unveiled about the same time as the WNBA was. And everyone knew from day one how THAT would turn out.

[Icetera]

10 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Oh, the fandom is still there. But you know Richmond sports fans - they ain't gonna spend money - and if they do, they're only gonna spend it on a winner. 3-13 ain't gonna cut it.

I'm hoping I live long enough to celebrate another Redskins' championship. 1991 FEELS like yesterday - but it's been almost 30 years now. Extremely painful.

:P

[I miss RVA]

icetera - SO true! And SO sad! Every season starts starts with a spark of hope... and every season ends the same. In one more year, I will have lived half of my earthly life SINCE the Redskins last won the Super Bowl.  I remember thinking then they'd have to re-tool... but who knew it would be almost 30 years of re-tooling? And, fool that I am, I keep watching them... year after year after year... I honestly don't think I bleed "red" - cut me and I bleed "burgundy and gold". 

Well, it took the Chiefs 50 years, but they finally got it right (and could well win several titles) ...  maybe our beloved 'Skinnies will get there ... one day.

You watch - the minute Danny Snyder sells the team, they will start winning. He bought them after Jack Kent Cooke passed on - and the team has sucked ever since.

[I miss RVA]

RTD Editorial on Navy Hill: (link below)

Here we go again - the typical "small-town" thinking that Richmond has promulgated for the past 50 years. This is exactly the mentality that will set Richmond back even further. Major cities - or even second-tier cities looking to move up to major-city status -- MUST think big. What's the verse in scripture: "When I was a child ... I thought as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things..."   Paraphrasing for this discussion: "When we were a small town ... we thought as a small town. When we became a big city, we put away small-town things."

Capisce??

How 'bout if they want to learn from other places, learn from places like Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, NOVA or the plethora of cities out west that have taken off over the last 20, 30, 40 years??

"Reasonable expectations" ?? Would they care to elaborate? Guessing that means focusing on rehabbing an undersized arena and preserving so-called "historic" buildings? Maybe build a few small buildings as "in-fill" ...  For Christ's sake...

Rolling my eyes to the point they look like Vegas slot machines.

https://www.richmond.com/opinion/plus/editorial-to-revitalize-navy-hill-lessons-can-be-learned-from/article_4fb2c446-737e-5b00-8278-89a88b6fdcb4.html

Edited February 27, 2020 by I miss RVA

[vaceltic]

Even with my anti-Navy Hill stance, even I think this editorial misses the mark on the larger points for and against the project. 

The quality of RTD is getting very watered down. I already questioned its integrity printing the ghost-written op-eds and its never-ending cheer-leading of Navy Hill.

I prefer to get my local news from bizsense, Richmond Free Press, Style Weekly, Richmond Magazine, etc.  

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, vaceltic said:

Even with my anti-Navy Hill stance, even I think this editorial misses the mark on the larger points for and against the project. 

The quality of RTD is getting very watered down. I already questioned its integrity printing the ghost-written op-eds and its never-ending cheer-leading of Navy Hill.

I prefer to get my local news from bizsense, Richmond Free Press, Style Weekly, Richmond Magazine, etc.  

I've questioned the editorial practices of the RTD for years. From a reporting standpoint, they do a decent job of at least covering the key events, jumping on scoops and (mostly) getting the facts right. But the opinion side of the operation has largely left much to be desired.

As for the other publications, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Of them , bizsense, IMO, stands head and shoulders above the rest. Straight up reporting - good information and they are quick to get good scoops. Good publication all the way around.

Celtic - just to help me get a better understanding of your position re: NH:  Do I read it correctly that the proposed project itself - meaning, what the physical end result would ultimately be, what it would look like, how it would function, what it offered downtown was not the issue, but rather HOW the city was going about to GET there. Meaning - mainly a dollars-and-cents, public-vs-private issue - AND - a process that generally did not open itself the way Richmond 300 has done for Scott's Addition. I take it you are very much a "process" kind of guy - and this process (for NH) was not following a good protocol.

In other words - if magically the city were not ponying up a single dime for this project - and a consortium of mega deep-pocketed developers and investors came in with this size and scope of a redevelopment, went through all the appropriate channels and looped the public in - you would support it? And if not, why?

[vaceltic]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

In other words - if magically the city were not ponying up a single dime for this project - and a consortium of mega deep-pocketed developers and investors came in with this size and scope of a redevelopment, went through all the appropriate channels and looped the public in - you would support it? And if not, why?

Yes. I would even be fine with the city being required to demolish the coliseum and run the utilities throughout to activate the parcels for private development. That's all taxable real estate going into the general fund on Day 1. 

[I miss RVA]

Is it just me, or does it feel like we've been spoiled by the flurry of news, project announcements, etc. that now it feels like we're in that lull that feels like a project vacuum? I'm eager for the next round of projects that are set to break ground in the next few months to be underway -- and, of course, for new announcements of new projects!

Given what's happening in Scott's Addition and Manchester, (plus Broad & Lombardy) we may see cranes pop up before the 5 boom cranes downtown are taken down when those buildings wrap up.. Wouldn't that be something to see - cranes up all over town!

[Icetera]

20 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Is it just me, or does it feel like we've been spoiled by the flurry of news, project announcements, etc. that now it feels like we're in that lull that feels like a project vacuum? I'm eager for the next round of projects that are set to break ground in the next few months to be underway -- and, of course, for new announcements of new projects!

Given what's happening in Scott's Addition and Manchester, (plus Broad & Lombardy) we may see cranes pop up before the 5 boom cranes downtown are taken down when those buildings wrap up.. Wouldn't that be something to see - cranes up all over town!

Given the location on the hillside, I would expect a tower crane for the Pear Street project.  Perhaps some action on the Southern shore by then as well?  I would hope both the apartment towers and office building would be in need.

[I miss RVA]

On 3/2/2020 at 10:40 AM, Icetera said:

Given the location on the hillside, I would expect a tower crane for the Pear Street project.  Perhaps some action on the Southern shore by then as well?  I would hope both the apartment towers and office building would be in need.

Maybe the second half (the 12-story tower) to the (14-story) apartment building that just topped out near the 14th St. Bridge (I can't keep the project name straight so I'm going by location) will be underway by then ... and the twin buildings (connected by the sky bridge) a little farther west as well. It would be lovely to see THREE highrise residential buildings rising in Manchester simultaneously.