Monroe Ward / Oregon Hill

[Icetera]

1 hour ago, Downtowner said:

I will say that convenience store next to the pinecrest needs to come down once the pinecrest is done. We love it for bags of ice and drinks and course for the smokers I work with cigs and vapes.  I however don’t smoke or vape or put anything in my mouth of that nature. So once pinecrest is complete please get rid of that convenience store on the corner.

 

I would hope he gets an opportunity to move into one of the new commercial spots so that the land can be redeveloped.  I definitely gained respect for him when he persistently remained open as refuge in the Summer of 2020 despite the regular clouds of tear gas and and rubber bullets ricocheting around the shop.

45 minutes ago, whw53 said:

City parcel info shows that building from 1910. I think it was built in a style to seem older than it is.so it may not have much historic value. I could not find much else on it.

This tracks with the Richmond Photo story from a few weeks back. Bank St controls this site now. I'm sure they bought it for the lot not to manage whatever menial office space exists in that structure.

Looks like it began as a Bliley Funeral Home and like has been vacant for quite some time.  I have only ever seen Richmond Camera use it for the parking lot.

[whw53]

SMBW + Bank St set high standards for architectural design. Let them build here - they owe us some stories after the Broad Madison site. 

Kidding sort of - that new tower is gorgeous and unlike the 23 story concept it was ya know.. actually filed.

But even at mid rise level they have and are  producing interesting architectures at One Canal and Soda Flats.

[Brent114]

When I looked at that house this morning (to snap a photo) it looked like it could be a really good replica.    There is a bit of a sway to the roofline that made me think it could be older.  If it’s just a knock-off, tear it down yesterday!   

Edited October 6, 2022 by Brent114

[whw53]

Ok she's old - earliest recrod is 1796 and actually may be one of the oldest standing houses in Richmond. Shame on me for relying on city records.

But yes it has been moved as @Iceterabelieved. The 'Daniel Call House' orginally stood at Broad & 9th.  Interesting history and photos here - he was a brother in law to John Marshall. 

https://rocketwerks.tumblr.com/post/60922228476/no-moss-gathered

Very neat - glad it's not replica but I say we move it again. This site is too important and this house is out of place. I don't believe we are in an O&H here so Bank St wont need to go through CAR but hopefully they do not demolish this structure. 
 

Edit - the site is not in an O&H district but does border an O&H directly as the north side of the 200 Block W Franklin is protected in that type of designation. Not sure if being adjacent to an O&H means anything. 

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by whw53

[I miss RVA]

6 hours ago, Brent114 said:

The building on this lot shouldn’t be razed.  Not even for a 20+ story building.   It’s a house from the early 19th century (could be late 18th century?). 

I thought that might be the case - that one of the buildings was a protected, already preserved structure.  And for the records, it would be 19th century - I can't possibly see ANY building in that part of Richmond dating back to the late 1700s. 

@wrldcoupe4-- is it possible that we're not talking about this corner - maybe an adjacent corner or different block? I think @Brent114is right - the building on that corner is protected via prior preservation efforts.

[whw53]

I dont think the site is protected - at least not in a city O&H district. 

https://richmond-geo-hub-cor.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/cor::city-old-and-historic-districts-9/explore?location=37.545766%2C-77.444934%2C18.32

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, whw53 said:

Update on the Fountainhead - YMCA sites and surrounding parcels. Grace Foushee tower now down to 7 stories unfortunately but it will be moving forward first now.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/10/06/land-deals-for-downtown-ymca-apartments-give-parking-lot-to-jefferson-hotel-owner/

 

Note the renderings. Maybe we confused this rendering of the Grace Foushee site as being the Adams Foushee tower at one point. Well we get both now - just no 11 story.

Soooooooo... WHY was this scaled back?  Construction costs... market size... same ol', same ol' right? They didn't say anything in the RBS story.

Jesus - ANOTHER one gets chopped.

Glad to have the building - but I'm not happy with them lopping four floors off the top. I'm really concerned that Monroe Ward is going to get cluttered with a bunch of these 5 over 1 or 6 over 1 boxes and at some point there will be precious little room for bigger and taller even though RVA's market size will have gotten bigger and perhaps the economic factors in the CRE industry will be what they were prior to the pandemic and post-pandemic inflation spike in construction costs.

No developer is going to come in, buy a property on which a 7-story building sits and level it for a 30-story building when said 7-story box is only 10 or 15 years old.

And I know -there are PLENTY of developable lots in Monroe Ward. I get that. I'm just suggesting I don't like this trend. AT ALL - for exactly that reason. It's becoming a TREND. This isn't a one-off or an outlier. It's happening WAY too much -- 512 Hull... Block D... now this... (taking out the 219 W. Broad which was never actually a 'real' project to begin with - but it was on a drawing board...)  and I guarantee you this crap IS NOT happening in those North Carolina cities of which we shall not speak or Atlanta or Austin or Nashville.

But it happens here.

Edited October 6, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Icetera]

21 hours ago, whw53 said:

Ok she's old - earliest recrod is 1796 and actually may be one of the oldest standing houses in Richmond. But yes it has been moved as @Iceterabelieved. The 'Daniel Call House' orginally stood at Broad & 9th.  Interesting history and photos here - he was a brother in law to John Marshall. 

https://rocketwerks.tumblr.com/post/60922228476/no-moss-gathered

Very neat - glad it's not replica but I say we move it again. This site is too important and this house is out of place. I don't believe we are in an O&H here so Bank St wont need to go through CAR but hopefully they do not demolish this structure. 
 

Edit - the site is not in an O&H district but does border an O&H directly as the north side of the 200 Block W Franklin is protected in that type of designation. Not sure if being adjacent to an O&H means anything. 

 

Nice find!  Also, wrldcoupe4  gets credit for that suggestion.

Having been rebuilt in 1938, perhaps the left extension was added in 1910 leading to that year as the record?

[upzoningisgood]

@I miss RVA

Rent growth stopped but construction cost didn't

[I miss RVA]

50 minutes ago, upzoningisgood said:

@I miss RVA

Rent growth stopped but construction cost didn't

I thought that costs were beginning to level off some, weren't they? Is this a "current costs" are still rising issue - or is this a hangover effect of prior elevated costs? 

As I had suggested earlier - it HAD to be one of the old standby's that seem to be RVA's bane -- market size too small... or construction costs too high. And it's likely a combination, because as I've said before, this AIN'T happening in North Carolina or other select hot-growth market cities such as Nashville, Austin, Atlanta, etc.

It's nice to get these buildings - but Jesus - I'd just as soon wait a little while and get bigger projects before Monroe Ward starts to clutter up with buildings too new to just go in and dynamite and replace with something of significant size when the RVA market finally hits whatever tipping points that are necessary to make bigger projects feasible. Yes - this is somewhat hyperbolic, given the Ocean of Surface Parking that proliferates Monroe Ward - but this truncation of projects is no longer a one-off outlier. This is a trend. And it frankly SUCKS.

@upzoningisgood-- a question for you: Re: rent growth: no doubt developers rely on rent growth to make big projects worth building - but as a market, how much rent growth can RVA reasonably sustain and still remain COMPETITIVE with other markets by offering LESS EXPENSIVE COL relative to those markets? I would think that we want SOME kind of stabilization of the rent ceiling to maintain RVA's position as an attractive option in efforts to lure companies to the city. No doubt a challenging balancing act, yes? How do we work with this - and what would be considered the optimal path to sustain (or even increase) future growth?

Edited October 7, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Downtowner]

10 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

I thought that costs were beginning to level off some, weren't they? Is this a "current costs" are still rising issue - or is this a hangover effect of prior elevated costs? 

As I had suggested earlier - it HAD to be one of the old standby's that seem to be RVA's bane -- market size too small... or construction costs too high. And it's likely a combination, because as I've said before, this AIN'T happening in North Carolina or other select hot-growth market cities such as Nashville, Austin, Atlanta, etc.

It's nice to get these buildings - but Jesus - I'd just as soon wait a little while and get bigger projects before Monroe Ward starts to clutter up with buildings too new to just go in and dynamite and replace with something of significant size when the RVA market finally hits whatever tipping points that are necessary to make bigger projects feasible. Yes - this is somewhat hyperbolic, given the Ocean of Surface Parking that proliferates Monroe Ward - but this truncation of projects is no longer a one-off outlier. This is a trend. And it frankly SUCKS.

@upzoningisgood-- a question for you: Re: rent growth: no doubt developers rely on rent growth to make big projects worth building - but as a market, how much rent growth can RVA reasonably sustain and still remain COMPETITIVE with other markets by offering LESS EXPENSIVE COL relative to those markets? I would think that we want SOME kind of stabilization of the rent ceiling to maintain RVA's position as an attractive option in efforts to lure companies to the city. No doubt a challenging balancing act, yes? How do we work with this - and what would be considered the optimal path to sustain (or even increase) future growth?

its still incredibly hard to get certain items. It will be for a long time. I was reading yesterday it’s still extremely hard getting stuff for chiristmas time. I was reading that even though people expect to spend way less on Christmas this year that we will still have people not get their items they really want. This is a deadly cycle we in regardless what we do for a living. If it’s medical or construction or retail getting all things you need in to do your job it’s still incredibly difficult. We need to make every last item and stop relying on China and India. I know environmental people don’t like this but we need to this is causing the vicious cycle and people don’t have the patience to wait for a slow moving ship to bring it across the world to us at the ports. I’ve grown extremely impatient with things I need for work I’d welcome a smoke fills factory making what I need as opposed to waiting for someone in China making it, my sanity is at an all time low I’ve wanted to personally cuss out China and numerous people at the top of my lungs at this mess. If you start screwing with construction people you may not want to be around us. I’ve seen guys throwing wrenches down the hallway. 

[Brent114]

3 hours ago, Downtowner said:

its still incredibly hard to get certain items. It will be for a long time. I was reading yesterday it’s still extremely hard getting stuff for chiristmas time. I was reading that even though people expect to spend way less on Christmas this year that we will still have people not get their items they really want. This is a deadly cycle we in regardless what we do for a living. If it’s medical or construction or retail getting all things you need in to do your job it’s still incredibly difficult. We need to make every last item and stop relying on China and India. I know environmental people don’t like this but we need to this is causing the vicious cycle and people don’t have the patience to wait for a slow moving ship to bring it across the world to us at the ports. I’ve grown extremely impatient with things I need for work I’d welcome a smoke fills factory making what I need as opposed to waiting for someone in China making it, my sanity is at an all time low I’ve wanted to personally cuss out China and numerous people at the top of my lungs at this mess. If you start screwing with construction people you may not want to be around us. I’ve seen guys throwing wrenches down the hallway. 

The suppliers/retailers are the problem. 

No one pays to store inventory anymore, they have been spoiled by the ability to leave containers at the ports up to the second that they are needed (what’s the name for it? Is it “on time delivery”?). The boats aren’t slow, the unloading is because there are containers  of crappy Christmas items from two years ago still blocking access. 

As for China and India (the rest of the developing world)  the West outsourcing manufacturing has lifted a billion people out of poverty over the last 30 years.  Waiting for things seems like a good trade off to me 

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Brent114

[eandslee]

There’s a construction webcam somewhere for the Parc View tower…this is proof…just need to find it:

https://parcviewatcommonwealth.com

scroll down a little bit until you see a beige button that says “See the building’s progress.”  Click that.  Shazam!  Or see below:

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by eandslee

[Hike]

32 minutes ago, eandslee said:

There’s a construction webcam somewhere for the Parc View tower…this is proof…just need to find it:

https://parcviewatcommonwealth.com

scroll down a little bit until you see a beige button that says “See the building’s progress.”  Click that.  Shazam!  Or see below:

 

Well, the tenants in the adjacent apartments, The Berkshire?, will need to upgrade their blinds, plus,  they can, if need be, borrow some sugar or bum a beer from the neighbor in the Parc View. 

[Brent114]

This thing is going up so fast.  I think they’re on the 6th or 7th floor already (maybe 8th on the alley side).  

[I miss RVA]

40 minutes ago, eandslee said:

There’s a construction webcam somewhere for the Parc View tower…this is proof…just need to find it:

https://parcviewatcommonwealth.com

scroll down a little bit until you see a beige button that says “See the building’s progress.”  Click that.  Shazam!  Or see below:

 

It'll be really cool if we could somehow find the live webcam. Glad they're posting up time-lapses - I wonder how often it gets updated?

[whw53]

Per the CAR agenda for 11\22 Virginia Credit Union is planning on opening at 27 W Broad across from Maggie Walker Plaza. This was formally a restaurant shell -  last we had heard another concept was supposed to open here after 27 Bistro closed down in 2020.

CAR is required to sign off on an alteration to allow an external ATM. 

https://richmondva.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5921945&GUID=A51C36FC-4221-4179-8342-75ED42E0AE35&Options=&Search=

[I miss RVA]

On 11/10/2022 at 10:00 AM, whw53 said:

Per the CAR agenda for 11\22 Virginia Credit Union is planning on opening at 27 W Broad across from Maggie Walker Plaza. This was formally a restaurant shell -  last we had heard another concept was supposed to open here after 27 Bistro closed down in 2020.

CAR is required to sign off on an alteration to allow an external ATM. 

https://richmondva.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5921945&GUID=A51C36FC-4221-4179-8342-75ED42E0AE35&Options=&Search=

 

Here's RBS's reporting on the new VACU's new downtown location. Good spot for them in the Art's District, methinks and it's not that big of a schlep from the old spot (maybe about an eight or nine-block walk at most?)

Given that the credit union will have offices in Carytown, Scott's Addition and the Arts District, I'm increasingly thinking it's time, what with all the densification coming in the next couple of years, for a Manchester location to open - perhaps in the fast-developing Hull Street corridor.

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/11/16/vacu-to-add-arts-district-branch-in-former-bistro-27-space/

[ancientcarpenter]

Ugh, this is good and bad in my opinion. I love that VACU is making an impression in the city. More banking with more access to everyone, especially walkable in the city right on the bus line.

 

But...sad to see the space used for that. Especially since it's been a restaurant for as long as I can remember, creating night life in that area. Not a hill for me to fight on though, plenty of empty retail shop spots on that stretch of broad st that can easily add 10 restaurants and 10 banking centers. I wish (Douglas? Ukrops?) would do something with the empty spaces or just sell already.

[wrldcoupe4]

Such a great space for something other than a bank branch but VACU will be a stable anchor there. Restaurant biz sounds really tough these days. 

[123fakestreet]

33 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Such a great space for something other than a bank branch but VACU will be a stable anchor there. Restaurant biz sounds really tough these days. 

Retail is dead and the city can only support so many restaurants. I'll gladly take this over another vacant storefront.

[Downtowner]

1 hour ago, 123fakestreet said:

Retail is dead and the city can only support so many restaurants. I'll gladly take this over another vacant storefront.

A lot of restaurants in the city seem to be folding up lately. Saison is closing I saw. Lots of local places just can’t make it anymore. Not sure what the solution is but people who run local establishments either thrive and grow beyond and grow outside of a locality or they go into the ground and fold up. A lot of business owners need to learn this. You can only stay local so long before you have to become a regional name or a state wide name or national name. Staying local your entire existence will make you seize to exist altogether. 

[I miss RVA]

6 hours ago, Downtowner said:

A lot of restaurants in the city seem to be folding up lately. Saison is closing I saw. Lots of local places just can’t make it anymore. Not sure what the solution is but people who run local establishments either thrive and grow beyond and grow outside of a locality or they go into the ground and fold up. A lot of business owners need to learn this. You can only stay local so long before you have to become a regional name or a state wide name or national name. Staying local your entire existence will make you seize to exist altogether. 

The solution is people - as in residents living in the immediate area.

Retail along Broad and Grace streets downtown THRIVED in the 1940s, 50s and 60s because there was a sufficiently large critical mass of people LIVING in the immediate area to sustain the well more than a hundred stores, shops, etc., that lined Broad Street from about 8th or 9th street westward through what's now the Arts District (as well as along Grace Street from roughly Foushee to 7th). As we've seen documented in several of the City's SAP and RFP workups - the history of the immediate downtown area reveals that upwards of 29,000 residents called the central-most part of the city home. That population figure began a rather dramatic downward spiral in the mid-late '50s when the interstate highways carved up Jackson Ward/Gilpen/Carver - and later the downtown expressway tore out a chunk of residential blocks on the southwestern side of downtown. And while we've been seeing (and continue to see) conversion of the legacy office buildings in the old Financial District (and in other parts of downtown - example: the CNB Building, the former Hotel John Marshall, etc.), plus a plethora of new construction -- all of which is helping to bring people back into downtown, it's just a start of what's needed. If I remember correctly, the City's most recent workup for the City Center RFP indicated that the downtown population today is still WELL less than 10,000 - (I think it was MAYBE roughly 8 or 9K AT MOST - and that might actually be on the high side by a thousand or two) - which is far better than it was 10 or 15 years ago when the population was 1 or 2 thousand at best.

Now, keep in mind, that enormous outmigration of central city population didn't happen overnight - it took 50 years to plummet from 29K in the late 1940s to a couple thousand in the 1990s. And it will take time to rebuild to a critical mass that would provide sufficient 24-7-365 residential population to really sustain substantial retail, night life, restaurants, etc., downtown, particularly along the old legacy Broad Street corridor. I've mentioned on these forums many times in the past: when I was in undergrad at VCU back in the '80s - my urban planning professors ALL said that for downtown Richmond to truly THRIVE as a legitimate 24-7-365 place - it needed a MINIMUM population base of 30,000 residents. (Obviously they were basing this on the legacy numbers from decades prior because at 29,000 residents in and around downtown, retail WORKED and it worked VERY well!)

So the short answer to your question: the solution is people. We need more - A LOT MORE - people LIVING and WORKING downtown. We need more businesses locating downtown. We need office buildings full of companies (as opposed to sitting vacant because of downsizing or relocations or buyouts by or mergers with out-of-state companies that siphon off our offices, be they banks/other financial institutions, law firms, insurance companies, etc., all of which several decades ago had HUGE presences in terms of people working in downtown). We need people moving into downtown at a rate FAR greater than has been and is currently happening. 

It will take a lot to get there. It's not "mission impossible" by any stretch - but it's not going to happen overnight, I'm sorry to say. It's a simple yet complicated solution - the simplicity is that the bottom line of a LOT more people living and working downtown. The complicated part -- particularly from a workforce situation (because of how things shifted with the pandemic and continue to shift because of technology) is how to get there.

Edited November 18, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Richmonopoly]

Rising costs have kept me from dining as frequent as I used to... I imagine this is another cause for others. 

[I miss RVA]

33 minutes ago, Richmonopoly said:

Rising costs have kept me from dining as frequent as I used to... I imagine this is another cause for others. 

Absolutely! Same here.