Jackson Ward / Gilpin

[ancientcarpenter]

Looks like the Gammino 5 story, 63 unit apartment building is coming to fruition - Great design, good community input, and will be a wonderful addition to the Jackson Ward community:

 

https://richmondbizsense.com/2021/12/16/gammino-files-plans-for-apartment-building-in-jackson-ward/

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Looks like the Gammino 5 story, 63 unit apartment building is coming to fruition - Great design, good community input, and will be a wonderful addition to the Jackson Ward community:

 

https://richmondbizsense.com/2021/12/16/gammino-files-plans-for-apartment-building-in-jackson-ward/

Excellent news! This is a fine looking building and it will be a real asset. Glad to see it's finally coming to pass.

[Brent114]

Ummm… this is a beautiful building.  Plays well with our other buildings too! 

The little building is really very attractive.  

Edited December 17, 2021 by Brent114

[ancientcarpenter]

Invite only Jackson Ward Development meeting tonight. Will keep everyone posted with what the early word is for a number of proposed projects. 

[eandslee]

26 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Invite only Jackson Ward Development meeting tonight. Will keep everyone posted with what the early word is for a number of proposed projects. 

Thanks!  looking forward to the report!  Lots of good things on the docket in JW.  Very exciting!

[whw53]

38 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Invite only Jackson Ward Development meeting tonight. Will keep everyone posted with what the early word is for a number of proposed projects. 

I can't stomach those anymore - thanks for doing this for us.

[whw53]

@ancientcarpenter how'd the HJWA meeting go - any interesting tidbits for us? Thanks!

[ancientcarpenter]

On 12/22/2021 at 12:07 PM, whw53 said:

@ancientcarpenter how'd the HJWA meeting go - any interesting tidbits for us? Thanks!

It was more of an internal meeting so no "feel good" updates for developments just yet. 

 

Looks like Gammino for 208-212 E. Leigh St 5 story development is moving forward with city approval. From what I can tell, the development is privately funded so the red tape is much less of a burden for him. The community would like more input on parking and use of more appropriate design. Everyone should know city's decision some time in Jan 2022.

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, ancientcarpenter said:

It was more of an internal meeting so no "feel good" updates for developments just yet. 

Looks like Gammino for 208-212 E. Leigh St 5 story development is moving forward with city approval. From what I can tell, the development is privately funded so the red tape is much less of a burden for him.

The community would like more input on parking

and use of more appropriate design. 

1.) Project moving forward: Good! I'm really looking forward to seeing this get underway.

2.) Kvetching about parking: For the love of God, enough of this already, no? I mean - just HOW LONG can people keep beating a dead horse? This is ridiculous at this point.

3.) "Appropriate" design: SERIOUSLY???  Is, perhaps, the design of the VACANT, surface parking lot appropriate enough for them? Sure, red brick would probably look a lot better and be preferable. But if my choice is between this project as is designed and yet another ghastly surface parking lot... ummm...

Quite frankly, the continued kvetching and apparent pushback just needs to stop. We've long-since gone beyond the point of "theatre of the absurd".

@ancientcarpenter-- please know that I'm NOT yelling at you at all - I realize you're the messenger here and you've already voiced your own reservations/disagreements with this committee and some of its positions on this project. NONE OF THE ABOVE IS AIMED AT YOU -- they are more general thoughts aimed at the folks on this committee and some of the denizens of "H"JW in general. (I put the H in quotes because NOT ALL of JW is legit "historic" -- and unless I'm mistaken (ALWAYS a high probability!!) I believe it's been mentioned somewhere in this discussion that not all of the folks in the HJWA actually live within the confines of the actual historic district.)

Edited December 27, 2021 by I miss RVA

[ihavealltheanswers]

Any thoughts on the proposed highway cap of 95? Now this will spur development if it ever sees the light of day.

Effort seeks to reconnect Jackson Ward across an interstate and racial divide | Govt-and-politics | richmond.com

[I miss RVA]

23 hours ago, ihavealltheanswers said:

Any thoughts on the proposed highway cap of 95? Now this will spur development if it ever sees the light of day.

Effort seeks to reconnect Jackson Ward across an interstate and racial divide | Govt-and-politics | richmond.com

I think the jury is very much still out on this. Provided it actually comes to pass, it's attempting to knit back together a segment what was once a fairly cohesive community that even from just a current and future development standpoint could not be more disparate. There is a TREMENDOUS amount of development happening south of I-95 - in JW "proper" (including HJW) -- but much of what will happen immediately to the north of the interstate will depend on what happens with the redevelopment of Gilpin Court. I'll be interested to see what happens when developers start coming in to bang elbows to develop Gilpin - and more importantly, how much community involvement there will be. At least in the near term, JW and Gilpen will continue to be night-and-day different in terms of development.

[ancientcarpenter]

Nobody knows exactly what the bridge will look like with Jackson Ward and North Jackson Ward (aka Gilpin Court). However, it is getting quite a bit of attention. The Infrastructure bill that the Democrats (yes, federal!) just passed is going directly to work like this. We still need to see exactly how much money RVA will get and where it will go but the Jackson Ward bridge is getting so much attention that Pete Buttigieg (Transportation Secretary) from Biden's administration has just toured Jackson Ward with Abigail Spanberger (Congresswomen), Governor Northam (soon to be ex Governor of Virginia) and many other higher ups. That's quite a big deal and shows that the Jackson Ward bridge may be an actual project that gets done. 

 

Last I heard about this is that there is a study happening and they are getting community input. Usually this is great but can be met with much pessimism. Good news: There is already a "director" being added to the project so there is some type of management system set up by the government to follow through with the Jackson Ward bridge project which creates accountability and timelines. VERY exciting. Bridge was also in the Richmond 300 plan and it even had a  7+ story (or bigger?) rendering on the bridge with a park which is exciting!

My opinion: It will happen if things keep moving the way they are moving with federal government. However, elections do happen and we have power shifts and I can definitely see something like this getting nixxed because it looks like a special project for a certain party. 

 

 

Edited January 1 by ancientcarpenter

[123fakestreet]

1 hour ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Nobody knows exactly what the bridge will look like with Jackson Ward and North Jackson Ward (aka Gilpin Court). However, it is getting quite a bit of attention. The Infrastructure bill that the Democrats (yes, federal!) just passed is going directly to work like this. We still need to see exactly how much money RVA will get and where it will go but the Jackson Ward bridge is getting so much attention that Pete Buttigieg (Transportation Secretary) from Biden's administration has just toured Jackson Ward with Abigail Spanberger (Congresswomen), Governor Northam (soon to be ex Governor of Virginia) and many other higher ups. That's quite a big deal and shows that the Jackson Ward bridge may be an actual project that gets done. 

 

Last I heard about this is that there is a study happening and they are getting community input. Usually this is great but can be met with much pessimism. Good news: There is already a "director" being added to the project so there is some type of management system set up by the government to follow through with the Jackson Ward bridge project which creates accountability and timelines. VERY exciting. Bridge was also in the Richmond 300 plan and it even had a  7+ story (or bigger?) rendering on the bridge with a park which is exciting!

My opinion: It will happen if things keep moving the way they are moving with federal government. However, elections do happen and we have power shifts and I can definitely see something like this getting nixxed because it looks like a special project for a certain party. 

 

 

Wow. Yeah there's no way they march Mayor Pete out there and then this just doesn't happen.   It's still Richmond, so it is possible City Council + NIMBYs will find a way to screw this up, but it's much more than just an idea or talking point now.

[whw53]

What was the process\politics by which the capping project that created space for Kanawha Plaza like? Was that as sensationalized as this current effort?  If they cap 95 for another underused park I'm going to be very let down - that will still mark a division between JW proper and Gilpin. A lot of questions - anyone have any better case studies ? who would control the capped space initially - the state of Virginia or does the city assume it? - is there any real property or air rights here or does the space remain a piece of infrastructure.  Was the Kanawha cap ever envisioned for anything more than a park - if so, what factors held it back - regulatory, infrastructure, civic etc.?

Edited January 2 by whw53

[123fakestreet]

6 minutes ago, whw53 said:

What was the process\politics by which the capping project that created space for Kanawha Plaza like? Was that as sensationalized as this current effort?  If they cap 95 for another underused park I'm going to be very let down - that will still mark a division between JW proper and Gilpin. A lot of questions - anyone have any better case studies ? who would control the capped space initially - the state of Virginia or does the city assume it? - is there any real property or air rights here or does the space remain a piece of infrastructure.  Was the Kanawha cap ever envisioned for anything more than a park - if so, what factors held it back - regulatory, infrastructure, civic etc.?

The cap at Kanawha annoys me, why leave those gaps? Just cap the full block. The area is still largely divided right there because that block isn't fully connected to the street grid.

Then there's the bridges up a few blocks- why are there crossings at 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th? There is nothing south of the expressway to get to on those bridges. 3rd and 4th dead end on Byrd once they cross. Stupid. Should only be crossings at 2nd and 5th.

Meanwhile only 1st street crosses 95 on northside.

[upzoningisgood]

1 hour ago, whw53 said:

A lot of questions - anyone have any better case studies ?

The only new cap I know of is Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, but it’s not a great comparison. It’s much larger. The key thing they did right was get ton of private investment—there were a lot of stakeholders in the project’s success, which was a strong indication that the park would actually get used. All the private money also let them do a bang-up job imo

Edited January 2 by upzoningisgood

[ancientcarpenter]

RBS's article this morning for 2022 was great to read in terms of summary, not much of a surprise to those here. However, I did notice something interesting:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/01/03/the-bizsense-crystal-ball-things-to-watch-in-2022/

Quote

 

Douglas and the Arts District

Some claim well-known Washington, D.C.-based Douglas Development has held much of the Arts District hostage by not doing anything with its myriad holdings in the neighborhood. Might this be the year the company makes a move? Is Douglas waiting to see what happens with the Coliseum and City Center area? If it is, it could have a domino effect on surrounding blocks.

 

 

I wasn't aware that Douglas Development had as much land in the Arts District / Jackson Ward  Monroe Ward to have its own section in the 2022 predictions article with RBS. Can anyone help pinpoint some of these? I know the Ukrop's family is rumored to own a lot of the property as well...

[wrldcoupe4]

Douglas owns much of what has not been renovated along the 100 and 200 blocks of East Broad Street.

[whw53]

@Icetera had a good highlight of their holdings - it may be a few pages back - let me look.

Here it is - i quoted over from the Monroe Ward thread...

On 3/17/2021 at 10:05 AM, Icetera said:

I count 18 unique parcels (approx. 28 addresses) along Broad so E. Main must be the 2 outliers.

 

Edited January 3 by whw53

[ancientcarpenter]

57 minutes ago, whw53 said:

@Icetera had a good highlight of their holdings - it may be a few pages back - let me look.

Here it is - i quoted over from the Monroe Ward thread...

 

Oh, wow! That is A LOT of property there in Jackson Ward.. not only do they finally have the ability to make those blocks of Broad St attractive but there is some major open property to build density. I hope they do something impactful here. 

Edited January 3 by ancientcarpenter

[wrldcoupe4]

They've owned much of it for over a decade, so they need to start fixing up.

[majors2410]

Dont hold your breath.

[flaneur]

I know the owner of Douglas has some questionable history personally, but the firm does good work. I lived in DC 2002-2006 and then again 2010-2017. In that first period, Douglas bought up a lot of downtown DC when it was full of empty blocks as well as much of the former commercial corridors in Logan Circle (14th St.) and Shaw. (7th, 9th, and U Sts).  It took some time for them and the market to align, but if you visit any of those areas in DC now, they're all bustling (albeit not without displacement issues for long-term residents and small businesses). To Douglas' credit, they restored vital parts of DC's urban fabric and had the foresight at a time when many had written off DC (the population nadired in the early 2000s). I think they have a similar long-term "skin in the game" approach to Richmond, at least I hope so. Re: freeway caps, they are so cost prohibitive that I doubt many will get implemented. Here in Atlanta we have two under consideration and I know LA and other major cities have similar aspirations. We're quite lucky to have Kanawha in RVA. From what I understand, the Federal Reserve insisted upon that as they were shocked to discover the site they acquired would soon be cut off from the rest of downtown (back then in the early 70s, no one was down by the river). There's a great old Style Weekly article by Ed Slipek of a sad missed opportunity re: the downtown expressway. Apparently the first designs proposed an urban boulevard rather than a moat of a freeway. Alas, what could have been. But we have a real opportunity in this decade to reconnect so many areas we screwed up with our leap to the auto over everything (and with some heavy racism too to run through and redline certain areas such as Jackson Ward, Fulton, Navy Hill, etc.).

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, flaneur said:

I know the owner of Douglas has some questionable history personally, but the firm does good work. I lived in DC 2002-2006 and then again 2010-2017. In that first period, Douglas bought up a lot of downtown DC when it was full of empty blocks as well as much of the former commercial corridors in Logan Circle (14th St.) and Shaw. (7th, 9th, and U Sts).  It took some time for them and the market to align, but if you visit any of those areas in DC now, they're all bustling (albeit not without displacement issues for long-term residents and small businesses). To Douglas' credit, they restored vital parts of DC's urban fabric and had the foresight at a time when many had written off DC (the population nadired in the early 2000s). I think they have a similar long-term "skin in the game" approach to Richmond, at least I hope so. Re: freeway caps, they are so cost prohibitive that I doubt many will get implemented. Here in Atlanta we have two under consideration and I know LA and other major cities have similar aspirations. We're quite lucky to have Kanawha in RVA. From what I understand, the Federal Reserve insisted upon that as they were shocked to discover the site they acquired would soon be cut off from the rest of downtown (back then in the early 70s, no one was down by the river). There's a great old Style Weekly article by Ed Slipek of a sad missed opportunity re: the downtown expressway. Apparently the first designs proposed an urban boulevard rather than a moat of a freeway. Alas, what could have been. But we have a real opportunity in this decade to reconnect so many areas we screwed up with our leap to the auto over everything (and with some heavy racism too to run through and redline certain areas such as Jackson Ward, Fulton, Navy Hill, etc.).

Hey -@flaneur !  Haven't seen you on here in a while. Hope all is well!

Style & the DTExpy: I'd be curious to know if the Ed Slipek piece you referenced is extant online somewhere. I'd love to read it.

Douglas: I'm sure the jury will be out on Douglas here for quite a while -- at least until some positive results start rolling in. That they own SO many properties in the Arts District seems to be a double-edged sword. Plenty of upside and downside, depending on what they decide to do -- or not to do. I worry when I see they also own surface parking lots - my hope is that surface lots get converted into LARGE buildings -- with height, density, impact. I don't see Douglas -- and their focus on historic rehab -- having the desire or impetus to convert a block-long, half-block-deep parking lot into a 12-15 story apartment building. No idea if it's a cost thing or they just have no interest in those kinds of projects. But quite frankly, I don't want to see them essentially waste a convertible surface lot by plunking a three-story building where something double-digit height could just as easily go (and where the larger building would have a far greater impact on downtown by bringing more people). That -- if anything -- is the biggest reason I cast a very wary eye toward them.

Fulton: Oh, don't get me started about the atrocity that was the death of Fulton Bottom. I'm particularly bothered by the complete and utter lack of activity among preservationists who for generations have been willing to go to great lengths to preserve what THEY deem to be old and "historic".  Somehow it was preferable -- and supposedly an 'urgent' enough matter -- to lay on the ground in front of paving machinery to spare the paving bricks all along Monument Avenue from being covered in asphalt in the late 1960s -- yet it was not worth the time to so much as make a peep (much less actually DO anything) toward saving Richmond's OLDEST neighborhood -- and then to compound it by saying nothing as it was essentially bulldozed into the James and plowed under by the RRHA. What happened to Fulton in 1970 was disgraceful, shameful and utterly disgusting.

Like I said - don't get me started on that one.

Edited January 3 by I miss RVA

[DowntownCoruscant]

Well said.