Diamond Area / Hermitage Rd Corridor / Ownby District

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, Rooster said:

Both the counties have way better tax incentives for labs compared to the city, so to make it work there have to be other value-adds like "center of gravity" (proximity to other labs/biotech/VCU)

Well said. 

[I miss RVA]

According to today's RT-D, the city got of lightly regarding MLB's mandated ballpark upgrade.

I haven't read the story yet - I have to renew my subscription (which I will do later).

https://richmond.com/sports/flying-squirrels/in-relative-terms-richmond-got-off-light-in-mlb-mandated-ballpark-upgrades/article_c0047e76-c730-11ed-8a03-77b12d331b65.html?utm_source=richmond.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fnews-alert&utm_medium=PostUp&lctg=4428112&tn_email_eh1=0ec7e032dd1e4ec101109fd5c9cd7c5c0a175c41

[Flood Zone]

According to the article, Durham got hit with a $10 million fee and Reading twice that.

[I miss RVA]

10 minutes ago, Flood Zone said:

According to the article, Durham got hit with a $10 million fee and Reading twice that.

That's NUTS! What was wrong with their ballparks?

[Downtowner]

Reading has had a very neglected ballpark for a while now. At one point they had a proposal for a new one don’t know what happened to that one. MLB having the hand on all minor league teams and cities has been horrible for all of baseball. Not to mention they got rid of over 120 teams and multiple lower levels of the minors. I’ve said the new mlb commissioner rob manfred is the worst commissioner in all of sports I hate the guy worse than bud selig. I’d take Roger goodell over manfred. Can’t wait until manfred is gone or either he will kill baseball all on his own.

[whw53]

Helloo fellow yimby scum and happy Friday - hot new POD filing for us to ponder. And its got that increasingly sought after Ownby lane address! drum roll plz.....

.....our 2nd POD of the year...

...coming  in at 320,422 sqft of development (similar to Otis i believe?) ...

... to be hereafter known at the 'Vatex site'...

...(until formal rebranding)... 

..from Boher Engineering -  IS

 

1613 Ownby Lane- description 'multi family dwellings' 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/d06f4a80-33db-4f79-9663-4f501963bdfd?tab=contacts

 

 

I marked the Duplex Station site as well - this one is supposed to be turning dirt soon right?

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by whw53

[rjp212]

Hopefully that train crossing will be elevated in the near future.  

[eandslee]

16 minutes ago, whw53 said:

Helloo fellow yimby scum and happy Friday - hot new POD filing for us to ponder. And its got that increasingly sought after Ownby lane address! drum roll plz.....

.....our 2nd POD of the year...

...coming  in at 320,422 sqft of development (similar to Otis i believe?) ...

... to be hereafter known at the 'Vatex site'...

...(until formal rebranding)... 

..from Boher Engineering -  IS

 

1613 Ownby Lane- description 'multi family dwellings' 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/d06f4a80-33db-4f79-9663-4f501963bdfd?tab=contacts

 

 

I marked the Duplex Station site as well - this one is supposed to be turning dirt soon right?

 

Awesome find!!  Hoping our friends at RBS are on it gathering more details. Should be interesting, but at 3.2 acres probably won’t be taller than maybe 5-6 stories. Still, love that there is still movement in the market for projects of this size, all things considered.  Probably a testament to the resiliency of the Richmond market. Can’t wait to read about some details!  Thanks for posting and for being Johnny on the Spot!

[Shakman]

1 hour ago, whw53 said:

Helloo fellow yimby scum and happy Friday - hot new POD filing for us to ponder. And its got that increasingly sought after Ownby lane address! drum roll plz.....

.....our 2nd POD of the year...

...coming  in at 320,422 sqft of development (similar to Otis i believe?) ...

... to be hereafter known at the 'Vatex site'...

...(until formal rebranding)... 

..from Boher Engineering -  IS

 

1613 Ownby Lane- description 'multi family dwellings' 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/d06f4a80-33db-4f79-9663-4f501963bdfd?tab=contacts

 

 

I marked the Duplex Station site as well - this one is supposed to be turning dirt soon right?

 

Sorry to burst your bubble but today is not Friday; its Friday Eve.  Great find nonetheless.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Shakman

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, whw53 said:

Helloo fellow yimby scum and happy Friday - hot new POD filing for us to ponder. And its got that increasingly sought after Ownby lane address! drum roll plz.....

.....our 2nd POD of the year...

...coming  in at 320,422 sqft of development (similar to Otis i believe?) ...

... to be hereafter known at the 'Vatex site'...

...(until formal rebranding)... 

..from Boher Engineering -  IS

 

1613 Ownby Lane- description 'multi family dwellings' 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/d06f4a80-33db-4f79-9663-4f501963bdfd?tab=contacts

 

 

I marked the Duplex Station site as well - this one is supposed to be turning dirt soon right?

 

Now this is REALLLLLLLY exciting!! I can't wait for more details.

I don't mind at all if this is in that 5, 6, 7, 8 story range - 320.5K sf is a pretty robust size. And the building across the street at the old Cobb Lumber site is supposed to be pretty sizeable too, no?

[123fakestreet]

Good news. The White Cap or KD Supplies, whatever it is called on the corner of Hermitage and Overbrook is the one I'm waiting on. Still feels pretty industrial in that area, but that is a prime, central site and once it flips the whole feel of the neighborhood will instantly change. 

[I miss RVA]

27 minutes ago, 123fakestreet said:

Good news. The White Cap or KD Supplies, whatever it is called on the corner of Hermitage and Overbrook is the one I'm waiting on. Still feels pretty industrial in that area, but that is a prime, central site and once it flips the whole feel of the neighborhood will instantly change. 

Definitely! What with what's already there a tad north and east - once that big one you're talking about at Hermitage and Overbrook rises, and we get the Cobb Lumber site project built - and now this one - holy moly, the whole neighborhood is going to be completely transformed. It'll be like going to a different city.

[Hike]

3 hours ago, Shakman said:

Sorry to burst your bubble but today is not Friday; its Friday Eve.  Great find nonetheless.

Not only that, I identify as yimby trash, not yimby scum, thank you. 

[I miss RVA]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:15 AM, whw53 said:

Helloo fellow yimby scum and happy Friday - hot new POD filing for us to ponder. And its got that increasingly sought after Ownby lane address! drum roll plz.....

.....our 2nd POD of the year...

...coming  in at 320,422 sqft of development (similar to Otis i believe?) ...

... to be hereafter known at the 'Vatex site'...

...(until formal rebranding)... 

..from Boher Engineering -  IS

 

1613 Ownby Lane- description 'multi family dwellings' 

https://energov.richmondgov.com/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService/richmondvaprod#/plan/d06f4a80-33db-4f79-9663-4f501963bdfd?tab=contacts

 

 

I marked the Duplex Station site as well - this one is supposed to be turning dirt soon right?

 

 

Mike has new reporting today with more details about this development:

Capital City Real Estate (which is developing the Commodore over in Manchester) is the developer behind this latest addition to the booming Hermitage/Overbrook area. Planned is a five-story, 314-unit apartment building (248 are one-bedroom - ugh... wish we'd get a few more larger units) to be called "The Porter". Groundbreaking is set for mid 2024 as the developers are still in the design and planning phase of the project.

We already know CCRE is a solid developer, and we're seeing the results of their handiwork at 7th and Hull. No doubt, this project will be just as good.

No official renderings have been made available as of yet - however a preliminary conceptual drawing shows what is likely to rise at this site. Pretty much par for the course for this part of town.

Man - when this, the Spy Rock development, the Cobb lumber development and the one farther down at Hermitage and Overbrook on the corner are all built out, there will be some serious density in this neighborhood and this part of the city will have fully flipped from light industrial to urban residential (with still more developable parcels left). VERY exciting prospects for an amazing new urban neighborhood just east of the Diamond District.

From today's RIchmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/04/04/more-development-planned-around-hardywood-on-ownby-lane/

Edited April 4, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Icetera]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

the Cobb lumber development

I was rather surprised to see that workers were still operating in Cobb Lumber yesterday, though their stock looks rather empty.

[Urbs42]

Not sure how legit this site is, but it indicates construction will start on the VCU athletics village in Feb 2024. It also specifies this bid is just for "Phase 1", and I've read elsewhere the full build out will take 4-7 years. So we're looking at the end of the decade for completion. 

I guess it does say demo will begin in May. Also thought the tennis facility would be phase 1. 

https://www.constructionjournal.com/projects/details/3302491870f3472fb659ec6aebbf346a.html

Following the Diamond District is like watching paint dry. 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Urbs42

[I miss RVA]

43 minutes ago, Urbs42 said:

Following the Diamond District is like watching paint dry. 

 !!! Perfect analogy.

What worries me is that the longer it takes for this damn paint to dry, given the current/ongoing economic uncertainty impacting construction costs and, particularly, interest rates, the greater the chance the redevelopment gets delayed to the point that it either gets scaled back (and/or spread out over so long a time that few of us will still be alive when it's fully built out) or it never gets off the ground and simply never happens at all. We're already seeing case after case reported in RBS where developers say "we're still planning to go through with this development, but we're adopting a 'wait-and-see' approach, waiting for the market to cooperate/improve/stabilize, interest rates to come back down, construction costs to lower, etc."

I know we're not alone in dealing with the economic uncertainty - and all markets are being impacted. Still - RVA's still too small market size does not readily lend itself to quickly course-correcting regarding large-scale projects the way larger markets seem to be able to do.

All of that said - sitting and watching the paint dry is really troubling and worrying to me.

[Flood Zone]

OK, now it's time to get concerned, at least a little bit. Lou DiBella has returned to bellicose mode in an article just published in the Times-Dispatch. He's bemoaning no progress over the last several months. says he's not confident the park can get done per MLB's deadline, and threatens there might not be baseball in Richmond on Opening Day 2026.

This is all Baseball Owner Posturing 101, but I'll acknowledge I may have had too much faith things were progressing behind the scenes (not that I lacked reason to believe that, given Squirrels management had positive comments in an article published a couple months ago).

Edited April 11, 2023 by Flood Zone

[I miss RVA]

6 minutes ago, Flood Zone said:

OK, now it's time to get concerned, at least a little bit. Lou DiBella has returned to bellicose mode in an article just published in the Times-Dispatch. He's bemoaning no progress over the last several months. says he's not confident the park can get done per MLB's deadline, and threatens there might not be baseball in Richmond on Opening Day 2026.

This is all Baseball Owner Posturing 101, but I'll acknowledge I may have had too much faith things were progressing behind the scenes (not that I lacked reason to believe that, given Squirrels management had positive comments in an article published a couple months ago).

 

Great... here we go again... 

And folks wonder why those of us who have seen this city repeatedly fumble away things over the last however many decades are VERY skeptical (and critical) when there is ANY city involvement in major redevelopment projects. Another one of our RVA/UP "Rules of Thumb" should be - "the city's sh**ty track record when it comes to involvement in redevelopment projects always comes back to bite us."

I haven't yet read the article (am planning to) - is there any indication as to WHY things have been reduced to a standstill?

Edited April 11, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Flood Zone]

6 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

I haven't yet read the article (am planning to) - is there any indication as to WHY things have been reduced to a standstill?

No. And we don't know for a fact that things have been reduced to a standstill -- only that DiBella has basically described it that way. The article states that requests for comment by the developer, city officials, and minor league baseball were not returned. And the article states -- fairly carefully, it would seem -- that no ballpark design has been released "at least to the public." So, there may be more to the story than a complete dereliction of duty -- again, baseball owners can be incredibly bellicose and childish when it comes to ballpark stuff -- but on the surface there's nothing good here.

[I miss RVA]

16 minutes ago, Flood Zone said:

No. And we don't know for a fact that things have been reduced to a standstill -- only that DiBella has basically described it that way. The article states that requests for comment by the developer, city officials, and minor league baseball were not returned. And the article states -- fairly carefully, it would seem -- that no ballpark design has been released "at least to the public." So, there may be more to the story than a complete dereliction of duty -- again, baseball owners can be incredibly bellicose and childish when it comes to ballpark stuff -- but on the surface there's nothing good here.

This really is concerning. Yeah - baseball owners can be all over the place in screaming and yelling about ballpark improvements. But given the city's track record of inadvertently schechting the goose that lays the golden eggs (so to speak), this report is, at a minimum, troubling.

[Flood Zone]

44 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

But given the city's track record of inadvertently schechting the goose that lays the golden eggs (so to speak), this report is, at a minimum, troubling.

Certainly. But where is the developer in all this?

[Richmonopoly]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

 

Great... here we go again... 

And folks wonder why those of us who have seen this city repeatedly fumble away things over the last however many decades are VERY skeptical (and critical) when there is ANY city involvement in major redevelopment projects. Another one of our RVA/UP "Rules of Thumb" should be - "the city's sh**ty track record when it comes to involvement in redevelopment projects always comes back to bite us."

I haven't yet read the article (am planning to) - is there any indication as to WHY things have been reduced to a standstill?

I swear I've witnessed Richmond a new baseball for yeeeeears before Charlotte, W-S, and Greensboro hatch the idea, develop a plan,  construct, and open.  They've now been open for years and we are still scratching our heads.  We need those leader's ambition. 

[I miss RVA]

12 minutes ago, Richmonopoly said:

I swear I've witnessed Richmond a new baseball for yeeeeears before Charlotte, W-S, and Greensboro hatch the idea, develop a plan,  construct, and open.  They've now been open for years and we are still scratching our heads.  We need those leader's ambition. 

!!  Absolutely spot on. 

[wrldcoupe4]

Have heard rumors of issues with the deal lately before this, but had been hoping it was just talk.  Not a good sign.