Richmond off-topic postings

[wrldcoupe4]

4 hours ago, eandslee said:

Love you enthusiasm!  I often feel the same as you. 

I don't know if we should add it to the list, but I think it bears keeping in mind:  3Twenty One Canal (was to be the new Suntrust tower).  I really believe that if a new tenant can be found, that project can be resurrected.  Remember it also had a huge residential component to the project. It would be great to see this go up.  Maybe if we can find a tenant that wants more space than what Suntrust wanted, the tower could go higher than 21 stories.

My understanding is that there will not be a 21 story tower at that location going forward.

Belvidere is probably a leverage play for a higher pay day from VCU, but I hope I'm wrong.

A new arena seems wishful, but I hope I'm wrong there too.

I feel like I'll be old and gray when the ballpark solution shows up, but hope I'm wrong...

Someone told me City Center may be toast as well. 

Not to be a downer on these. There's still lots of other interesting stuff happening.

[drayrichmond]

So I just got back from Charleston SC last night (yes I went to see the eclipse) and the city was quite impressive for it's size. Charleston is very short, I think the tallest building I saw there was a dozen floors, but that's just their cities character; however even being a short in stature city they have a beautiful bridge crossing the bay, I would call it a signature bridge.

Anyway, I know we don't quite have a signature tower, but have you guys ever given any thought to having a signature bridge going a cross the James?

[Icetera]

1 hour ago, drayrichmond said:

So I just got back from Charleston SC last night (yes I went to see the eclipse) and the city was quite impressive for it's size. Charleston is very short, I think the tallest building I saw there was a dozen floors, but that's just their cities character; however even being a short in stature city they have a beautiful bridge crossing the bay, I would call it a signature bridge.

Anyway, I know we don't quite have a signature tower, but have you guys ever given any thought to having a signature bridge going a cross the James?

Sadly, I doubt we would ever see the funds allocated to a nice fancy bridge since we do not need the navigable height like Charleston, unless something were built in between I-95 and the Pocahontas bridge.  A RT. 5 to I-95 connector to move traffic out of the Bottom would be nice.

[drayrichmond]

2 hours ago, Icetera said:

Sadly, I doubt we would ever see the funds allocated to a nice fancy bridge since we do not need the navigable height like Charleston, unless something were built in between I-95 and the Pocahontas bridge.  A RT. 5 to I-95 connector to move traffic out of the Bottom would be nice.

Oh yeah for sure, we're never going to see anything that big, we don't have ocean going vessels going under our bridges. But Pittsburgh has some beautiful bridges with low clearances over their river, I was thinking more of something along those lines

[blopp1234]

1 hour ago, drayrichmond said:

Oh yeah for sure, we're never going to see anything that big, we don't have ocean going vessels going under our bridges. But Pittsburgh has some beautiful bridges with low clearances over their river, I was thinking more of something along those lines

I could see them doing something with the I-95 bridge. That is a major entrance to the city and could be a great spot for a significant bridge.

[Icetera]

17 hours ago, drayrichmond said:

Oh yeah for sure, we're never going to see anything that big, we don't have ocean going vessels going under our bridges. But Pittsburgh has some beautiful bridges with low clearances over their river, I was thinking more of something along those lines

If only we still built bridges like those   Such a gorgeous city.

[Brent114]

Our iconic bridge is the I295 crossing 

[eandslee]

16 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

Our iconic bridge is the I295 crossing 

True, but it's so far away from downtown!  What about the Bridge Park ideas some folks have been pitching recently?  I think one idea was to turn one of the downtown bridges into a park:

http://www.bridgeparkrva.com/

What do you all think about this idea and its feasibility?

[drayrichmond]

1 hour ago, Brent114 said:

Our iconic bridge is the I295 crossing 

I question the "iconic-ness" of this bridge. I never even knew it existed for a whole year and a half of living here until I took 295 one random day and it's so far from the city, I don't think anybody who is driving through or knows that this bridge exists would really associate it with Richmond.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Suprised I managed to beat the rest of you to this one. BizSense has a really good investigative article on the city's shell shocked permits division. Developers facing delays as city tries to meet demand

http://richmondbizsense.com/2017/08/23/the-worst-it-has-ever-been-developers-face-permit-delays-as-city-tries-to-meet-demand/

Pretty good read. Tells me that there's intense demand here for construction but the city itself struggles to keep up.

[eandslee]

54 minutes ago, RVA-Is-The-Best said:

Suprised I managed to beat the rest of you to this one. BizSense has a really good investigative article on the city's shell shocked permits division. Developers facing delays as city tries to meet demand

http://richmondbizsense.com/2017/08/23/the-worst-it-has-ever-been-developers-face-permit-delays-as-city-tries-to-meet-demand/

Pretty good read. Tells me that there's intense demand here for construction but the city itself struggles to keep up.

Yeah I read this...what the city is doing is killing business in the city!  They have to get this fix ASAP or businesses will leave.  If the city wants more tax base then they have the be super business friendly, to include making this process as quick and smooth as possible...be abnormally fast even!

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

The Tesla dealership opened this morning off Broad in the West End. This is after a year of fighting off a horse SHlT case from the Virginia Auto Dealer Association/VADA.

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/tesla-opening-store-in-henrico-friday-morning-mcauliffe-says-no/article_27d957ea-8b4b-5ce9-ac6c-83ad848c759d.html

 

Edited August 25, 2017 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[Shakman]

Screw the VADA.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Shakman

[eandslee]

Deleted.  Posted in wrong thread.

Edited August 25, 2017 by eandslee

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Is anyone else getting a 404 from BizSense? I need my fix for the day and I can't access it lol

[eandslee]

59 minutes ago, RVA-Is-The-Best said:

Is anyone else getting a 404 from BizSense? I need my fix for the day and I can't access it lol

Just checked and got on just fine.  They did update their website though. Could be some lingering bugs. 

[Shakman]

Bizsense is working for me.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Very strange. I'm STILL getting a 404...

edit: used isitdownrightnow dot com to check if it's just me. They also got a 404... hmm

edit 2: working now. Website looks a bit different. Guess they redesigned it

Edited September 3, 2017 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[eandslee]

Nope. Still works for me. Maybe use a different browser or clear out your cache. I'm using my iPhone - Safari. 

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Did the site layout change? Something looks different

 

edit: I mean UP, not bizsense, I know they changed the layout

Edited September 7, 2017 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, RVA-Is-The-Best said:

Did the site layout change? Something looks different

 

edit: I mean UP, not bizsense, I know they changed the layout

Yeah, they did. Must have been a software update or something. 

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Hey this isn't relevant to anything but there's this 3D printing company that will make a professionally designed 3D model of any city if they get a 100 votes. Just write in Richmond, VA in the form on the website when you scroll down it literally takes like 30 seconds and there's no request for additional personal nonsense like email or whatever

Saw this on reddit so I assume we're that much closer than any point before

http://3dprintedskylines.com/

[eandslee]

Yeah, I was one of the first to vote.  Thanks for posting here - hopefully Richmond can get more votes!

[drayrichmond]

Not development news but just generally good news for the city:

Makes the city look good!

Recently I've seen a lot of goals reached by the Mayors office,

1500 alleys repaired, more than expected or planned:

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/mayor-stoney-announces-repairs-to-more-than-richmond-alleys/article_7dc10717-a3d1-5ab2-9f12-20f33fcdaad5.html

The Financial report was done ahead of schedule!

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/richmond-totals-million-surplus-for-fiscal-year-as-city-completes/article_eba0aa90-3f56-5a38-b329-581d274cab68.html

Older one but, pot holes! They've filled a ton more this year than last year, just on the route that I take home I've seen a big difference with pot holes being filled:

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/richmond-totals-million-surplus-for-fiscal-year-as-city-completes/article_eba0aa90-3f56-5a38-b329-581d274cab68.html

 

These are all the nitty gritty things that will make this city a more desirable place to live and work; glad to see the progress!

 

 

[RiverYuppy]

While anecdotal, housing seems to be going well too!  Every block of my street has a house under renovation.  The same is pretty much true for the two streets parallel to mine.   On my block there are three being renovated!

I was walking over to Ann Hardy Park to read a book when I noticed an abandoned hardware store was under full renovation mode.  I talked to the developer and he said he was planning on turning it into a boutique house.  He said he has been renovating houses in Northside for 25 years and is close to being priced out on even abandoned houses that go up for auction.

That, combined with RRHA finally auctioning off a lot of its empty properties (especially in Maymont, Church Hill, and Northside)  that we're seeing renovated.  

Also, we're seeing Church Hill really push up against the public housing.  I used to live in "luxury apartments" two blocks from Mosby.  Even 9 mile road is being redeveloped with a new grocery store. 

The end of vacant houses North of the river isn't here yet, but it certainly seems in sight.  It's going to be interesting to see what happens once the only thing left is infill and redeveloping the housing projects.