Richmond off-topic postings

[Shakman]

10 hours ago, eandslee said:

Still works for me.  Not sure why it’s not working for you.  Anyone else have an issue?

I see it now. 

I want our Metro area to grow with minimal suburban sprawl; especially along major arterial roads.  Between the major thoroughfares have less density.  By the way 2030 is only 11.25 years away.  This would be a nearly 65% increase in the MSA population if 800,000 were added by 2030.  It will be a very aggressive undertaking to achieve this type of growth in this short amount of time.  

Just to compare, one MSA which has added around 800,000  from 2000 - 2016 is Austin, TX.    

Edited August 28, 2018 by Shakman

[eandslee]

Is Richmond capable of Austin kind of growth?  I’m not sure unless someone knows something that we don’t regarding a serious influx of businesses moving to the area.  I could see it happening and would love to see it happen.  I just hope the experts are right!  Smart growth, though, is what I’d want. 

[tparkerzut]

I highly doubt we grow that much and to be honest I don't want us to grow that fast. I have no problems with us reaching that size and truly hope we will, but maybe by 2040. That amount of growth is a lot for a region to handle and a lot of change very fast. I think a more reasonable and still quite substantial goal would be a 15-20% population gain across the entire metro between 2020-2030.

[RiverYuppy]

It looks like the new VCU Master Plan will be coming out soon.  I'm excited to see what is in store!

[eandslee]

3 hours ago, RiverYuppy said:

It looks like the new VCU Master Plan will be coming out soon.  I'm excited to see what is in store!

Please post a link when it comes out. It’ll be interesting to see what they have planned. I’m curious to see what’s really in store at Broad and Belvedere. 

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, Hike said:

What's everyone's take on this, any chance they'll out grow their space or want to have their own HQ building?

https://richmondbizsense.com/2018/10/05/union-bank-strikes-610m-major-push-nova/

Well, they just announced last week that they are looking to take up a couple more floors in their current downtown building and are consolidating space by getting rid of their Caroline County operations and moving them into their Innsbrook building. Not sure how this move might call for a need of even more space, but the announcement last week might have been because they were planning this buyout. I’ve always said (on this forum) that Union would be our next candidate to build a tower in Downtown Richmond. I still stick to that belief...so long as the bank can continue to grow without getting bought out itself.  I’m exciting about this announcement and hope that it leads to a really tall tower in our skyline in the not too distant future!

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Imo if they can keep sustainably acquiring and expanding, I think they're our next Fortune 500 contender.  We're far from that point though, but 'one of the largest banks in Virginia' is a good start.

[wrldcoupe4]

They are the largest community bank in Virginia. Is cap one the only va based bank that’s larger ?

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

They are the largest community bank in Virginia. Is cap one the only va based bank that’s larger ?

I think so.  Townebank is not too far behind Union, so Union has to keep expanding to keep ahead!

Capital One, of course, just built the 2nd tallest tower in Virginia up in Tyson’s Corner (at 470 feet), so it’s not far fetched that eventually, Union could do the same in Richmond...especially if it keeps all of its operations centralized in Richmond instead of separating them out away from its HQ like Capital One did. 

[drayrichmond]

Well it happened, I have joined the ranks of those who watch Richmonds growth from a distance. My wife and I have moved to Baltimore. I will say it is probably 85-95% because of the job and not the city, although there are certainly some things we missed about living in a bigger city. Richmond is doing great overall and I will miss being able to see the changes first hand. A couple of notes; the Pulse has been amazing, honestly, even though it is far smaller, it seems to be way more functional than any transit Baltimore currently has. I hope the Pulse continues to succeed and grow. The amount of infill going in around the city is great to see too, we keep seeing empty lots getting filled in with new apartments, from Jackson Ward to the Bottom, former parking lots are turning into great infill buildings. I have to say my favorite part of the city has to be the stretch of Broad Street between the convention center and the new ICA, it reminds the most of living back in Brooklyn.  New towers are going up all over, from MCV to the Financial District with the Dom Tower; lets hope it picks up more and continues to grow!

Richmond is a great city with so much potential; my wife and I have already said if the job was right we'd likely move back.

I'll still be active on the forum, but I'm also going to try and revive the Baltimore Urban Planet thread too.

[Shakman]

52 minutes ago, drayrichmond said:

Well it happened, I have joined the ranks of those who watch Richmonds growth from a distance. My wife and I have moved to Baltimore. I will say it is probably 85-95% because of the job and not the city, although there are certainly some things we missed about living in a bigger city. Richmond is doing great overall and I will miss being able to see the changes first hand. A couple of notes; the Pulse has been amazing, honestly, even though it is far smaller, it seems to be way more functional than any transit Baltimore currently has. I hope the Pulse continues to succeed and grow. The amount of infill going in around the city is great to see too, we keep seeing empty lots getting filled in with new apartments, from Jackson Ward to the Bottom, former parking lots are turning into great infill buildings. I have to say my favorite part of the city has to be the stretch of Broad Street between the convention center and the new ICA, it reminds the most of living back in Brooklyn.  New towers are going up all over, from MCV to the Financial District with the Dom Tower; lets hope it picks up more and continues to grow!

Richmond is a great city with so much potential; my wife and I have already said if the job was right we'd likely move back.

I'll still be active on the forum, but I'm also going to try and revive the Baltimore Urban Planet thread too.

Baltimore's skyscrapercity.com pages are very active.  Introduce yourself to those forumers.  Perhaps those forums can be a great start to revive its urbanplanet threads. 

Best wishes with the Baltimore adventures.

Edited October 20, 2018 by Shakman

[eandslee]

2 hours ago, drayrichmond said:

Well it happened, I have joined the ranks of those who watch Richmonds growth from a distance. My wife and I have moved to Baltimore. I will say it is probably 85-95% because of the job and not the city, although there are certainly some things we missed about living in a bigger city. Richmond is doing great overall and I will miss being able to see the changes first hand. A couple of notes; the Pulse has been amazing, honestly, even though it is far smaller, it seems to be way more functional than any transit Baltimore currently has. I hope the Pulse continues to succeed and grow. The amount of infill going in around the city is great to see too, we keep seeing empty lots getting filled in with new apartments, from Jackson Ward to the Bottom, former parking lots are turning into great infill buildings. I have to say my favorite part of the city has to be the stretch of Broad Street between the convention center and the new ICA, it reminds the most of living back in Brooklyn.  New towers are going up all over, from MCV to the Financial District with the Dom Tower; lets hope it picks up more and continues to grow!

Richmond is a great city with so much potential; my wife and I have already said if the job was right we'd likely move back.

I'll still be active on the forum, but I'm also going to try and revive the Baltimore Urban Planet thread too.

I’ve been watching Richmond’s growth from a distance for many years now (welcome to our ranks).  It is my birthplace, my hometown, and I will always follow her growth no matter where I am.  I hate to see you move, but even while you’re in Baltimore, please stay plugged in to what’s happening in Richmond.  You never know...you might end up coming back to live.  It’ll be an even greater city when you return!  Best wishes to you, my friend!

Edited October 20, 2018 by eandslee

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Lol. Have been in NoVA for almost 6 years now. Neat though that a lot of people can still be actively invested in development in their old area while living elsewhere.

[RiverYuppy]

On 10/20/2018 at 1:34 PM, drayrichmond said:

Well it happened, I have joined the ranks of those who watch Richmonds growth from a distance.

Sorry to hear you are leaving, but I hope you enjoy Baltimore!

Also, I have had quite a few friends who have left RVA only to wind up back here a few years later. You never know how things turn out.

[eandslee]

Not to draw anyone away from this forum (assuming you can manage to be a member of more than one forum), Ryan Ramsey at Richmond City Watch is restarting his forum. He had some trouble several years ago when bots kept spamming his site and had to close it down. Looks like he is ready to try again. SO, if you’re interested, come be a part of another forum in addition to this one:

http://richmondcitywatch.com/phpbb/

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Might as well join bc why not, but still, when this community already has a pretty active development forum, does he really imagine another one can be supported?

[eandslee]

4 hours ago, RVA-Is-The-Best said:

Might as well join bc why not, but still, when this community already has a pretty active development forum, does he really imagine another one can be supported?

Not sure. He doesn’t come onto this site that I know of, so not sure he is even aware. It never hurts to be a part of multiple development communities online though. Perhaps different things will be discussed on his versus this one. 

[jbjust]

4 hours ago, eandslee said:

Not sure. He doesn’t come onto this site that I know of, so not sure he is even aware. It never hurts to be a part of multiple development communities online though. Perhaps different things will be discussed on his versus this one. 

He's a bit of a curmudgeon if I recall from years ago when I spent time over there.  

[wrldcoupe4]

I don’t recall ryan being a curmudgeon. I’m a bit sentimental because stumbling upon his little website years ago helped grow my passion for our city.

Edited October 25, 2018 by wrldcoupe4

[eandslee]

3 hours ago, jbjust said:

He's a bit of a curmudgeon if I recall from years ago when I spent time over there.  

Oh no, he’s definitely not.  He’s a nice guy, loves the city, and started RCW back in 1999 or 2000, I believe. I was one of his first forum members...in fact, I helped him name his site!  Well, he asked me what he should call it, he came up with a few possible names and I told him that I liked Richmond City Watch and he went with it!  We’ve been friends online ever since!  If he ever got ill-tempered, I never saw it.  

[Brent114]

Yeah.  He’s a nice guy.  I gave him a driving tour of West End development back when he was still in high school.  He was doing a school project.  It was so long ago that I forget but perhaps RCW came from that? 

[marinog711]

what are your thoughts on this article?

https://www.richmond.com/business/local/panel-richmond-region-lags-similar-cities-in-population-growth-could/article_b8f277ef-5336-58ca-9c9c-916aa4f7a5f2.html

Edited October 26, 2018 by marinog711

[eandslee]

21 hours ago, marinog711 said:

what are your thoughts on this article?

https://www.richmond.com/business/local/panel-richmond-region-lags-similar-cities-in-population-growth-could/article_b8f277ef-5336-58ca-9c9c-916aa4f7a5f2.html

I was surprised when I read this article.  Surprised in a way because all we’ve heard is how much and how fast the region is growing and gaining in population...but I guess it’s not at the break-neck speed of Raleigh and definitely not even close to the speed of Austin...which, okay, I can see that. However, I do think that Richmond needs to market itself better (I’ve been thinking this for years) because having lived in many places around the country, I can attest that not many people know much, or anything about Richmond (many don’t even know of its role in the Civil War.  Granted, you get that from people who love out west who don’t think much of the Civil War at all.  I guess it’s because it’s not front and center like it can be here in the east).  Other than history, what is Richmond known for?  Honestly, I don’t think it has a well-known identity.  Raleigh is known for having the Research Triangle and for its universities. Austin also known for the University of Texas and its tech companies.  Richmond?  Not so sure.  I think it might be gaining some notoriety from VCU and it’s basketball program...what else?  I’m struggling to think of something it might be known for nationally.  So I guess their point (and mine too) is that Richmond needs to market itself better and then in the process, may find its identity (i.e. say, it could become the data center Mecca of the country if it lands tons more data centers, for instance).  Richmond needs to be THE place people think of when they think of “X” (whatever “X” is...but something positive and non-controversial).  Anyway, just my thoughts. 

[tparkerzut]

On 10/26/2018 at 9:21 AM, marinog711 said:

what are your thoughts on this article?

https://www.richmond.com/business/local/panel-richmond-region-lags-similar-cities-in-population-growth-could/article_b8f277ef-5336-58ca-9c9c-916aa4f7a5f2.html

I think that article is quite unfair. First of all it hand picked four cities to compare us to, all of which are some of the fastest growing cities in the county. Just because we are not the fastest doesn't mean we aren't growing. Over 11% growth in the past 7 years is pretty significant. Also, the speed at which cities like Austin and Nashville are growing are definitely causing major issues, especially with traffic. A more controlled growth can be beneficial. 

However how we market ourselves can always be under review. I don't think we've done a terrible job. I know some companies and people in the DC area see Richmond as a much better place to live, we need to continue to learn how to convince these groups to move here. Our identity? A midsized city with a great arts scene, brewery scene and restaurant scene. We excel in the hospitality and arts areas and that's great. I think we can focus a little more on getting great companies to fill out our downtown. 

Overall the outlook for Richmond is great, not worrisome. Change that comparison to Hampton Roads, Memphis and Louisville and this is a different story. 

[wrldcoupe4]

^^Spot on.