Richmond off-topic postings

[eandslee]

You both are Richmonders now!  Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Enjoyed both of your comments. Love to hear from those who didn't grow up here, but live here now. We love that you came and hope you enjoy it and stay for life!  You are what makes Richmond great...and getting better everyday!  Always tell your friends - we want them here too!

I was born in Richmond, moved away, lived there twice and loved it. Though I don't live there now, I'm very close. I'm still a Richmonder and it will always be considered home for me. That's why I want it to succeed so much. I want to be proud of my hometown (and I am)!  It has a lot to offer. Those who find Richmond usually have a love/hate relationship with it, but it makes us want to be better (gives us a goal) and aim for further greatness.  With everyone's help it can achieve so much more. The potential of this place is beyond compare. Just need people with a vision and the will to follow through. Here's to people everywhere discovering my hometown, loving and becoming part of it too!

Thanks again for your comments!

[drayrichmond]

1 hour ago, hikendesign said:

Almost forgot to mention, what is up with the City not being able to annex and what is with counties and the city barely being able to work with each other? The annexation thing is probably weirdest thing I've learned about this city, and from what I've seen with how the city and counties work together in the time I've been here I'm surprised the roads line up correctly on the border. I don't have enough time.

Hahaha that made me laugh out loud 

[blopp1234]

http://m.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/article_6e82ed04-cfd1-5eda-8378-6c0c640e05fa.html?mode=jqm

10 17 foot tall "rings" to be built near the Manchester bridge and potterfield Dam walk

[RiverYuppy]

Do y'all think that South Richmond is going to change anytime soon.  Almost half of RVA's land is on the South side of the James, but it doesn't look like anything in the Hull St. or Jefferson Davis corridor is producing any significant amount of tax revenue.

How long before we will start to see a change in South Richmond?  What type of change do you think there will be?

[tparkerzut]

Hull Street is starting to see a change. Some apartments have been renovated and some are currently being renovated, however that is closer to Manchester and I don't know if you are talking about other parts specifically. I think houses on the south side are going to become a lot more valuable. As people who want to stay in the city can't afford to buy in the fan or church hill they will look south. The river is this big mental barrier but there are a lot of places south of the river that are actually really close to the more desirable spots in the city. I don't know how much crazy revitalization we will see I think it will just be a slow change, but maybe some added retail which would be good.

[drayrichmond]

Honestly I think one of the best things we can do for south richmond is to start building large industrial shell buildings. I read an economic report not long ago about how the metro area is completely lacking in industrial shell buildings, something a lot of companies look for rather than building their own. This would allow more of the old industry in north richmond to move to the south in a newer more modern facility, at the same time freeing up space around Scots Addition, around the the ABC facility, Chamberlayne Industrial Center, etc... That newly freed up space would be redeveloped into commercial/residential like we are already seeing. Right now it seems that the old industries in north richmond are being pushed out by the residential boom with seemingly no where to go but the counties. There's not a lot of room, but there's room down by the port of richmond for industrial shells and there's plenty of old lots that can be repurposed for industrial shells. This would hopefully keep these industries in the city (hint ABC looking for a new facility) and at the same time attract some new industries with the nice new industrial shell buildings. Manchester itself will grow and revitalize, but the rest of south richmond won't anytime soon. It's just not designed for it, there's no density, it's not pedestrian friendly, it's designed for and laid out around a car and truck mentality, not the best for urban settlement. South side richmond will remain "blue collar" or "working class", if you will, for a long time, so why not try and build on that by promoting the growth and movement of industry to the neighborhood. 

That's my 2 cents on it.

Actually found an RTD article on this http://www.richmond.com/business/local/article_6f1a85ac-bc05-521e-8e08-e54bed319fe5.html

[Marcus Squires]

Have you seen this yet? 

 

http://www.cloptonsiteworks.com

[drayrichmond]

30 minutes ago, Marcus Squires said:

Have you seen this yet? 

 

http://www.cloptonsiteworks.com

Yeah those are awesome, great for small businesses and artisans who want to produce more, but we need shells in the range of 100,000/200,000+ sq/ft for the big guys, distribution centers, manufacturing etc.. ABC estimates they will need a facility about 400,000 square feet for their new one

[blopp1234]

Was bored so I decided to look at previous threads that were here long before I joined the forum and was awestruck by what Richmond could have been. I never knew much about what was proposed here before the recession so when I looked at the forums, I was in shock. The only developments I remembered were Pinacle place and centennial, never knew about the many other high rises that might have been built before the economy turned to crap. I never knew that there was a proposal for a tower on canal between 8th and 9th before gateway. And wasn't it supposed to be 35+ stories!!!!! That's insane that we could have had a tower that would have broken the invisible height limit that no developers will build past (aka James Monroe building). Uugh, just seeing these makes me wish that a someone would have tried to get these projects going again after the recession. Hopefully one day, when we fill all the empty office space downtown, we will finally see proposals like these start popping up again around the CBD and not 20 story towers that clearly could have been taller (cough cough Dominion). Anyway sorry for the rant, just was shocked at what our skyline could have been.

[Icetera]

12 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

proposal for a tower on canal between 8th and 9th before gateway. And wasn't it supposed to be 35+ stories!!!!!

I cannot recall this one.  Are you certain this was not in the "Designed for Richmond" thread where we had some fun with personal designs?

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Anyone even remember what Pinnacle Place looked like? It seems all renderings and images of the project are now nonfunctioning/nonexistent. Centennial Tower renderings are still there though.

Edited July 30, 2016 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[blopp1234]

52 minutes ago, Icetera said:

I cannot recall this one.  Are you certain this was not in the "Designed for Richmond" thread where we had some fun with personal designs?

Yes I'm sure it isn't in that one. It's in this thread...

Here's the rendering

Edited July 30, 2016 by blopp1234

[drayrichmond]

So, I've been reading up on the whole independent cities and moratorium on annexation since I've moved here (still one of the most backwards/weird things i've ever seen) and I've just discovered that the moratorium actually expires in 2018. Hopefully the GA will let it expire and Richmond can actually start to really grow. What do you guys think?

[jbjust]

18 minutes ago, drayrichmond said:

So, I've been reading up on the whole independent cities and moratorium on annexation since I've moved here (still one of the most backwards/weird things i've ever seen) and I've just discovered that the moratorium actually expires in 2018. Hopefully the GA will let it expire and Richmond can actually start to really grow. What do you guys think?

I think there's virtually zero chance of that happening.  

[RiverYuppy]

I think it is good that RVA doesn't have enough rope to hang itself with sprawl.  

[tparkerzut]

14 hours ago, drayrichmond said:

So, I've been reading up on the whole independent cities and moratorium on annexation since I've moved here (still one of the most backwards/weird things i've ever seen) and I've just discovered that the moratorium actually expires in 2018. Hopefully the GA will let it expire and Richmond can actually start to really grow. What do you guys think?

I'm proud of Richmond's small city limit size. It means that our population isn't just a measure of our suburbs. Cities like Charlotte and all of the Texas cities have huge populations because their city limits are well over 200 square miles. I don't consider extending our borders "growth" its just measuring yourself with a smaller stick. While there are definitely benefits to swallowing the suburbs, mainly tax income, I don't like the idea of expanding. We are seeing real growth inside the city limits right now and I don't see that changing soon. Some people bring up improving schools be expanding and I don't really see that happening either. I think it will just cause a bigger gap in the quality of RPS. 

[Wahoo 07]

I do not think that annexation at the expense of Henrico or Chesterfield is the answer.  The Commonwealth ought to abolish the independent city/county division (Dillon's Rule) that was implemented during Reconstruction.  Only Virginia employs this system.  Once abolished, it would be possible to live in the City of Richmond and Henrico (or Chesterfield) County simultaneously.  It would allow for annexation while preserving the integrity of the counties.  This is a highly unlikely scenario, but I think it is a necessary step towards greater regional cooperation, and not just for RVA.  Failing this, Richmond should work to improve city life and cooperate with the surrounding counties as much as possible.

Many cities are co-terminus with the underlying county.  Charlotte is one such place.

[drayrichmond]

2 hours ago, Wahoo 07 said:

I do not think that annexation at the expense of Henrico or Chesterfield is the answer.  The Commonwealth ought to abolish the independent city/county division (Dillon's Rule) that was implemented during Reconstruction.  Only Virginia employs this system.  Once abolished, it would be possible to live in the City of Richmond and Henrico (or Chesterfield) County simultaneously.  It would allow for annexation while preserving the integrity of the counties.  This is a highly unlikely scenario, but I think it is a necessary step towards greater regional cooperation, and not just for RVA.  Failing this, Richmond should work to improve city life and cooperate with the surrounding counties as much as possible.

Many cities are co-terminus with the underlying county.  Charlotte is one such place.

I guess that would be the best option, Virginia really is the only state that has independent cities, I think there's just a couple of others outside the state (I think like Baltimore and StLouis, VA has like 30,). It's just in reading up on this, so many economists point to this issue as one of the reasons places like Charlotte have sped past us in growth; I'm no fan of sprawl (one reason I don't like Charlotte) but we do need to expand our tax base somehow, it's growing, but i'd like to see it grow faster. The GA just needs to tackle this issue somehow, from what I've read it was supposed to be a stop-gap measure until they could figure out a better system, but they just keep extending it. I wonder if this is something the region could do without the GA (That would be a huge task though lol). So, basically the best option for Richmond and VA is to get rid of the independent city system

[RiverYuppy]

I thought you guys might like the view from my new apartment.

 

After leaving near the Fan area for a while, I decided I would venture into the Church Hill area to see how I like it.  I'm hoping to move on buying a house soon and Church Hill is one of the places I'm looking.  So far I'm really liking the area.

[tparkerzut]

Great view!!

I had something I wanted every ones opinion on. My company is looking to possibly move locations in the next year. We are an engineering firm currently based on Broad right in Scott's Addition, the company name is WSP|Parsons Brinkerhoff however our branch often goes by ccrd Partners because that is what it was named before we were bought out a couple of years ago. So our branch has about 35 people right now but WSP is an international engineering consulting firm with 10's of thousands of employees, point being its big. We've been told that our branch might grow, but don't know how much. 

We've been told we are looking to either stay in Scott's Addition area or move downtown (both of which i'm fine with). I'm curious what your opinions are or if you had any places in mind?

Obviously our downtown office buildings could use a some more occupancy, and I know we are inquiring about the James Center. However that James center still feels so suburban to me once your in it, hopefully if we move there we can do some renovation. 

[wrldcoupe4]

2 hours ago, tparkerzut said:

Great view!!

I had something I wanted every ones opinion on. My company is looking to possibly move locations in the next year. We are an engineering firm currently based on Broad right in Scott's Addition, the company name is WSP|Parsons Brinkerhoff however our branch often goes by ccrd Partners because that is what it was named before we were bought out a couple of years ago. So our branch has about 35 people right now but WSP is an international engineering consulting firm with 10's of thousands of employees, point being its big. We've been told that our branch might grow, but don't know how much. 

We've been told we are looking to either stay in Scott's Addition area or move downtown (both of which i'm fine with). I'm curious what your opinions are or if you had any places in mind?

Obviously our downtown office buildings could use a some more occupancy, and I know we are inquiring about the James Center. However that James center still feels so suburban to me once your in it, hopefully if we move there we can do some renovation. 

Why don't you guys stay at your current building? Lots going on in Scott's Addition and I enjoyed working downtown. Parking costs are a factor, but otherwise both have good, walkable daytime amenities.

[tparkerzut]

Well I think a lot of people want to stay at the current location, however we've been told we might add as much as 40 people to our office and we can't accommodate that. Also we are in an older building and WSP kind of wants us in a nice new/renovated shiny building to look good for clients. 

[jbjust]

I think there is an empty floor available in Gateway Plaza. 

[blopp1234]

Alittle fun fact since the forum hasn't been to active lately. The US census bureau projects Richmond to add over 850,000 people to its metro by 2030. It will add the 9th most people out of any metro. If these projections are true, the Richmond MSA could have a population of around 2 million in less than 15 years!

 

Edited August 25, 2016 by blopp1234

[drayrichmond]

That would be a pretty awesome milestone to cross