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Richmond: Economy/Business/Real Estate


wrldcoupe4

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I also want to take this opportunity to say that MWV has yet to make an announcement about their new permanent location. They promised an announcement by the end of October. Well, that's come and gone. I wonder what the hold up is? Could it be that the city is lobbying hard to land MWV at the foundry site? Hmmmmmmm....

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Reluctantly, I would be willing to bet my quarter that Reynolds Crossing will be MeadWestvaca's site choice. Driving around the area one can see acres of cleared land - far more than a Westin Hotel would demand. Topographically, it is a high piece of land, so an 18 to 20-story tower would be a visible landmark.

The road connecting Forest Avenue to Broad running along the P/M and Alcoa buildings oddly has no name posted on it. In fact, on my previous visits it has always been closed off at Glenside, but it is open to traffic these days.

It breaks my heart that Founders Park will probably lose out on MWV.(Incidentally a lot of people here are calling it "Foundry" Park).

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Reluctantly, I would be willing to bet my quarter that Reynolds Crossing will be MeadWestvaca's site choice. Driving around the area one can see acres of cleared land - far more than a Westin Hotel would demand. Topographically, it is a high piece of land, so an 18 to 20-story tower would be a visible landmark.

The road connecting Forest Avenue to Broad running along the P/M and Alcoa buildings oddly has no name posted on it. In fact, on my previous visits it has always been closed off at Glenside, but it is open to traffic these days.

It breaks my heart that Founders Park will probably lose out on MWV.(Incidentally a lot of people here are calling it "Foundry" Park).

Doesn't Henrico County have a height restriction and would prevent an 18-20 story tower? I've only heard that the height restriction is to the top of the trees (pretty stupid if you ask me, but that's just what I've heard - especially next to the interstate...then again Short Pump was to get some tall towers. I'd like some clarification on that). Anyway, if that is the case then MWV's new headquarters would only be a short, stumpy box that no one will ever see because it will all be hidden by the trees. :(

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Reluctantly, I would be willing to bet my quarter that Reynolds Crossing will be MeadWestvaca's site choice. Driving around the area one can see acres of cleared land - far more than a Westin Hotel would demand. Topographically, it is a high piece of land, so an 18 to 20-story tower would be a visible landmark.

The road connecting Forest Avenue to Broad running along the P/M and Alcoa buildings oddly has no name posted on it. In fact, on my previous visits it has always been closed off at Glenside, but it is open to traffic these days.

It breaks my heart that Founders Park will probably lose out on MWV.(Incidentally a lot of people here are calling it "Foundry" Park).

Never say never...

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OK, Shak. We'll keep our peckers up. (let's see if Mr. Yamas h i t a censors that one). :lol:

Eric, I think we were all wrong about height restrictions in Henrico. Two 13-story towers are going up at West Broad Village and a 12-story Hilton is rising at Town Center West. Maybe a Special Permit is all that is required.

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OK, Shak. We'll keep our peckers up. (let's see if Mr. Yamas h i t a censors that one). :lol:

Eric, I think we were all wrong about height restrictions in Henrico. Two 13-story towers are going up at West Broad Village and a 12-story Hilton is rising at Town Center West. Maybe a Special Permit is all that is required.

I'm interested to know the height of the hotel that has yet-to-be-announced at West Broad village. At 300 rooms, it'll either be spacious, or fairly tall.

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That is awesome news. The more businesses we get downtown the more it makes sense to live here and the more restaurants/entertainment venues we can draw. I bet the Rocketts Landing and Vistas On The James folks are giving each other high-fives this morning.

But why will it only be 8-10 stories?

Edited by jbjust
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But why will it only be 8-10 stories?

I woke up this morning so excited to hear the news and then was totally deflated when I heard that the building will only be 8-10 stories. :( That is way too short for that site. That site is supposed to be the location of a signature tower for Richmond, not an 8-10 story box. I hope they revise this plan so that the building is much, much taller. Perhaps another company could move into the building with them and add another 20-25 stories or so. How disappointing!...but I'm so glad they chose downtown Richmond!

Edited by eandslee
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I woke up this morning so excited to hear the news and then was totally deflated when I heard that the building will only be 8-10 stories. :( That is way too short for that site. That site is supposed to be the location of a signature tower for Richmond, not an 8-10 story box. I hope they revise this plan so that the building is much, much taller. Perhaps another company could move into the building with them and add another 20-25 stories or so. How disappointing!...but I'm so glad they chose downtown Richmond!

Well at least it will not be another 20 something story tower. :P

Regardless the height, this is a big boost for Downtown.

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Yea, Ibjust. Whoever can scan it, please do, because we out-of-towners get only the written words on the internet.

Eric, I also wish we could get a signature tower downtown, but I always suspected that one would not be permitted that close to the river. There's plenty of land in Foundry (see, I'm calling it by its correct name after chastising everyone else :wub: ), and it makes sense to go horizontal rather than vertical. There doubtless would be a big public uproar if a tall tower had been announced.

Like Shak and McLaw's friends, I'll bet the quarter I just lost on my Reynolds Crossing prediction that lots of business moguls have known of this decision for weeks. Coupe was the first to tell me privately that the word on Main Street last summer was that Foundry would be the site. I suspect he's as good a secret keeper as Shak.

There's one looming problem: What about next year's National Folk Festival? It's footprint will be drastically reduced by M/WV construction.

Ric75, thanks for breaking this story on UP.

Edited by burt
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First off, this is absolutely fantastic news!

I woke up this morning so excited to hear the news and then was totally deflated when I heard that the building will only be 8-10 stories. :( That is way too short for that site. That site is supposed to be the location of a signature tower for Richmond, not an 8-10 story box. I hope they revise this plan so that the building is much, much taller. Perhaps another company could move into the building with them and add another 20-25 stories or so. How disappointing!...but I'm so glad they chose downtown Richmond!

2nd, while it might not be a big tower that many hope for, it's important to look at the bigger picture. This alone is huge for downtown and is definitely proof of its resurgence. This will add 1000 more employees downtown and generate millions of dollars in annual revenue. It will add more to the riverfront and add more downtown residents. Projects like this and the Philip Morris Research Center are huuuuuuge. New Market (Ethyl) wanted this site to transition between the Fed Reserve and their HQ so I assume that's a factor in the height. Maybe we'll get the best looking 8-10 story building ever built! :D

Anyways, this is awesome news. Companies are finally showing again that they believe a downtown address is important and prestigious, so look for this to boost the area in general!

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