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Richmond: Economy/Business/Real Estate


wrldcoupe4

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A group of 100+ Richmond area business and government officials (Mayor Wilder NOT included) are in Oklahoma City studying that city's success story. The Oklahoma Capital used the MAPS plan which increased the regional sales tax by one penny to build a new AAA ballpark, a large convention center, a 20,000-seat arena, and a rejuvenated performing arts venue. Also, it divvyed up millions for education, most going to innercity schools.

They also built a canal!! That's right, OK has a waterway that, according to reports I've seen, could teach Richmond some lessons.

The MAPS idea was discussed in Greater Richmond in the late 1990's, but would have required General Assembly approval.

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There's a big story in today's RTD about the top 50 companies in Greater Richmond, but I'll leave that for Coupe to report.

Richmond-Petersburg Metro is larger than most of us think. The Statistical area includes the following cities and counties:

Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Petersburg and Richmond, and the counties of Amelia, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Hanover, Henrico, Goochland, King and Queen, King William, Louisa, New Kent, Powhatan, Prince George and Sussex.

My note: I guess burgeoning Fort Lee would be included in Prince George county.

Source: Today's RTD story in Business Section titled "What Does the Section Cover".

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I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with Foreign Direct Investment magazine's "Cities of the Future" rankings, but in the recently released 2007/2008 North American listings, Richmond, while not placing in the top ten overall, ranked 4th in the "best development and investment promotion" category, 3rd in the "best human resources" category, and 5th in the "quality of life" category. That's some good publicity for you guys. :thumbsup:

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Thanks for the heads up! :thumbsup:

Thanks Krazeeboy for this information. I want to read it but is it safe to get into this file? It won't damage my computer, will it? I always get scared when warning-type things pop up. The box reads:

Name: Do you want to open or save this file?

Type: Unknown file type, 81.5kb.

From: www.fdimagazine.com

OPEN - SAVE - CANCEL

Should I just click "Open"? Excuse my ignorance, Krazee. The guys here are used to it. :lol:

Edited by burt
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Thanks Krazeeboy for this information. I want to read it but is it safe to get into this file? It won't damage my computer, will it? I always get scared when warning-type things pop up. The box reads:

Name: Do you want to open or save this file?

Type: Unknown file type, 81.5kb.

From: www.fdimagazine.com

OPEN - SAVE - CANCEL

Should I just click "Open"? Excuse my ignorance, Krazee. The guys here are used to it. :lol:

You can just open, as it appears to be safe. I do find it interesting that they consider Pittsburg(320k city, 1800k metro) a "major" city and Philadelphia(1500k city, 5300k metro) as only a "large" city, given that Philly is the 4th largest and Pittsburg does not even make the top 20.

Edited by Icetera
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Here's a story from today's InRich.com about growth expected in Greater Richmomnd in the next 25 years.

The present population of nine juristrictions (excluding Metro Petersburg and other far flung areas) is said to be 875,104 and is projected to have 1.2M. I think the present figure is closer to 975,000...but who knows?

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/busines...04-28-0061.html

Damn! I wish inRic.com would invest in some dark ink. I can barely read the stories in this new format because they are so faint.

Edited by burt
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Yeah, that file is safe to open. You can also check it out with this link.

You can just open, as it appears to be safe. I do find it interesting that they consider Pittsburg(320k city, 1800k metro) a "major" city and Philadelphia(1500k city, 5300k metro) as only a "large" city, given that Philly is the 4th largest and Pittsburg does not even make the top 20.

For some reason, I think only the city of Philadelphia was ranked, and not the entire metro area, as the actual list says "Philadelphia City."

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Thanks for making it easy to access, Krazee.

A major surprise and disappointment is that neither Raleigh nor Hampton Roads ranked in any of the categories.

Toledo must be making some unexpected strides.

And it is indeed strange that Philadelphia is found in the middle. I'm sure the city itself exceeds two million while Metro is far larger than that.

It is gratifying that Richmond is in a few groupings, especially among the Best Development and Investment Promotion listing and Quality of Life..

Edited by burt
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Regarding the above rich.com article (the one about the growing number of drivers on local roads): Why do they always low ball Richmond's metro population? I have noticed this in several articles in local media. As of 2006 the census said that Richmond's Metropolitan Statistical Area population was 1,194,008. I don't know what official ranking they are finding that lists Richmond's area at around 800,000. I assume they are just looking up the populations of Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico and calling that the "Richmond area." I guess it could also be the "urbanized area" list, but this still does not seem like the best measure of an area's population. My understanding is that when speaking of metro area population, you go by the census's MSA numbers.

Edited by skycity
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Thanks for making it easy to access, Krazee.

A major surprise and disappointment is that neither Raleigh nor Hampton Roads ranked in any of the categories.

Toledo must be making some unexpected strides.

And it is indeed strange that Philadelphia is found in the middle. I'm sure the city itself exceeds two million while Metro is far larger than that.

It is gratifying that Richmond is in a few groupings, especially among the Best Development and Investment Promotion listing and Quality of Life..

I believe only a total of 108 cities across all categories were assessed, so the rankings aren't absolute in that sense. Still, Richmond more than holds its own. :thumbsup:

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Regarding the above rich.com article (the one about the growing number of drivers on local roads): Why do they always low ball Richmond's metro population? I have noticed this in several articles in local media. As of 2006 the census said that Richmond's Metropolitan Statistical Area population was 1,194,008. I don't know what official ranking they are finding that lists Richmond's area at around 800,000. I assume they are just looking up the populations of Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico and calling that the "Richmond area." I guess it could also be the "urbanized area" list, but this still does not seem like the best measure of an area's population. My understanding is that when speaking of metro area population, you go by the census's MSA numbers.

I think they are going by the population in the Richmond the study area for the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission. From the article:

"Such startling growth projections are detailed in a regional mass-transit study commissioned by the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission, which serves Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent and Powhatan counties, the town of Ashland and city of Richmond."

However, Greater Richmond, according to the Greater Richmond Partnership includes only Chesterfield, Henrico, Richmond, and Hanover. Their combined population is around 875,000.

So they are getting the population numbers from one of those sources. The MSA is nearly or at by now 1.2 million.

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Top 50 Employers in the Richmond Region

I believe only a total of 108 cities across all categories were assessed, so the rankings aren't absolute in that sense. Still, Richmond more than holds its own. :thumbsup:

Krazee thanks for pointing the information out... The Greater Richmond Partnership is touting it on their main page...

Here's their info on it:

http://www.grpva.com/New_pages/fdi_press_release.asp

fdi_awards.gif

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My Metro population estimates:

Charles City -- 7,000

Chesterfield - 300,000

Goochland - 20,000

Hanover - 95,000

Henrico - 280,000

New Kent - 15,000

Powhatan - 25,000

Richmond 193,000

Total - 935,000

If Ashland is not included in Hanover's figure, add another 6,000.

These figures are based on estimates and/or bragging rights for 2006 (such as Chesterfield having surpassed the 300K mark.)

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:offtopic: I had a late breakfast today at a cafe on Lexington at 77th and next to me was a delightful and handsome young Swedish couple. They were quite chatty, asking about things to see in NYCity. Turned out the husband, named Andreas (wife is Teresa) is a trumpet player and had just performed at The Modlin Center at UofR last week with a baroque group called Netherland's Bach. They played to a fullhouse, and he thought the campus was beautiful. They stayed, in great luxury, at The Jefferson Hotel.

They must return to Stockholm on Sunday.

It was a delightful encounter. :)

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inRich reports that Capital One is in its job-cutting mode again. The company which once employed about 10,000 in Metro Richmond is now down to about 7,200. Even worse, 260 more jobs are on the cutting block.

This is NOT good news.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/content/cva/r...05-10-0147.html

Captital One does this all the time. It's no big deal. They're always flexing one way or another and is just a result of the changing market and their focus. Next month, they'll probably hire 300 more people for a different department. So don't sweat this one guys!

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This is just a pittance of news, but I think it's encouraging. Richmond dot com reports that Thalhimer, Cushman & Wakefield says Brooks Cleaners has leased 1258 s/f at 2302 East main in The Shoppes at 2300. I don't believe Tobacco Row has a cleaners. They've got a market, a drug store and several restaurants but little else in the way of retail.

The real estate firm has also been named as Properrty Management for the 26-unit Popkin building at 121 West Broad. I was under the impression that those apartments were fully leased.

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This is just a pittance of news, but I think it's encouraging. Richmond dot com reports that Thalhimer, Cushman & Wakefield says Brooks Cleaners has leased 1258 s/f at 2302 East main in The Shoppes at 2300. I don't believe Tobacco Row has a cleaners. They've got a market, a drug store and several restaurants but little else in the way of retail.

The real estate firm has also been named as Properrty Management for the 26-unit Popkin building at 121 West Broad. I was under the impression that those apartments were fully leased.

There is a cleaners behind CVS in the Pohlig building facing The Reserve.

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Ah so, Ice. I guess the new shop expects there to be enough business to justify a second cleaners. And that just may be because what is euphemistically called Haxall View in old warehouses on 21st Street is undergoing renovation. That and the new "tower" of Canal Lofts will add potential customers.

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Ah so, Ice. I guess the new shop expects there to be enough business to justify a second cleaners. And that just may be because what is euphemistically called Haxall View in old warehouses on 21st Street is undergoing renovation. That and the new "tower" of Canal Lofts will add potential customers.

Speaking of the Tower at Canal Lofts, I stopped in at their rental office on East Main when I was there in late March. The lady could give me no info on the building except to say it is hoped to be marketed about January of '08. She was pleasant in a chilly way, but certainly not welcoming like I encountered at American Tobacco.

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