Richmond: Economy/Business/Real Estate

[jbjust]

It was the previous owners' refusal to acknowledge the extensive repairs that the property needed that led to MW leaving for Gateway Plaza.  

Edited January 20, 2017 by jbjust

[blopp1234]

Very exciting. River stone is known to have a pretty good tract record so hopefully they can change the rap of the James Center forever. It definantely holds a lot of potential and if they can fill it, the vacancy rate will plummet and we may get a new tower.

[Shakman]

On ‎1‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 11:31 AM, blopp1234 said:

Very exciting. River stone is known to have a pretty good tract record so hopefully they can change the rap of the James Center forever. It definantely holds a lot of potential and if they can fill it, the vacancy rate will plummet and we may get a new tower.

Such as the doubling of Three James Center.  I am hoping this will be in the new owner's plans.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Shakman

[blopp1234]

More office space leased downtown! If this trend keeps up, we could see a new office tower in less than 3 years, if not sooner!

http://richmondbizsense.com/2017/02/16/sources-owens-minor-to-fill-space-in-riverfront-plaza/

[drayrichmond]

I think the best part about this is that "The move would not involve employees at the company’s Mechanicsville headquarters, the sources said.", this means a lot of new people moving to the area, not just a reshuffling of what's already here!

[eandslee]

53 minutes ago, drayrichmond said:

I think the best part about this is that "The move would not involve employees at the company’s Mechanicsville headquarters, the sources said.", this means a lot of new people moving to the area, not just a reshuffling of what's already here!

Yeah, this is great news!  I guess we'll get all the details after 2:00 this afternoon. Let's fill these towers up to create more demand for Class-A space and new office towers downtown!

[drayrichmond]

well here it is!

90,000 square feet off the market, 500 more jobs heading downtown (300 new)! Lets keep getting these offices filled up!

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/owens-minor-to-occupy-space-at-riverfront-plaza-bringing-jobs/article_551b7b8f-5f81-5137-a81d-5b3c9d57c3b8.html

[blopp1234]

Remind me again how many square feet are still vacant in riverfront? They have to be nearing having the complex fully leased with all these moves.

[drayrichmond]

Per the RTD article "Commercial real estate brokerage CBRE Richmond handles the leasing for Riverfront Plaza. With the new Owens & Minor operation, Riverfront will be 85 percent occupied, said Andrew Cook, director of research for CBRE Richmond."

Riverfront plaza has 951,900 square feet total. 85% being 809,115, leaving 142,785 square feet vacant.

*from what I understand on this type of stuff great than 90% occupation is considered very healthy, as 100% is usually not going to happen even in the nicest towers.

A little more info, (sorry office vacancy rates are interesting to me) according to a report by CRBE (published Oct 2016) Richmond currently has 9.2 million square feet of office space in the CBD, about 1.3 million square feet is vacant, that gives an overall vacancy rate of about 14.5%.

Long story short we're heading in the right direction, if we get that vacancy rate down to 10% (~900,000 square feet) or less, then we may start seeing a lot more interest in building new office towers downtown.

For Comparison:

Charlotte NC - Vacancy Rate 13.4% (Dec 2015) - Overall for city (Class A)

Raleigh NC - Vacancy Rate 13% (Jul 2016) - Downtown/CBD (Class A)

Norfolk VA - Vacancy Rate 16% (2015 - Overall for city (Class A&B)

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by drayrichmond

[blopp1234]

Seeing this it would be fantastic if we could get to 8%, that's only 2% more than Nashville and if the market growth remains steady, we could start seeing major office towers being built.(Not just 300 foot buildings like gateway plaza which is all we've seen since the 80s!) The city needs to keep enticing companies to bring employees downtown and in a couple years, we will see a massive boom in both residential and office towers!

[eandslee]

26 minutes ago, blopp1234 said:

Seeing this it would be fantastic if we could get to 8%, that's only 2% more than Nashville and if the market growth remains steady, we could start seeing major office towers being built.(Not just 300 foot buildings like gateway plaza which is all we've seen since the 80s!) The city needs to keep enticing companies to bring employees downtown and in a couple years, we will see a massive boom in both residential and office towers!

I agree but what should the city do to entice more businesses downtown?  I just would like to hear everyone's ideas. So, what should the city do, that it is not currently doing, to entice more businesses downtown?  What has worked elsewhere?  Or perhaps you have a new idea altogether?

[blopp1234]

22 minutes ago, eandslee said:

I agree but what should the city do to entice more businesses downtown?  I just would like to hear everyone's ideas. So, what should the city do, that it is not currently doing, to entice more businesses downtown?  What has worked elsewhere?  Or perhaps you have a new idea altogether?

2 things. Transit and taxes! If say a street car line or an extension of the pulse ran through the heart of the CBD, it would eliminate the need for expensive downtown parking, which has driven multiple companies to the suburbs. It also would create a super walkable environment which is an added bonus. The city should also lower taxes, not by much, but enough where it isn't 3 times as high as the surrounding counties. Both of these could help draw companies downtown as supposed to the suburbs or other cities. That's just an idea.

[jbjust]

51 minutes ago, blopp1234 said:

2 things. Transit and taxes! If say a street car line or an extension of the pulse ran through the heart of the CBD, it would eliminate the need for expensive downtown parking, which has driven multiple companies to the suburbs. It also would create a super walkable environment which is an added bonus. The city should also lower taxes, not by much, but enough where it isn't 3 times as high as the surrounding counties. Both of these could help draw companies downtown as supposed to the suburbs or other cities. That's just an idea.

I honestly don't see a bus line driving companies to locate downtown and a street car extension isn't in the cards for the next 20 years. 

[RiverYuppy]

I think Richmond needs to work on getting families to stay in RVA.  If we could get the school districts in far west RVA working well (they have the best chance), then we'll have a whole lot more of the experienced workers that companies seek living close to downtown.

What draws companies outside of the city limits are workers.  Workers are what will draw them back to downtown.

I bet if you looked at the workforce companies like Altria and Capital One desire, the population center is closer to their headquarters than it is to downtown.

Edited February 17, 2017 by RiverYuppy

[RiverYuppy]

The RTD did another story on Owens & Minor.  I think they're a good example of a type of business we want to attract to RVA.

The article says they examined 60 cities, though "In the end, it came down to Richmond, Nashville (Tenn.), and Salt Lake City."

I think this is the most telling part

“Part of the rationale for this is we want to attract the millennial generation,” Phipps said. “We did our research. The millennial generation is going to be 50-plus percent of the workforce in the next few years, and they want to live in urban areas. They want to be downtown. They want to work in a state-of-the art space. We like that we can draw from the universities around here.”

It seems a big part of their reason for moving Downtown (rather than just expanding in the much cheaper Hanover County) is because of where they expect their workforce is going to be located in the coming years.

EDIT:  Looks like the same article, just updated with new info.

Edited February 17, 2017 by RiverYuppy
Not a new article

[wrldcoupe4]

On 2/16/2017 at 7:38 PM, drayrichmond said:

Per the RTD article "Commercial real estate brokerage CBRE Richmond handles the leasing for Riverfront Plaza. With the new Owens & Minor operation, Riverfront will be 85 percent occupied, said Andrew Cook, director of research for CBRE Richmond."

Riverfront plaza has 951,900 square feet total. 85% being 809,115, leaving 142,785 square feet vacant.

*from what I understand on this type of stuff great than 90% occupation is considered very healthy, as 100% is usually not going to happen even in the nicest towers.

A little more info, (sorry office vacancy rates are interesting to me) according to a report by CRBE (published Oct 2016) Richmond currently has 9.2 million square feet of office space in the CBD, about 1.3 million square feet is vacant, that gives an overall vacancy rate of about 14.5%.

Long story short we're heading in the right direction, if we get that vacancy rate down to 10% (~900,000 square feet) or less, then we may start seeing a lot more interest in building new office towers downtown.

For Comparison:

Charlotte NC - Vacancy Rate 13.4% (Dec 2015) - Overall for city (Class A)

Raleigh NC - Vacancy Rate 13% (Jul 2016) - Downtown/CBD (Class A)

Norfolk VA - Vacancy Rate 16% (2015 - Overall for city (Class A&B)

 

If you find office market stats interesting - You have to register (it's free) but JLL has a "skyline report" that compares downtown office market stats for major markets including Richmond. Interesting way to see how we stack up to other cities. 

http://jllcampaigns.com/skyline/

[Wahoo 07]

http://richmondbizsense.com/2017/02/23/rolls-royce-supplier-pulls-into-hanover-southside-manufacturer-to-expand/

I had no idea so many British firms operated in RVA.  If the trend continues, maybe, one day, RIC could get a direct flight to London (long shot I know)

[drayrichmond]

and some more move into the city:

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/envera-health-moving-into-office-space-in-riverside-on-the/article_a0c1f683-e6f3-5672-a885-1861065c06c7.html

[eandslee]

10 hours ago, hikendesign said:

A good description of Richmond's current position and how it compares to similar sized cities as a corporate location and how to, as they call it, "get on the radar".  There's a part of the article that has a bit of a mystery to it, as in, is VEDP currently touting a large company that would get us on the radar?  That was asked by someone in the audience and the speaker couldn't respond about current negotiations.....Also mentions the airport and how more direct flights will be very helpful.  

http://www.virginiabusiness.com/regions/article/getting-on-the-radar

I agree with this guy on many of his points...he's spot on what th regard to the airport and Richmond just hasn't landed that "whammy" of a company that would garner attention from others around the country. The airport has to improve. It's getting there, but again, it just hasn't turned that corner yet.  Still waiting on a large company to move here that sees Richmond for the great city that it is.  Hopefully, this dude will help make that happen sooner rather than later.  I like his little hint of a big deal that may be brewing. I'd love for it to be a national household name and is large enough to want to build a tower downtown. Now that would make a statement!  Fingers crossed!

[blopp1234]

Over 80,000 square feet leased in BofA center. It's now 88% leased! This takes even more office space off the market and brings us that much closer to another office tower. I bet we will hear about a new tower proposal before August!

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/state-deq-takes-four-floors-in-bank-of-america-center/article_cfd8eab8-fa5c-5168-bd01-64f5285006b8.html

[eandslee]

2 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

 I bet we will hear about a new tower proposal before August!

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/state-deq-takes-four-floors-in-bank-of-america-center/article_cfd8eab8-fa5c-5168-bd01-64f5285006b8.html

I hope you're right!

[wrldcoupe4]

They are downsizing and relocating from another building. So it will open up a large block of space in another building. It's historic, so perhaps it could be retrofitted to apartments or something. I would be shocked to see any tower proposal any time soon that is not majority leased to one tenant. 

[Icetera]

12 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

They are downsizing and relocating from another building. So it will open up a large block of space in another building. It's historic, so perhaps it could be retrofitted to apartments or something. I would be shocked to see any tower proposal any time soon that is not majority leased to one tenant. 

Jamal Douglas owns the building so I bet the conversion to apartments will be happening.  The location across from the new Dominion development is convenient.

[DJCortesRVA]

http://richmondmagazine.com/restaurants-in-richmond/food-news/garnetts-opening-in-the-valentine-former-sally-bells-space/

 

Not sure if this was shared yet, but can't wait to have my lunch break with Garnetts

[blopp1234]

30,000 more square feet taken in riverfront plaza!

http://richmondbizsense.com/2017/04/13/software-company-plugs-in-downtown-basketball-hoop-included/