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Proposed: Echo Harbour


Downtowner

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post-17314-017957100 1280198313_thumb.jp

But they have not shown concerned residents the whole picture and refuse to do so. All they care to show is how the building impacts the bend in the river, not how much of the view of southside it'd block or if it's break the view of the horizon. This is Richmond's last large panoramic view from a hilltop and not accessible from climbing up in a building.

You can see the horizon above the building furthest on the right, which is the highest building in the development. I thought when they first made this development people were complaining about the river view. Now it's the whole horizon? Are there other reasons that you are hesitant or is it just the view?

Thank you calwinston for the video. The lawyer really needs to take some public speaking lessons, but it was very informative.

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post-17314-017957100 1280198313_thumb.jp

You can see the horizon above the building furthest on the right, which is the highest building in the development. I thought when they first made this development people were complaining about the river view. Now it's the whole horizon? Are there other reasons that you are hesitant or is it just the view?

Thank you calwinston for the video. The lawyer really needs to take some public speaking lessons, but it was very informative.

Lord Chesterfield... that is not the full view. That only shows ONE of the buildings and how it impacts the bend. We want more and when contacted, they said it'd cost too much to produce another pic. BULL! I've taken that pan so many times...post-8815-077128900 1280207213_thumb.jpg

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Also, you can see the river beneath you. With Echo Harbour, that is gone. We lost many of our vistas. Imagine being able to see the river and horizon from Shockoe Hill. Gambles Hill is another great spot but thanks to it being private property... the public is screwed. Why screw the public again? I have been leading tours of RIchmond for some of my co-workers this summer and one in particular fell in love with the view from Libby Hill Park. We met other people from other places mesmerized by it. That co-worker has a friend coming up from Florida and this is one spot she can't wait to show off. We have gold here and we want to throw it away because of some greedy man who wants to be more rich. I recall when we were drafting the 2007 Downtown Master Plan, WE THE PEOPLE said NO. But Ross threw money at people and this thing refuses to die.

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  • 1 year later...

Eric, compromise. Build a taller massive building on the site and develop Lillby Hill Park as Libby Hill Terraces Condominiums. There would be no point in having a park that is an overlook over the city if your view is someone's balcony. The only use would be to look up Main Street and see the bend in the river, everything else in between would be uneventful. Again, I say, it would be like building a tall building at each overlook along Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway... it loses its purpose and value. I am glad the project is dead. I liked its architecture but its height needed to come down more.

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  • 1 year later...

Once again the reader's comments are ridiculous. The hillbillies have pushed until all of the style is stripped from any development and now they are even more upset. The height was reduced so now it is all about how this should be green space (below two parks, has a 50 mile long park running through it, adjacent to the Great Shiplock Park and Chaple Island and across from the large park just across the river).

If we don't get the population up, who is going to visit these parks? Thankfully Richmonders have a great variety of public space but the city doesn't have the density to fill the parks so they remain lifeless and uninteresting. Who hasn't wondered where all the people are every time they go out to a park?

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A park doesn't always have to be an attraction for people, but rather an open space. What we have works. We don't need to be a New York City. I like Richmond as it is... the bigger we get, the more problems we'd have and the fact is our city government is poor enough as it is running the city at the size it is now. Besides that, the compromise pays off. It is an office building now, at least from what I've seen, instead of a condo... so it wouldn't be selling off a public view. I like the way it looks and how it has been shortened so that the panoramic view's horizon is not broken. I would miss being able to see the river below the hill before the bend... after all, the view is more than the bend. I pull for this more than any other incarnation.

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There are about 100 levels between NYC and Richmond. Richmond can aspire to greater things without trying to be like New York City (Buffalo perhaps).

I'm ok with the new design, but the irony is that the last proposal was more parklike and now that the height has been lowered, those objecting are clamoring for more park space (move the goalpost much?). Office space is obsolete. All over town offices are being turned into hotel and residential space. I'm not sure that the addition of office space makes this more viable.

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Just a thought:

 

I think the Echo Harbour proposal (in it's current and previous iteration) would work really well on the opposite side of the river (in Manchester). 

 

From a developer's standpoint, however, I don't think they'd be able to command the same rents and home prices in Manchester, but I've always thought that if I were ever to buy a penthouse high rise condo in Richmond (after I hit the lottery, obviously) it'd be in Manchester with views of downtown and the river. 

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It looks like a nice connector to fill the disconnect between Tobacco Row to Rockett's Landing.  I really hope something starts moving soon as I really hate walking by that abandoned space in the evening.  Yet another park closed at sunset would not be much of an improvement.

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Couldn't agree any more!

 

It just completely perplexes me as to exactly how everything has to just be left alone. They just don't get it. It's an eyesore. Sorry, but I could care less about if the view named the city. If anything above that, then the city and it's backwards residents should be ashamed that they let such a "historic" property be wasted as an empty, dirty little lot. This could be the thing that links Rockett's and Tobacco Row.

 

It is time someone goes ahead and just develops it, if it were up to me, I'd go ahead with it and not give a care less about the whiny little residents.

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Those whiney residents would band together to find a way to demolish. I am offended. this particular version of the plan is the best yet after the compromises. Who gets everything their way? Obviously you're not and it is not right to force anything on anyone no matter how much you want it. There will always be a give and take in a city, especially one such as Richmond with its history. Perhaps you do not love Richmond as much as you profess or you would respect its history and learn how to compromise. There are rules and processes when it comes to building anything. You can't plop a 30 story building in a block in the St. John's district. You will not be able to bulldoze the Fan to build big box stores. Respect your fellow Richmonders. Agree to disagree. Work with them to compromise just as the developers did.

 

I think this would be green lit. There will be people against it... people are against all projects. There are things you would be as well given the right circumstances and its effects on you. What people failed to understand is the view is not just the bend. You think all those Richmonders from the past didn't marvel at the whole view? They obviously thought something of it or there would be no park. It'd be a continuation of Main Street as maps have shown with houses riding the hill. They found it special enough to establish two parks which merged into one. Each of our hills had that spot on it that offered PANORAMIC vistas. Gambles Hill Park offered and still does offer although it is private land now, great unobstructed views of the city. Shockoe Hill had Capitol Square before it was walled off by skyscrapers. Union Hill has Jefferson Hill Park which isn't obstructed. Imagine if Cedar Broad was as tall as the Federal Reserve. The skyline view from there would be lost. Taylor's Hill Park offers a limited view. Chimborazo Hill's main view is of Fulton.  Powhatan Hill Park on Fulton Hill has a nice westward view. Other cities would kill for what we have and people are so willing to destroy and squander the few treasures we have left. And whatever equivalent those cities have, don't think people oppose certain projects to protect whatever asset they hold dear.

 

On more than one occasion, I have been at Libby Hill Park and spoke with people from out of town. They do come to the park and admire the view as well. Their hosts or someone else nearby may bring up the plan for Echo Harbour and I have heard not one of them say it was a good idea. I've brought my friend from NY and her friend from FL there while showing them the city. I told them of the project and both said it would be a shame. Where both of them lived, one from Long Island and the other from Tampa, the topography does not offer such a view. Why travel to the mountains for a view when we have a nice one overlooking the city?

 

I will never believe in progress for the sake of progress. I have my BA in historic preservation and I strongly believe we can't ignore or destroy parts of the city because of build baby build! You can't save everything, the first thing we're taught, but this is endangered and not too far gone to save. Another reason is of my neighborhood. It would have been a historic district, being one of the first African American suburbs in Richmond if it had not been destroyed by "progress" which actually killed the community and made it one of the poorest census tracts in the state. How about how running the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike through Jackson Ward? What wasn't destroyed by Gilpin was destroyed by the highway which could have followed a path through the valley. The neighborhood was ripped into two and went into decline. It's taken about 60 years for things to turn around. Everything you do has consequences including cities and how they build.

 

But more importantly, don't insult people who have opposing views. There are multiple reasons for any opposition than you may think. Don't paint it with one brush. That is why it is important to speak and work with them to find a common ground and compromise.

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