New State Office Building at 8th and Broad St

[eandslee]

37 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Demo on the old building is well underway. Will be exciting to watch this project come along. The restoration of the nearby Commonwealth Park Hotel seems like it is nearing completion as well. 

Can confirm!  I saw demo occurring when I was there at the Richmond Marathon last Saturday.  I, too, am excited to see this project take off, but not too excited about the construction hindering the flow of the BRT.  We’ll see how this one plays out [yikes].

[eandslee]

Found this gem tonight...a General Assembly Building Construction Webcam!

http://virginiageneralassembly.gov/GABwebcam.html

Enjoy!

[eandslee]

If you have some time while waiting out the cold weather, this is a good piece on the history of the General Assembly Building (GAB).  I learned a lot of cool things about it and I'm glad they are saving the original Life Insurance Company of Virginia (1912) façade (many my age may remember it as "Life of Virginia").  It is absolutely beautiful and, as you know from the renderings of the new building, fits in perfectly with the new design.  Hard to believe that Richmond was the premier city in the south during the turn of the century (~1900) and was likely to become the banking and insurance mecca of the southeast!  I think this prevailing status had a lot to do with how Richmond ended up landing the Federal Reserve Bank at around the 1914 timeframe.  Very interesting, but I wonder what happened?  What was it that turned the tide for Richmond?  How is it that other cities in the southeast out-paced Richmond's growth - cities like Atlanta and Charlotte?  Crazy to think of where we were and how we came to be what we are today.  The mid-century timeframe seemed to stunt Richmond's growth...why?

Anyway, here's a link to the history of the GAB (it's a pdf).  Only 3 pages of text and a few pages of photos:

https://historicrichmond.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Historic-Richmond-GAB-Statement_Final-Aug10-2015-00000002.pdf

 

[eandslee]

Deleted.  Placed post in the wrong thread.  Sorry.

Edited January 11, 2018 by eandslee

[eandslee]

The GAB is finally undergoing demolition in earnest now.  Shouldn’t be too much longer and this eyesore will be demolished for the beautiful building that will replace it (renderings in this thread above).  I’m excited for this project!  Notice the gantry holding up the old facade of the original building.  It will be incorporated in the new building.  I like how they are preserving the past here...the facade is beautiful!

 

Edited March 13, 2018 by eandslee

[drayrichmond]

Yes, this is great, looking forward to that ugly box going away!

I'm glad we are getting this beautiful building, but I'd still like to know what they are going to really do with the lot the parking deck is supposed to be on. What will it look like?

[eandslee]

An excellent article with photos and video of the demolition going on at the GAB. Looks like they will be done with demo by late May.  Check it out:

http://wric.com/2018/03/15/crews-making-progress-with-general-assembly-building-remodel/

[Brent114]

Windshield shot yo! 

 

[eandslee]

14 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

Windshield shot yo! 

 

Are they actually working today?  This is a great windshield shot!  Thanks for posting!  We should see this building come down pretty quickly now.  It will be weird seeing this lot blanked out as there has been something here for as long as any of us can remember!

[Brent114]

I’m sad to see this one go.  It’s a cool looking building, albeit too short.  

 

I like the new building better but it would have been cool to build it on the vacant lot across the street.  I like seeing lots of styles and periods represented in urban landscapes.  Too much new at once can make a stretch feel inauthentic.

[eandslee]

Just another picture of demo the RTD had on its Facebook page:

Sorry about the black out on the top and bottom. 

Edit: added a couple more photos:

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by eandslee

[wrldcoupe4]

I will kind of miss that building but looking forward to the new one as well. The old one has so many critical issues with design and systems that it never made sense to keep it, really. 

[eandslee]

I was able to read the article in the RTD today regarding the cost overruns on this project. It had me concerned for a minute because the article talked how the cost overruns have caused them to rethink who will be placed in the building when complete.  They actually had to eliminate some departments from the new building because there is not enough money to build space sufficient for everyone.  My concern was that they were going to make the building shorter because they cannot build as tall as originally thought due to the cost; however, it was clear in the article that, so far, the design and number of floors have not changed (phew!).  Still, I think it could be a possibility if costs get any more out of hand. 

Also, the article provided a short timetable on the current and next phases of the project.  The demolition phase that is currently ongoing is scheduled to end by the end of June.  They will removed all the debris and then begin to dig down underground to prepare for the building’s foundation.  By October of this year, we should see construction on the new building begin (I’m hoping a tower crane will be in place by then).

There were some other tidbits in the article about the Old City Hall renovations and some information about a tunnel that will be built under 9th Street too, but I’ll leave out that part for you to read.  I think I captured the parts most of us would want to know about. 

Here’s what the demolition looks like as of today:

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by eandslee

[RVAbigdawg]

Here's a shot from the observation deck at City Hall...

[eandslee]

These photos are great!  Love the different perspective too!  Thanks for posting!!

[eandslee]

Based on this article from WRIC (and building off of what Hike posted above), I'm thinking that there might be a pause in construction after the old GAB is completely gone and basement cleared out (it's now just full of rubble from the demolition).  The article says that the design of the building isn't even final yet (yikes!).  Can they proceed to start building before the design is final?  Not sure, but I wouldn't think so.  I just hope it is done by the time the plot is ready to start building.  Despite all this, the work is all still on schedule and the new GAB is set to open by 2021 (that's a lot of time to get this building built).  I'm just eager to see this project start.  I'm thinking that this project might require 2 tower cranes based on what was required on the VCU Health Children's Hospital across the street (just a guess on my part).

http://www.wric.com/news/politics/capitol-connection/experts-anticipate-new-general-assembly-building-to-open-on-schedule/1252240280

Edited June 21, 2018 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

Looking forward to seeing this building rising on Broad Street!  The older almost art-deco architecture will be gorgeous - and the height, especially being at the top of the hill, will give City Hall a real run for the money when the skyline is viewed from the south.  Nice to see so many towers popping up in different downtown locations all in a relatively short span of time.

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

Looking forward to seeing this building rising on Broad Street!  The older almost art-deco architecture will be gorgeous - and the height, especially being at the top of the hill, will give City Hall a real run for the money when the skyline is viewed from the south.  Nice to see so many towers popping up in different downtown locations all in a relatively short span of time.

I agree.  This is a special time in the city’s development history!  I love it!

[drayrichmond]

We've got the new GAB ~15 stories

The new VCU tower ~16-18 stories

New Dominion Tower ~20 stories

The Locks Apartments ~12 stories

All in the downtown area, ALL under construction, NOT just a proposal! Our skyline is going to look quite a bit denser and fuller within the next year or two!

[eandslee]

6 hours ago, drayrichmond said:

We've got the new GAB ~15 stories

The new VCU tower ~16-18 stories

New Dominion Tower ~20 stories

The Locks Apartments ~12 stories

All in the downtown area, ALL under construction, NOT just a proposal! Our skyline is going to look quite a bit denser and fuller within the next year or two!

...And there is so much more proposed that just haven’t started yet:

Hotel (Wyndham) in Shockoe Bottom (~10 stories)

Hotel (Hyatt) on the Canal Walk (10 stories)

Residential towers on the canal in Manchester (~14 stories)

The second VCU medical building/tower between 12th and 13th Streets (? Stories)

The second Dominion Energy tower (16+ stories)

All the development associated with the new arena (new arena plus probably multiple high rises of unknown heights)

...and I’m probably missing a few as well...

Oh yeah, Richmond is rolling along!!

[RVAbigdawg]

A lot of progress this week on this project as well.... there is a pretty big hole now (I think they've dug out the majority of the basement that was there)

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

On 6/24/2018 at 5:54 PM, eandslee said:

...And there is so much more proposed that just haven’t started yet:

Hotel (Wyndham) in Shockoe Bottom (~10 stories)

Hotel (Hyatt) on the Canal Walk (10 stories)

Residential towers on the canal in Manchester (~14 stories)

The second VCU medical building/tower between 12th and 13th Streets (? Stories)

The second Dominion Energy tower (16+ stories)

All the development associated with the new arena (new arena plus probably multiple high rises of unknown heights)

...and I’m probably missing a few as well...

Oh yeah, Richmond is rolling along!!

Anybody trying to create a 3d rendering of the impact of all this on the skyline, a visual would be fantastic

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Since no one seems to have taken me up on that request above, i'm gonna try and do this 3d visualization myself using Google Earth and SketchUp (this isn't gonna go well lol). I have to estimate how tall 14/16 stories etc are.

 

edit: ok i'm having terrain issues and the buildings are floating in the air lol, makes the visualization kind of useless. But even then, I put the two Dominion towers and they have a huge presence. The General Assembly building also peeks out in the skyline, as does the adult outpatient building.

Edited July 3, 2018 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[RVAbigdawg]

Let's see what you did!

[Shakman]

I want to see the floating towers.