Style Weekly brings forward another idea for the parking lots of Shockoe Bottom, this time from former mayoral candidate Lawrence Williams. Williams envisions a four-square-block complex in the Bottom bounded by Main Street Station and 18th streets, running from the end of the 17th Street Farmers’ Market north to Broad. It would be a smaller-scale [...]
Highwoods Properties annouced today that they are dropping the Shockoe Center project which also included a development along Boulevard, blaming the major Boulevard vs Shockoe stadium debate and a lack of a team. [via]
Former city councilman Sa’ad El-Amin has come out adamantly against any form of the Shockoe Center project, arguing that the area should be used entirely to commemorate the Slave Trail and black heritage in Richmond. He has started a nonprofit aimed at preserving sites significant to Richmond’s black history. [via]
Silver Persinger’s Richmond City Council Reporter & Telegraph has the raw video from Davenport and Company presentation at Councilperson Ellen Robertson’s monthly 6th District meeting held yesterday at the downtown Bank of America building.
Mayor Jones plans to release the executive summary of a study on the proposed Shockoe Stadium today. The group performing the study hasalready indicated support for a ballpark in Shockoe, but this report is supposed to be a more in depth look into its financial viability. A press release from the City on Friday suggests [...]
Tonight at 7 p.m. a debate and public comment period regarding baseball in the Bottom vs. baseball on the Boulevard will be held at the Richmond Times Dispatch headquarters To catch up on the latest back and forth, RichmondBizSense is reporting problems in purchasing a baseball team, Club Velvet’s controversial anti-stadium sign can stay for now, [...]
Despite many community meetings presenting Highwoods Properties’ plan for Shockoe Center, an official website promoting the project has been noticeably absent. Coinciding with the beginning of the 2009 baseball season, the official Shockoe Center website is finally up. Check it out at http://shockoecenter.com.
As we wait for the latest economic study on the Shockoe Center and stadium proposal, the debate keeps on in our neighborhood. The RTD published a column from a Shockoe Bottom business owner who strongly supports the stadium. Josh Dare from the Hodges Partnership focuses his argument on why Shockoe Bottom is the best location [...]
A Shockoe Center Minority Participation Briefing/Reception to provide briefing on potential minority participation in the Shockoe Center development by contractors, subcontractors and design professionals will be hosted on April 21 by Donald McEachin, Highwoods Properties and Central Virginia Business and Construction Association in Senate Room 3 at State Capitol.
The RTD is reporting that the City is spending $100 k to study to the financial feasibility of the stadium proposal. A spokesperson for Highwood Properties calls the independent assessment “greatly encouraging”. [via] UPDATE: The firms that will perform the independent assessment already endorsed the project in a study they performed 6 months ago. The [...]
Style Weekly has the story on an interesting idea for Shockoe Bottom: restore a creek that used to run through the neighborhood. ACORN, citing the need for more water features and restoring nature, believes that the creek would be a better alternative to the Shockoe Center project.
Stadium representatives have released the following points regarding Shockoe Center. The points highlight what was discussed at the Community Support Meetings held last week. “Supporters of Baseball in the Bottom” encourage fellow supporters to contact their local representatives to voice their support for the proposal. • Development Conforms to Downtown Master Plan: walkable, street retail, [...]
For those keeping score, Style Weekly’s cleverly-named cover story this week strongly criticizes the downtown stadium proposal. With the residents of Richmond divided on the issue, Style has clearly sided with those opposed to the stadium. It requires a deep-seated, religious-like faith to believe that a new ballpark for a team that doesn’t exist can [...]
The first community support meeting for Shockoe Center was held tonight at GlobeHopper. With approximately 30-40 people in attendance for the meeting, a clear majority seemed to be in support of the project. More information on the details of the meeting are coming tomorrow. If you are interested in attending tomorrow night’s meeting, it will [...]
