Richmond Business & Commercial News

City Council votes on hot projects

Two high-profile votes came before Richmond City Council last night -- one for a four-story condo/apartment complex in the Springhill historic neighborhood and the other regarding the proposed public marina site beside the Rocketts Landing development.

Manchester on the James - 200 unit residential complex

This has been flying under the radar for quite some time.  I remember seeing stories about this proposed development from a couple of years ago, but I haven't heard a peep about it until this vote last night.

Although, this posting from 01/18/08 on River District News explains some of the more up-to-date information that I apparently missed.  The original proposal was for a 17-story high rise with "luxury condos".  The revision was to a 4-story building with smaller units.  The shift in focus to more of a rental use rather than owner-occupied units is what provoked the ire of nearby residents.

From an article in this morning's RTD:

Crosland, a Charlotte, N.C.-based development company, plans the complex on a 2-acre block bounded by Cowardin, Riverside Drive, West 19th Street and Stonewall Avenue. The company plans to build and market the complex as condominiums, but it also asked for the ability to offer apartments to provide market flexibility. The project calls for ground-level retail along Cowardin and a 320-space parking deck.

Despite the protests of the neighbors, City Council passed the proposal and Crosland LLC should begin construction on the 200-unit complex before too long.

Property beside Echo Harbor to be purchased -- but will there be a marina?

City Council voted to back the plan for the City to purchase the Lehigh property, 1.6 acres at 3111 Water Street.  The property is located immediately adjacent to the Richmond Intermediate Terminal, where the mayor has proposed the hotly contested public marina.

The Council reserved the right to allow a private developer to develop part of the site, and deliberately stayed silent on their stance regarding the proposed marina.  So, the saga continues.

UPDATE: "Chippenham Place" (Cloverleaf Mall)

Last week, the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors approved Crosland's initial plans for the redevelopment of Cloverleaf Mall.  The plans include at least 500 residential units and 200,000 SF of commercial space.

From an older report, the outparcels that have been consistently active will remain, and Kroger has signed on to build out their largest store yet in the Richmond-metro area.

This certainly sounds like it is moving along nicely, and it will help the area turn around after years of decline.

For a more thorough report of the announcement, read "Cloverleaf's Newest 'Place'" on Richmond.com.  Here is a clip from that article that I found gives us some insight on the timeframe we are looking at for the redevelopment:

“It’s not unrealistic for a project of this size to be absorbed over a period of four years perhaps even until build out,” [James Downs, vice president for Crosland’s retail division] said. “The commercial component, however, we see moving forward immediately.”

(For previous posts about this topic, see Something's Moving at Cloverleaf Mall on 12-28-06)

Something's Moving at Cloverleaf Mall

This bit of news slipped by me when it hit the RTD a couple of weeks ago, but thanks to the Chamber of Commerce pointing it out I'm all up to date! 

After a long period of silence about the status of Cloverleaf Mall, there is movement.  In January, Chesterfield County officials expect to have a signed purchase agreement from Crosland Inc., who will be redeveloping the site.  The buyers have been involved since May 2006, and have several versions of a proposal that calls for redeveloping the aged mall into a mixed-use development.

Several plans have been proposed since Chesterfield purchased the property in 2004, all of which include a "pedestrian-friendly community that blends residential and business components".  The county has said that it will be subsidizing the redevelopment, in order to make it work.

News on Condos (not such a surprise)

Condos, condos, condos....  If you read this blog at all, then you know my viewpoint on the ongoing fad of converting everything to condos.  (and if you don't, then just keep reading)

I don't have a lot to say about it right now, but I wanted to point you to an article on MSNBC.com from a couple of weeks ago: "Scramble for affordable apartments" -- and especially to this quote from the article about residential condo development:

In smaller markets such as Portland, Ore., Richmond, Va., and Omaha, Neb., demand has outpaced development.

I've been saying it for a while, but it's nice to have something in the news backing me up on it.

Choose the Right Property Manager

For a very good story about why you should take care in picking the right property management company, read "Deadbeat Tenants Slide Over One" on TheLandlordBlog.com.

Scary stuff, huh?

UPDATE: New Downtown Hilton Hotel

People have been asking me for an update to my post from 5/2/06 ("New Hilton Hotel redevelopment of Miller & Rhoads") which outlined the redevelopment of the old Miller & Rhoads department store downtown into a sparkling new Hilton hotel, along with lots of new condo units (just what we need) and new retail space.

Anyone driving by the site on Broad Street can see that not a whole lot of progress has been made.  One would think that the project has just been forgotten.

In fact, the construction has just been delayed a few months due to various factors:  the recent rise in construction costs, difficulties in financing, the softening in the housing market, and tax credit issues.  The developers expect to have everything in place and to begin construction in December.

And as a side note:  This hotel will be a full-service upscale Hilton, but developers are not revealing which sub-brand name they will be using.

(Source:  "Downtown Hilton Delayed to December" in 11/8/06 edition of Style Weekly)

It's a Landlord's Market

As I've pointed out over the past several months, the residential leasing market has become slanted towards the landlords. 

This is a result of several factors, of course, including:
-the insane rate of condo conversions (see also: More about Condos vs. Apts, Condos reverting to apartments, Stronger Market for Apartment Investors, & New Hilton Hotel redevelopment of Miller & Rhoads)
-the slowing of the economy (however slight it may be)
-the increased mortgage rates (see also:  Residential rates highest since 2002)

The Wall Street Journal just ran an article about the shift in the residential leasing market.  Here is the synopsis posted by REALTOR Magazine Online:

Bidding War May Be Moving to Rental Front
The country's apartment sector is seeing more bidding wars as tenants jockey for available rental units in increasingly tight markets.

Nationwide, rent for a 1,000-square-foot apartment has risen 3.7 percent in the last year to $1,389 a month, says Property & Portfolio Research Inc.

One of the main reasons for climbing rents is the reduced inventory of units, created in part by developers that built condos or converted rental stock into for-sale units during the home sale boom.

In the second quarter of this year, rental vacancy rates fell to 5.3 percent from 6.2 percent in the year-earlier period. This has produced what is known as a "landlord's market," with companies like AvalonBay Communities Inc. raising their asking prices and cutting concessions for incentives like a free month's rent.

--Wall Street Journal, Christine Haughney (10/11/06)

"Party houses" in the Fan

The Fan District Association has implemented a patrol that will be out on Friday and Saturday nights watching and listening for "out-of-control" parties.  The offending addresses will be reported to the police and then recorded on their website for public access.

>>>

Report Those Party Houses to the Police!

         

            

Councilman Bill Pantele working with the Richmond Police Department's Sector 313 is introducing a new program to identify and report properties which cause disturbance in the neighborhood. The program know as Party House ID is being introduced to the FDA membership to allow our members to make sure that party houses are included in the list of address maintained by the Richmond City Police Department. We also encourage residents to call the police each and every time that your peace and quietude is interrupted.

            

                  The Fall Party Patrol kicks off this weekend -- we have obtained a special cellular telephone number courtesy of
                    Verizon Telephone's wireless divisions.
              Party Patrol (804) 317-2840
                Download the Party Patrol Flier to share with your neighbors
                  Click Here to Fill out the Form.
                  See a Map of the Party House Locations
              Information about the City of Richmond Noise Ordinance Section 38-1 & 2 and
                Virginia State Code Sections 5.1-317 Maintaining common nuisances; penalties.
                for filing complaints through the                 magistrates office
              The Party Patrol is currently running on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:00 pm to 3:00 AM

         

>>>

Good for them getting together to patrol and reporting the nuisances to the police!

I do, however, have an issue with the policy of publishing these "nuisance" addresses on a public access website. 
*Once a property is listed, is there a procedure for getting a property removed from the list once there is no more problem? 
*How will this list stigmatize an area?  (i.e., if I am a property owner a half a block removed, how will this public info affect my property value?)

I see this "solution" as a problem in itself.  We shall see.

More about Condos vs. Apts

It's a short article, but it's just reaffirming my comments about the effect of the over-building of condo units and the condo conversion trend that has been so popular.  Good news for the rest of us, though!

Link: REALTOR Magazine - Daily News.

There is "clearly an oversupply" of unsold condo units, NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders says. Vacancy rates for apartment buildings are dropping and rents are increasing, he says.

(see also Condos reverting to apartments, Stronger Market for Apartment Investors, & New Hilton Hotel redevelopment of Miller & Rhoads)

2006 Golden Hammer Awards

If you haven't seen the Richmond Times-Dispatch this morning, pick it up.  There are quite a few good articles related to business and real estate today.

One in particular that I want you to note is the profile on Ed Eck.  This man and his company  have done (and continue to do) a great service for Richmond in redeveloping the area just west of VCU, specifically along the West Main St and West Cary Street corridors.  (If you are struggling to identify where I mean, think of the pastel colored buildings along West Main Street, Mulligan's, the old El Rio Grande, Gold's Gym, etc.)

Congratulations to Ed for winning the Andrew Asch Developer Award, from the pool of 2006 Golden Hammer Awards, from A.C.O.R.N. (Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods) for "contributions to historical conservation".

Congratulations to all of this year's winners and nominees!