Richmond Business & Commercial News

New use for the Ukrop's building at VCU

The Ukrop's location on West Grace Street closed almost a year ago, and since then has sat vacant in the midst of the bustling VCU community.

Plans are finally underway for making use of the space since the acquisition by VCU just a few months ago.  Not a grand retail redevelopment, but it's certainly a logical progression for VCU to acquire and use the space for additional classrooms and storage.

See the full story at Richmond BizSense here (which, by the way, does an EXCELLENT job with the business news for Richmond and the surrounding areas -- if you aren't subscribed then you are missing out!).

New life for closed Ukrop's VCU location

Per breaking news on the RTD website today, the former Ukrop's location on Grace Street adjacent to the Virginia Commonwealth University campus will now be part of that same campus.  VCU's real estate foundation purchased the property for future development.

"The foundation bought the property last month for $9 million from BET Investments Inc., a Pennsylvania-based development company."

Watch for more information in upcoming press.  I'm sure there will be articles soon.

For more on the closing of the Ukrop's at VCU, see here, here, and here.

(Thanks to burt from UP Richmond for the heads up on the article!)

The final countdown for Sixth Street Marketplace

As reported by Style Weekly in "Street Talk" this week, the final deadline has been set for closing the remaining vendors at Sixth Street Marketplace.  The original deadline was August 9, 2007, but that has been extended three times due to lengthy relocation agreement negotiations and the search for two city agencies currently housed in the Blues Armory.

The deadline,  as it stands now, is May 12.  Deals have been struck with approval from all sides regarding the relocation packages (forgiving 50% of back rent owed and $25k for relocation expenses).  There are seven remaining food vendors that were part of the negotiations.

It's good to see that things are moving forward, and the city can finally put the space to good use.  Now if only I could remember what the new use was supposed to be......  Does anyone else remember?

Henrico is giving away money!

Henrico County is giving away money for new businesses, and for redevelopment projects!

...and so is Richmond City, and Chesterfield County, and Hanover County. 

Per Henrico County's website regarding the Enterprise Zone program in Virginia:

What is an Enterprise Zone?

The governing body of any county, city or town may make written application to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to have an area or areas declared to be an Enterprise Zone. The purpose of the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program is to stimulate business and industrial growth in such areas, which would result in neighborhood, commercial and economic revitalization. Upon the recommendation of the Director of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development the Governor may designate the proposed areas as Enterprise Zones. Upon designation of an area as an Enterprise Zone state and local incentives become available to qualified business firms that participate in the Program.

The trick is learning the details of the different programs that are available.  Given that we are talking about free money (grants) and cheap money (loans), and that these are government programs, there is quite a bit of red tape and a complex set of regulations regarding how to qualify for the programs.

I'm no expert on the intricate regulations involved, which is why I am attending the Henrico County Enterprise Zone Spring Workshop at Belmont Recreation Center on May 7th.  It is FREE to attend, but you have to register beforehand (and space may be limited).

If you're interested in the program, you may have to pull some strings since the registration deadline was April 3rd (SORRY -- it's been very busy here, despite all the dark clouds cast by the media).  You could still call 804-501-7615 or email to arz@co.henrico.va.us and see if they have any open spots.

Otherwise, if I can find a good way to summarize what will be an enormous amount of useful information, I will post a follow up on here after the workshop!

Latest Plans for the Boulevard

A short but very interesting article in this morning's RTD discusses the redevelopment plans for the area around the Diamond on Boulevard.  The focus of the article was more on the deadline yesterday for developers to submit their bids on the project, but I found the details of the City's plans for the area to be more interesting than the names of the developers

(Although, it is interesting that Douglas Development Corp. has bid on the project.  That's the firm owned by Douglas Jemal.  They are firmly entrenched in DC and Maryland, and have been buying up properties downtown over the past couple of years.)

Per the advertised qualifications for the bids, the City has outlined their vision of the redevelopment:

• a new 8,000-seat baseball stadium closer to I-95 -- When I first read that,  I couldn't imagine it being very much closer than the Diamond is now, but it could be moved back towards the I-95 South entrance ramp.
• redevelopment of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control headquarters, perhaps to include the relocation of the Richmond Coliseum to this site
• demolish the Diamond, using the 27-acre site for a mixed-use development
• demolish the city maintenance complex, resulting in another 27-acre site for redevelopment
• build a parking deck beside the Arthur Ashe Center

It will be interesting to see it all move forward, and to see the renderings that the chosen developer presents.  If anyone has further insight on the project, I would love to hear more!

Movieland: The new frontier

A couple of weeks ground was broken on the new cineplex on Boulevard.  There has been a lot of buzz about it, and judging by the hits on some of my prior posts on the development (from 03/14/07, 11/30/06 & 05/18/06), I would say that there is quite a bit of interest from the general public.

The report from River City Rapids has me very excited to see the finished product from Bow Tie Partners.  This is a company that gets it!  Look over Jon's post, Movies On The Boulevard: Even Better Than You Think, to see all the details that I haven't seen anywhere except for on River City Rapids.

Comments on The Crupi Report

I just finished reading The Crupi Report, and there is quite a bit that I agree with...and some that I don't.  Instead of taking this post to get into the individual points that I am for or against, I wanted to share my most immediate gut criticisms of the report:

1. What was up with the misspellings?  I noticed a handful sprinkled throughout the report (and I wasn't looking for them) --- "lose" was mispelled a couple of times, i.e.
2. What is the "medium of house prices"?  I assume Dr. Crupi meant "median", but I can't be sure.  Maybe he meant average?  Who knows...
3. There was a quote from "A black leader" that said "I drank from the back of the bus, but it doesn't define my life."  I get the meaning and appreciate it.  But, am I missing some piece of historical reference here or is that a mixed reference -- i.e., sitting at the back of the bus and having to drink at a different water fountain?  Given the other mistakes in the report, I don't know whether that is a misquote or the actual words he/she used.  Either way, it's  wouldn't have used it in the report as-is.

My point is not to be nit-picky, but come on, these are pretty simple mistakes to catch and correct.  Why undermine your credibility by letting them slip through?  I certainly don't think that my writing is perfect, but I'm not getting paid to produce reports that are going to be read by an entire region.

Getting past the simple mistakes, I enjoyed the overall theme of urging cooperation and overarching vision as necessary for the strategic growth of the entire region.

One of my favorite quotes from the report was:  "It is ironic that while people in the counties recognize that the city can influence it with negative pollitical and economic images, they under-appreciate the benefits of what would happen if those same images were positive."

I am anticipating a great future for the Richmond-metro area, and I think that this report was a great way to generate interest and involvement by the general populace.

New Downtown Master Plan released today

The new Downtown Master Plan was presented today.  See the following link for a quick RTD article about it: Richmond leaders see vision of downtown - News - inRich.com.

Here are links to the different parts of the plan:

• Table of Contents
• Chapter One – Research & Analysis
• Chapter Two – Designing in Public
• Chapter Three – Foundations of the Plan
• Chapter Four – Getting There
• Chapter Five – Transportation Analysis
• Chapter Six – Housing & Market Analysis
• Chapter Seven – Implementation

It looks like a night of reading reports, between this new release and catching up on The Crupi Report.  I hope to have some insightful feedback for you within the next couple of days.

How to influence the future of Richmond

There aren't many times in a region's development where the leaders sincerely ask for guidance and input from the general populace.  Granted, this has been an initiative organized by a group of local business leaders and headed up by the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, but it is getting a lot of attention from the general population and recognition by the local governments.

If you are watching for the report delivered last Monday to be mentioned in the local news or blogs, it has been referred to as "The Crupi Report".  Dr. James Crupi was brought in "to re-examine the greater Richmond area and make recommendations that would enhance its future development and competitive position." -- (see the article about the report on Richmond.com, or another article here from RTD)

I still need to sit down and read the report for the details, and I am hoping that the majority of people in the region do the same thing.  For your own You can find the report over at the GRCC's website by clicking here.  Over the next several months, those same business leaders who commissioned the report are looking for reactions from all of us.

An open forum on the subject is scheduled for Tuesday night at 7pm at the Richmond Times Dispatch's Public Square, which will be held at their Hanover production facility.  (Click here for the announcement of the Public Square)  The address is         8460 Times-Dispatch Blvd. Mechanicsville, VA 23116.  See you there!

Chesterfield Town Center gets facelift

The former movie-theater at Chesterfield Town Center is finally being redone, with the move of Barnes & Noble from across the street, the opening of a new Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, and a brand new Coldwater Creek retail store.  In addition, the mall's owners will be updating the front of the mall that faces Huguenot Road.

(see "Renovation for Chesterfield mall" from the RTD for the source story)