Paraphrased from neighbors who were able to attend yesterday’s meeting about the update to the Gladding Residential Center at Laurel and W Main:

Meeting with VCU yesterday and these facts came up- the new high rise first year housing building will be 12 stories tall, taller than both the Altria Theatre and the VCU School of Engineering.
VCU has posted on their web page drawings of the proposed dorm here:
http://www.housing.vcu.edu/grc-project/
Meeting attendees expressed concerns about how the sunlight in Monroe Park will be affected during certain times of year.
As of now, the private company leasing the property and building/managing the dorm WILL be responsible for taxes to the city but that issue still needs to be followed.
Nothing official yet but VCU is looking at disallowing the first year students living in the center from having cars as of the 2017 academic year.
To many peoples’ relief, the historic Branch Bath building will be retained and incorporated into the new building design.
There are concerns about the future of the rest of the lot. Residents do not want just a surface parking lot at this location or, on the other end of the scale, a building over four or five stories. It is important for the University to respect the scale of the adjacent Oregon Hill Historic District.
It’s important that VCU reiterate and hold previous promises that it will not expand into the south side of Cary Street or any further into the Oregon Hill Historic District.