Category Archives: construction

City Council Rams Through Casino and Amphitheater Proposals

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Last night City Council ignored citizen concerns and rammed through two proposals.

From RichmondBizSense.com:

Councilmembers unanimously approved a performance grant agreement for the planned Richmond Amphitheater on the riverfront near Tredegar, and almost unanimously approved ordinances authorizing agreements that set the stage for a potential second referendum in November on Urban One’s proposed casino in South Richmond.

From Virginia Business magazine:

Some residents of the nearby Oregon Hill neighborhood have opposed the venue or sought to delay it, however, saying they were not given adequate input about cutoff times, noise and parking. The venue does not include parking, but as part of its agreement with the city, the amphitheater will be required to submit a parking plan annually to make sure to make sure existing parking is used and that venue attendees are not parking in residential neighborhoods.
“We feel like there’s no reason to rush this through in a week after negotiations have been taking place for probably a full year,” Charles Pool, a representative of the Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council, told council members during a public comment period Monday.
Stephanie Lynch, who represents Richmond’s 5th district, said a meeting is planned for Tuesday to address remaining recurring concerns about the amphitheater.

Riverfront Amphitheater Plan Augmented With New Temple

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In the latest news on riverfront development, CoStar, soon to be Richmond’s largest employer, is joining the New Market Corporation to bring an Asian-themed temple to the downtown scene.

The large structure will be constructed along the now destroyed footprint of the canal, next to the planned amphitheater.

The planned temple is being added shortly after local website Richmond Biz-Sense sponsored a March 22nd ticketed event entitled “The Future of the Riverfront”.

That event celebrated a whole “business campus” concept that has been embraced by City planners and administration, Venture Richmond, high-end multi-family housing developers and may others in Richmond’s ‘business community’. It is being driven by CoStar’s giant new high rise building (currently under construction) and their vision – thousands of young and talented workers who will be in the new building and mostly live in the Manchester apartments and condos that have sprouted up across the river. Ideally, no cars will be necessary- workers will walk across the Potterfield bridge to work and/or take a clean shuttle. The business complex will have room for 5 or 6 restaurants/ establishments.

A CoStar employee, who wished to remain anonymous, related that, after the event, “higher-ups became concerned that were neglecting the ‘spiritual development’ of their ‘shachiku‘, so they add temple. They are hoping it will instill more loyalty.”

Whatever the inspiration, the proposed temple is sure to win praise for its beautiful, classical design, and many hope it will offer a quiet retreat from urban life, with a reverence similar to the Virginia War Memorial. Cameras and security patrols will help keep the homeless out and enforce a meditative atmosphere.

708 China Threatened With Demolition

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The neighborhood association received word yesterday that the developer has decided to demolish the historic home at 708 China St. as part of a Special Use Permit.

708 China Street is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places as a contributing structure to the Oregon Hill Historic District. The Department of Historic Resources nomination report for the Oregon Hill Historic District dates the house to the 1850s. This one-story gable roofed structure is a rare survival within our historic district and within Richmond as a whole.

There is ample room on the lot to preserve the house while building a new addition in the rear.

More on the history:

The house appears on the 1876 Beers Atlas, owned by the estate of F. W. Baker. At that time, it was rental property. F. W. Baker was a former engineer whose family lived at 410 N. 18th Street.

The earliest city directory that cross-references street addresses is the 1878 directory. (Earlier city directories had name listings but not street listings.) In the 1878 city directory, the house at 708 China was occupied by George Evans, a stonecutter. Evans likely worked at the prominent monument business owned by A. J. Wray at the entrance of Hollywood Cemetery. 708 China is the only address listed on the north side of the 700 block of China St in the 1878 city directory, and this corresponds with the 1876 Beers insurance map.

Close-up of the 1876 Beers Atlas with the house at 708 China St., owned by F. W. Baker estate, identified with a red arrow:

1876 Beers Atlas, with a red arrow identifying the house at 708 China St. owned by F. W. Baker estate:

The house at 708 China also appears on the 1865 Mitchie map, which indicates that it is likely an ante-bellum structure.

Historian Tom Elliott has tracked the location of the serpentine wall of the Belvidere estate on the 1865 Mitchie map and notices that the 708 China building would have been within the walled enclosure. Belvidere burned in 1854 so it does not appear on the 1865 map, but the location of the building would have been nearby to the south east of 708 China. More research is needed on the history of this historic building that is an important contributing structure to the Oregon Hill Historic District.

New Amphitheater Planned

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RichmondBizsense and the Times Dispatch are reporting on plans for a new amphitheater adjacent to the Tredegar Iron Works complex on the downtown riverfront.
While some Oregon Hill residents are excited, other residents are very concerned about its impact on the neighborhood and the riverfront’s wildlife.
Unlike the previous amphitheater proposal, this one is on private land with no special use permit required. The riverfront rezoning over a year ago removes any parking requirement. When City officials presented the rezoning to Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association in Pleasants Park, residents asked to see their master plan, and they replied that they had no plans for the site (which was apparently untrue). They previously removed the trees and the canal raceways and stone sculpture from the site.
With this and Oregon Hill’s Richmond300 amendment going the Planning Commission next week, the neighborhood is on edge and can barely keep up with the pace of change, and that’s probably purposeful under RIchmond’s neoliberal regime.