Comments on: Highwoods throws in the towel

By: The Fan District Hub » Blog Archive » The death spiral of Shockoe Bottom baseball

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:21:29 +0000

[...] Five days after that piece went up the deal collapsed. [...]

By: Rick Bishop

Rick Bishop — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:38:38 +0000

The ballpark issue is symptomatic of many problems we have as a “city.” The Greater Richmond area still lacks the visionary (elected) leadership to reclaim our place as a great “city.”

There is no plan. As far as I know, there is no Greater Richmond vision for what this place is going to look like in 20 or 30 years (and without one, guess what, it’ll look the same). Do we want to attract more people and/or keep more people from moving away, or are we okay with being a second or third tier city? Do we want to have the best schools or just average schools? Do we want to have great public transportation or just buses for people who don’t own cars?

So, local leadsers, put a plan for the entire Greater Richmond area together by the end of 2009. Enlist Ukrops, Trani, and Lugbill. Get outside help, but get it done. Once done, the answer to baseball in Richmond will be clear – and we’ll all have a plan we can get behind.

By: Chris Corrada

Chris Corrada — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:27:20 +0000

The problem here is that there has been no champion from the public sector, or benefactor from the private sector. I would look at Pittsburg as an example with Mayor Tom Murphy and benefactor, the Heinz Corporation. The fact is that someone has to subsidize projects like this because the numbers don’t work from a pure real estate investment standpoint.

The question to ask is this, who are the major players in Richmond? Two names come immediately to mind, Phillip Morris and VCU. If either or both of these put their muscle behind this project it would happen. Why weren’t they involved? VCU wants a football team. I can see Richmond supporting VCU football downtown. Create a multi-use facility downtown for all VCU sports, including football, throw in a minor league baseball team, get a corporate subsidy, and the thing can happen.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:03:58 +0000

Just curious, where was the money coming from? 60 Mil is not chump change and with businesses dropping like flies around VCU, multi-trillion dollar deficits on the way, along with the current recession we are in I bet the Highwoods group wasn’t footing the whole bill.

By: Brian Glass

Brian Glass — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:41:05 +0000

James stated that ” one more time Richmond officials would not make the tough choice.” Perhaps that’s because the previous choices all failed to deliver: The Sixth Street Marketplace; The Convention Center; The Broad Street Bond issue; and The Canal Walk to name those from 1985 to the present. The Sixth Street Marketplace has been demolished; the Convention center is subsidized by the City; ditto for the Bonds for the Broad Street facelift. Hopefully, the Canal Walk can become a success. It only took San Antonio twenty five plus years for its Canal Walk to work.

Isn’t it ironic that the one major success was The Diamond, where the bonds were paid off and regional cooperation limited everyone’s exposure. That’s still the best play. $28 million to renovate the Diamond divided by three jurisdictions comes to less than a t$10 million dollar exposure for each, probably $9 million if Hanover County participates. That would allow Richmond to use the same bond power for $50 million of more worthwhile projects for the community, such as a few new schools, or a new City jail to name just two.

The tough choice, based on past history, would have been to just say “NO !” It didn’t come to that because the developer dropped its plans based on today’s reality that financing of the project wasn’t possible.

By: James

James — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:21:34 +0000

Bottom line here is the Ciy Council, and specifically the mayor, didn’t have the political hoohahs to step up and do what was right for the city because they feared public outcry — they feared for their jobs. Sometimes elected officials have more information than the citizenry. When that hasppens, like here, the elected officials have to be ready to make the tough choices. One more time Richmond’s elected officials would not make the tough choice. This is why Richmond has been left behind places like Raleigh, Charlotte and Atlanta when it comes to becoming a great city. Richmond will never become a great city unless we start electing some people willing to stand up and make choices.

By: Carter Snipes

Carter Snipes — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:52:26 +0000

It is so Sad that Richmond continues to blow every opportunity that comes its way. The list is so long it’s really sad. 6th Street Marketplace, Main Street Station, the Canal Walk, The Braves and now Shockoe!