Guest Opinion: Move the Coliseum to the Boulevard
March 12, 2010 by Brian Glass
We’re back on the Coliseum debate merry-go-around.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch posed this question March 7: “Should city renovate or build new facility?”
Nope. And here’s why.
The Coliseum is functionally obsolete. The dollars needed to rehab the facility still wouldn’t allow it to be competitive, particularly with the John Paul Jones Arena on the UVA campus. Right now JPJ is eating the Coliseum’s lunch by attracting the top tier concerts that used to come to the Coliseum. JPJ is new and has over 4,000 more seats than the Coliseum. What the Coliseum has going for it is that the land is valuable and that it sits next to the biotech park.
The logical place to relocate the Coliseum to is the Boulevard, adjacent to or near the Diamond. Access would be just as easy as getting to the Diamond. There is an existing parking lot that can accommodate more than 2,000 cars and just might not require a parking deck. That, of course, would depend on scheduling, but for the most part there isn’t a conflict with the Diamond from October to April. If the city can relocate its maintenance facility at a reasonable cost, there would be additional land available for parking. There is also the possibility of the Commonwealth either relocating its ABC warehouse/headquarters or providing the building to the city if the ABC stores are privatized, thereby freeing up additional land.
You might question how the city will pay for a new arena. I’m not a financial expert, but I believe the income derived from the land via a ground lease or a direct sale and the taxes received when new buildings are built on the property and added to the biotech park can be dedicated to paying the bonds that would be needed. There might even be some regional cooperation similar to the way the Diamond was originally financed, although current economic conditions and the rise of SportsQuest in Chesterfield County might dampen that approach.
Although SportsQuest is an activity-related project, it’s still competition for the entertainment dollar. The city has to realize that it already has in place a high quality cultural and entertainment center that stretches for 3.2 miles from I-95 and the Boulevard to Maymont Park. It starts with the Arthur Ashe Center (which could be demolished for additional parking since it is a money loser that is owned by the Richmond School System); the Diamond, which has received several million dollars worth of upgrades by the owners of the Richmond Flying Squirrels; a proposed VCU tennis center; Sports Backers Stadium; Movie Land, a state of the art theater; the Science Museum with its IMAX theater; the Children’s Museum of Richmond; the expanded Virginia Historical Society; the soon to be completed expansion and renovation of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Carytown; Byrd Park; the city tennis courts, Maymont Park and the Children’s Zoo. What a lineup.
I’m not alone here. In fall 2007, outside consultant Jim Crupi noted that I-95 at the Boulevard was one of the gateways to Richmond. Wouldn’t it be great to have this gateway lead to an amazing array of entertainment and cultural facilities that would rival many cities far larger than Richmond? We are only one or two facilities away from accomplishing that.
The Coliseum is one of them.
Brian Glass is a commercial real estate broker at Grubb & Ellis/Harrison-Bates. The views expressed in his column are his alone and do not represent his employer.
Bravo! This is a “no-brainer”. The writer does not specifically mention the nightmare associated with just getting to a major event at the Coliseum. A maze of one way streets getting in and a long wait on the way down from the top floor of any of the local parking decks.
All sounds good, as long as funding for the Biotech park isn’t cut off by the legislature.
Um, don’t forget that the Flying Squirrels want a new facility.
Brian – good piece. Enjoyed the read. We agree that the Coliseum is obsolete. We still disagree that The Diamond is a long-term option for baseball in Richmond. It will have to be razed to have any long-term viability. Credit the Flying Squirrels for making some nice improvements to make it a little more pleasurable, but The Diamond’s days should be numbered.
I applaud you for having some vision for that part of town. It doesn’t do anything to bring traffic downtown – of which a ballpark and arena would and help us take full advantage of the James and other wonderful downtown assets – but your ideas are much better than piecemeal approach we always seem to take.
Richmond has an opportunity to do things right, but a clear vision is needed. See Oklahoma City, which desired all the things we want (and have) and started a MAPS program to pay for a new ballpark, arena, convention center and even build a canal to take advantage of the river. Sounds a lot like Richmond… Major concert acts go to OKC, minor-league all-star games, and now, even the NBA. It wasn’t popular when it was proposed, but OKC leaders had a vision and acted upon it rather than debate the same stuff over and over.
Matt, the Biotech Park doesn’t receive any money from the legislature and there is no money in the current budget for them to.
As a huge fan of the CAA, we are very aware that the CAA is looking at moving to another venue. There was a huge push this year at the tournament to let them know that we want them to stay here. If the coliseum continues to crumble, they will leave..taking all the revenue with them…not to mention all the fun. A new site near the Boulevard would really appeal to goups like the CAA. I hate to lose them.
The Coliseum definitely is obsolete and we’re going to lose the CAA tournament in a couple of years because there are better facilities for them to use. But replacing it will take an obscene amount of money. Whatever it cost to build JPJ, add $40 million. Then, consider we are one hour from a first-class arena to our west, two hours from two other arenas to our east, two hours from an exceptional facility to our north, and how many concerts can we actually get no matter what kind of building we build? The Coliseum will not have any kind of serious pro sports franchise (sorry, but high-school level Arena League or whatever they call it doesn’t count). For nine figures we’ll have a place that won’t host more than 40 events a year. Is it worth that kind of cost? My hunch is no.
James made a good point about attractions not coming to Richmond. Top tier attractions wouldnt book Richmond no matter how nice the venue. Its all about ticket sales and promoters. Mr Glass again writes about something he doesnt understand. Bizsense- why do you keep publishing articles by Brian Glass? His poor (no) research is his calling card and as his TD article on VCU/Oregon Hill a couple years ago shows, his columns even spread incorrect information. Bizsense – your readers deserve better than this guy and his questionable journalistic ethics.
1. Agree that this is a no brainer; Coliseum is outdated and in the middle of a congested downtown area where that could be better used for other purposes. Moving to a newer, larger cafility on the Boulevard as part of a soports and entertaimnet complex near the Diamond is a great idea!
2. The BioTech Park gets zero funding from the Commonwealth or any of the local governments (I know because I am on the Board of Directors).
No can afford, kthxbye
Brian,
Another fresh idea!….fresher than the donuts you brought along on that private jet we took Hartford in ’81 (?). Your suggestions follow a businessman’s entreprenurial & common sense
analysis of a need and economic engines to bypass the massive subsidizing role government sees as a solution.
This is a terrible idea and very short-sighted. Yes the coliseum needs to be replaced, but it belongs in the CBD and its removal from downtown would be devistating. Consider all of the investment that this area of downtown has received over the past several years: CenterStage, Miller & Rhoads/Hilton, Convention Center, National Theatre, Jacson Ward, etc. This area along Broad Street is an iconic and historic part of Richmond’s downtown. Relocaing the coliseum would stunt further investment/development and would be another example of the City’s self-immolation.
Yes it would be expensive but the coliseum cannot be viewed with singularity. It’s about economic development and a first-class facility would be an economic development driver. I sincerely doubt it would have difficulty sourcing attractions despite our competition to the east & west.
The City has been void of real leadership for many years; too many. If we had a true leader – one void of personal or political gain – that the community could trust and get behind, we would find a way to pay for it. Mayor Jones, you have an opportunity…
A new multipurpose “coliseum” is needed and it should be developed on the Coliseum’s current location. While certain corporate interest are vying for the Coliseum site and are as much behind the talk of relocation as is the Coliseum’s condition, it remains the premier site for convention and entertainment space. Did we not just recently celebrate the opening of our expanded convention center, the National, the Hilton, Miller & Rhodes, the revitalization of Broad Street, First Fridays, etc.? The colisuem and it’s successor is and will continue to draw thousands of new and returning guest to downtown Richmond. The location has the needed parking, hotel and retail services, and each can be improved and expanded from the current base. A multipurpose coliseum venue is the right complement to the existing convention and business infrastructure.
Compare the number of hotel rooms in the CBD serving the Coliseum to those available on the Boulevard. And as far as changing that, you won’t find much support for large scale retail or hotel development on the Boulevard from residents of Ginter Park, Rosedale, Sherwood Park, the Fan and the Monument Avenue district.
Moving the influx of visitors out of downtown is illadvised. It will take vital revenue away from hotels and restaurants throughout the CBD, just when there is hope of the true renaissance that so many have worked toward for decades. There is an odd tendency here to dilute resources rather than to leverage them into greater accomplishment. We are left with isolated improvements, districts and neighborhoods that are disconnected and seemingly unrelated.
The acreage associated with the Boulevard Debate, is valuable in its own right. A better plan would be to develop that acreage into a mixed use community consisting of parks, sports fields, urban scale retail, commercial and residential spaces in which people wish to linger. The “wish to linger” is a key element of lifestyle real estate development. Professional and ametur baseball, skateboard, BMX, common greens, limited scale tennis, etc. are uses that would contribute to an environment that would support diverse public use over limited access commercial development. Think of it as Richmond’s take on Central Park. I just hope that solutions for the Coliseum and the Boulevard don’t become generational projects as is too often the case with Richmond’s tentative progress.
Brian Glass cannot be trusted. He pushes corporate welfare schemes and misinformation and he is infamous for not making full disclosure as a ‘journalist’ – that’s why he no longer has a column in the Times Dispatch.
I urge RichmondBIzSense and other local publications to think twice before running Glass pieces.
I disagree with the conventional wisdom that the Coliseum is “functionally obsolete.” I just watched the CAA tournament there and everything was very functional. There were a lot of seats for spectators to sit on. In the middle of the seats there was constructed a basketball court for the teams to play upon. There was a roof above the seats to maintain constant temperature and light. There were even free bathrooms and water fountains to supplement the myriad concession areas and the CAA bar on the ground floor.
Beyond these amenities and the functions they performed, I’m not sure what modern arena features are lacking that made my experience “obsolete.” Call me old fashioned (or obsolete, if you will) but I don’t need a ten story LCD television hanging over my head to enjoy mid-major basketball and monster trucks.
Since we are talking redevelopment here.. I suggest keeping the New Coliseum right where it is., re develop the Diamond area with residential housing, and MOVE the Flying Squirrels to a new home on the southside of the James, the outfield of the ballpark looking at the beautiful skyline of Richmond. The Coliseum would continue to serve local and out of town visitors and help downtown hotels and businesses. The Squirrels and Richmond area residents would reap community benefits from getting acquainted with other parts of Richmond than I-95. roadway view.
I dont think the suburbanites will be happy until they completely ruin downtown Richmond. The building definitely needs to be replaced but If its built on the boulevard NO ONE will ever walk to an event. The suburbanites think every thing has to have acres of ugly surface parking. This would emove it from a great pedestrian environment.
To say it is hard to get to the current environment is obsurd. Very easy access.
The people in the counties are doing everything they can to ruin Richmond. This hurts the hotels and restaurants downtown.
If the biotech park had built mid and high rise buildings as they should have they wouldnt need more land.
This would be good for the counties bad for the city.
THIS IS A REAL BAD IDEA IN EVERY WAY.
Totally agree with the guy above me…
Why are you all so opposed to anything happening downtown? Oh yeah, I remember now, because all of you moved out to the suburbs and love going to short pump. When did going to a concert downtown and going out to bars before/ afterward become a bad thing? So many of the restaurants and business downtown are suffering because everyone thinks its a great idea to not build a new baseball field downtown and not its not a great idea to repair/ keep the coliseum downtown. Have any of you been the area around the Diamond? If you have you would know there is absolutely nothing there…. Oh sweet, Bill’s barbecue… That’s it! Oh yeah, I forgot, a couple of crappy hotels. How is that area going to draw anybody to coming to concerts? Its not. Go downtown, appreciate your city, participate in the life of your city or move to Wyndham and go to the Innsbrook pavilion next time Foreign and Nickelback come to town…
JacksonWardResident… you need to go to a new arena and see what modern looks like. Even a 10-year-old arena will do for purposes of comparing to Richmond’s. Our place is a dump. You may not need the bells and whistles, but the majority of people who go to events want them and the attractions that come to the facility want them. That means you provide them. Shoot, even bull riding is going to Charlottesville in the fall instead of here. We don’t have bells and whistles now and we get nothing.
To build a new facility that can outdraw the JPJ or the Verizon Center in DC will take $200 million minimum, and it’ll all be taxpayer money. If Richmond residents are ready to put up that kind of scratch for an arena that has no significant full-time tenant and won’t pay that money back for decades, so be it. I don’t think we as a community are ready to make that kind of commitment, especially in this economy.
I apologize to Brian Glass for my earlier comment.
I do not in fact know the exact reason why he stopped writing for the Times Dispatch and I should not have written that. I will refrain from personally attacking his character in the future.
Obviously, we have different points of view, and I appreciate Mr. Glass’ willingness to allow me to correct my mistake.
Let’s be real… Any new venue that Richmond would build will not outdraw the Verizon Center in DC. The main reason is that it’s in DC and there are reasons major artists go there aside from the venue. They can always put 18,000 butts in the seats there. Richmond struggles to fill the Coliseum that’s a 1/3 smaller for most major acts that actually do come here (and there aren’t many). A new venue would be great, but Richmond needs a tenant to justifiy it as the Coliseum is way outdated as we all know. Monster truck shows and the circus don’t justify it though. And wannabe minor league arena teams that only last 3 years here don’t either. Maybe the ultimate solution is to just implode it and let the VA Biotech campus continue to grow there. It probably would be better economically anyways…
James I understand your point, and certainly we could add some nicer amenities to the Coliseum. But there’s a difference between lacking some bells and whistles and functional obsolescence like Mr. Glass says. Functionally, the building does exactly what a brand new building would do which is why I don’t think we need to build a new one. Let’s give it a nice renovation and change the appearance of it, but I don’t believe that is the type of facility that is worth replacing at enormous cost to taxpayers.
As a somewhat related topic, the city will prove it wants to attract more touring acts when it gets rid of the crushing 7% admissions tax. The admissions tax scares away a lot more touring acts than the Coliseum.