Baseball debate turning into a full season of speculation

As soon as it seems dead in the water, the baseball debate in Richmond keeps coming back.

Charlie Diradour extended his hand in peace today to those in the opposite dugout at a news conference he called.

Connecticut, the giant Indian sculpture, looked down over the scene, a thick layer of pollen dusted over its head and shoulders.

“The arguments are over with,” Diradour said to a small audience of reporters gathered in front of the Diamond this morning.

Diradour was an outspoken critic of the downtown stadium plan recently dropped by Highwoods Properties. He founded his own website, BaseballontheBoulevard.com, as an advocacy platform for bringing baseball back to the stadium abandoned last year by the Richmond Braves. Diradour also owns a development company, Lion’s Paw Development, that is active primarily in the Fan District.

Today he announced he was shutting down the Baseball on the Boulevard site and launching Friends of Richmond Baseball to take its place.

“What I want to do is bring both universes together,” Diradour said.

He invited corporations to post their logo on the site to show support of bringing an Eastern League team to Richmond. He also announced he was shutting down his Facebook group and replacing it with Friends of Richmond Baseball, inviting supporters of the Shockoe Center plan to join as well.

Diradour made it clear he still was personally in support of redeveloping the Diamond, in particular a plan by Maryland-based Opening Day Partners owned by Peter Kirk for $28 million. The company has developed as many as 14 ballparks along the East Coast.

“Peter Kirk sent a plan to the administration,” Diradour said. “I call on the administration to at least call Peter Kirk.”

But that plan could have some competition.

The Times-Dispatch reported today that  the Reynolds Packaging Group is pitching their property on the south bank of the James River, directly across from downtown, as a  possible site for a new stadium.

The T-D reports that a Reynolds executive “pointed out the property” to Mayor Dwight Jones and other city leaders as a good location for a stadium. Real estate firm CB Richard Ellis is marketing the sale of the 18-acre property.

City officials said no one has proposed to them an official plan to build a stadium at that location.

Movieland: one-hit wonder or solid long-term business?

The developers of Movieland may be on to something.

The theater opened on Friday to what looked like a huge crowd. When I drove by Friday at 6:45 p.m., the parking lot was packed.  (To see a video tour of the inside, click here )

That’s encouraging, but not surprising. Movieland spent heavily on advertising, with ads online (including RBS) on the sides of trucks driving around town and in every printed media outlet I saw.

But movie theaters nationwide seem to be showing a counter-recessionary trend – that is consumers are spending more on movies than last year. And that means Movieland’s New York developers might have struck at the perfect time.

According to a story in the NY Times , ticket sales were up 17.5% in 2009 compared to 2008.
And according to the story, movie-goers prefer light topics, like romantic comedies, to darker films. “Over the last year or two, studios have released movies that are happier, scarier or just less depressing than what came before. After poor results for a spate of serious dramas built around the Middle East (“The Kingdom,” “Lions for Lambs,” “Rendition”), Hollywood got back to comedies like “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” a review-proof lark about an overstuffed security guard.

“A bunch of movies have come along that don’t make you think too much,” said Marc Abraham, a producer whose next film is a remake of “The Thing.”

Sneak Preview: Movieland

Movieland by Bow-Tie Cinemas, Richmond City’s first movie theater in 35 years, opened its doors to the press to showcase the 17-screen multiplex in advance of its opening Feb. 27. Read more

Limo company moves to the Boulevard

Consumers and businesses might be cutting expenses, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from riding in style. James Limousine increased sales 40 percent over the previous year. Now the company rings in the New Year by moving into a 27,000-square-foot facility at 1207 North Boulevard.

Randy Allen, co-owner and vice president of sales and marketing, said the company was running out of room at their previous location on Staples Mill Road. Read more

Coming spring 09: Boulevard Movie Theater

A new movie theater on North Boulevard in Richmond will be showing flicks in early 2009, according to a mondo banner that went up this week. Bow Tie Partners, the NY-based developer, is calling the project Boulevard Square. The theater is slated to be called Movieland. It will be the only theater in the City of Richmond to play first-run pictures. Read more