“New” development north of Broad on Staples Mill

Posted: December 19, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Commercial Leasing, Henrico County, Multi-family Housing, New Development, Office Buildings, Redevelopment, Residential, Retail | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

About once a month I get a question about the large, vacant property that borders Staples Mill Road that is just north of West Broad Street, right over the Henrico Count line. My answer is always that it was an old, rundown neighborhood that was purchased and cleared with the intention of rebuilding, and that the developer is the same group that is doing the project at Monument Avenue and Willow Lawn Drive – Gumenick Properties. As to why it hasn’t been started, well just look around at new building all around the country. The developer was obviously waiting until the economy turns around.

But, I always have to give that answer with the caveat that the last official word I had heard about it was a few years ago. I couldn’t even be sure that the same plans were in place. Thankfully I can point to this article on Richmond.com that gives us the lowdown on the current situation — which is pretty much as described as above. It sounds as though things are just on hold, but the same big plans are still on the books. In fact, this project is expected to take 10 years even once they finally get underway.

You need to go read the article to see all of the reported details, but I thought I would share a couple of details of the plans here:

What: Staples Mill Centre, proposed to include 1,096 apartments, 571 condominiums, 391 townhouses, 32 single-family homes, 60,000 square feet of offices, and 100,000 square feet of stores.

Where: About 80 acres between Staples Mill Road, Libbie Avenue and Bethlehem Road, near Interstate 64.


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Today’s Grand Opening at White Oak Village (pictures, too!)

Posted: October 13, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Henrico County, New Development, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers | Leave a comment »

Today was the big day for the Shops at White Oak Village!  The
eagerly anticipated shopping center was formally introduced to the
community this morning, and while the line of speakers patting each
other on the back for a job well done was the agenda for the event (and
well deserved!), the important news is that this is not your typical
shopping center.

Every developer says that their shopping center
is unique, but this time it was proven.  Not only was the environment
taken highly into consideration in the construction and build-out, but
the way the traffic is controlled and the landscaping is done lends to
a very pedestrian-friendly environment.

Then again, this is the
same developer that did Short Pump Town Center and that was a new style
for the area, too.  I have to say that it is refreshing to see that
there are developers doing such high quality work and not just churning
out the same strip mall over and over again.

GrandOpening_WhiteOak
Entrance_WhiteOak PededstrianFriendly_WhiteOak
OneSide_WhiteOak
Main_WhiteOak

UPDATE #4: White Oak Village

Posted: October 9, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Henrico County, Hotels, New Development, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers | Leave a comment »

Lately I have seen a flood of inquiries for information on the newest addition of shops in the East End of Richmond — The Shops at White Oak Village.  From all of the internet traffic, it is easy to believe that this shopping center will be a huge hit.

With the GRAND OPENING occurring this Monday, October 13, it is an appropriate time to revisit the project and see how everything stands for the public unveiling.  All of the shops that were revealed in the previous post (3/27/08) have been confirmed, plus quite a few more.  Take a look at this page of the official website for the directory of shops.

Several comments from the previous post called for a fitness center, a Chipotle, and a movie theater.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though any of those are on board yet — except that there is a Qdoba scheduled to open right away!

There is a grand opening event on Monday that I will be attending, so I will be sure to report back with my impression of the overall project and see if I can bend the ear of an insider to find out about any other hot pieces of info to share! 

Be sure to check back next week for the update, or just subscribe using your feed reader or by typing your email address in the "subscribe" box under my picture along the left hand side of this window (be sure to confirm your address when the service sends you their email).  If there is anything else you would like for me to find out, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!

(In the meantime, take a look back through the other updates for this project on this blog:  5/15/07 and 6/15/06)

UPDATE: The Shops at White Oak Village

Posted: March 27, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Henrico County, New Development, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers | Leave a comment »

Since there have been so many inquiries to my blog regarding The Shops at White Oak Village (see previous entries on the subject from 5/15/07 and 6/15/06), I thought it was time for an update.  Considering the time between each posting on the shopping center development, maybe I should consider labeling this as an annual update…

Now there is an official website for the project, and there are confirmed tenants listed:

Here's a factoid that I knew but had forgotten — the developer for The Shops at White Oak Village is the same developer that put together Short Pump Town Center and River Lofts at Tobacco Row, Forest City Enterprises.  Of course, given the confirmed tenant mix so far, White Oak will be a very different shopping center than Short Pump is.  That doesn't mean it won't be a good mix, just that it will be different — hopefully different in the way that reflects the needs and wants of the surrounding demographics.

It looks as though the project is still on target for a grand opening in Fall 2008, but we'll keep an eye out for any updates to that — and maybe another update before a full year passes…

[EDIT (10/13/08): Click here for the latest update on the Shops at White Oak Village.]

[EDIT (10/31/08): Click here for pictures and a post about the grand opening today!]

Read this warning before buying new home construction!

Posted: March 11, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: New Development, Residential, Weblogs | Leave a comment »

I’m not a residential real estate agent (although I can refer you to several good ones, if you need), so I don’t usually address home purchasing issues on this blog.  I do, however, follow many good blogs that focus on residential real estate and every once in a while come across a gem that begs to be shared.  Going forward, I’ll be sure to share those postings here when the topic is applicable to the Richmond market.

Here is the first of these postings:  "Buying new construction without a Realtor? Read this first!" by Jim Duncan on REALCentralVA.com.

Jim makes a good point that:

One size certainly does not fit all. Certainly, not all new
construction contracts are this odious and one-sided, but buyers (and
Realtors) need to be aware that this type of contract is out there, is
being used and is being signed by Buyers without even a hint of Buyer
Representation.

Be sure to read Jim’s post.  It’s scary that this kind of language is in a contract.  Another lesson to take from this is always read before you sign anything and make sure you understand the language that is being used.

Latest Plans for the Boulevard

Posted: February 23, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Government Institutions, New Development, Redevelopment, Residential, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers | Leave a comment »

A short but very interesting article in this morning’s RTD discusses the redevelopment plans for the area around the Diamond on Boulevard.  The focus of the article was more on the deadline yesterday for developers to submit their bids on the project, but I found the details of the City’s plans for the area to be more interesting than the names of the developers

(Although, it is interesting that Douglas Development Corp. has bid on the project.  That’s the firm owned by Douglas Jemal.  They are firmly entrenched in DC and Maryland, and have been buying up properties downtown over the past couple of years.)

Per the advertised qualifications for the bids, the City has outlined their vision of the redevelopment:

  • a new 8,000-seat baseball stadium closer to I-95 — When I first read that,  I couldn’t imagine it being very much closer than the Diamond is now, but it could be moved back towards the I-95 South entrance ramp.
  • redevelopment of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control headquarters, perhaps to include the relocation of the Richmond Coliseum to this site
  • demolish the Diamond, using the 27-acre site for a mixed-use development
  • demolish the city maintenance complex, resulting in another 27-acre site for redevelopment
  • build a parking deck beside the Arthur Ashe Center

It will be interesting to see it all move forward, and to see the renderings that the chosen developer presents.  If anyone has further insight on the project, I would love to hear more!

IKEA to make an even bigger splash in Danville

Posted: February 16, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: New Development | Leave a comment »

The City of Danville, Virginia, has endured more than its fair share of economic woes.  There was a series of plant closings between 2003 and 2006 that resulted in loss of a few thousand jobs.

In the meantime, international companies have been targeting Virginia for their North American expansion plans.  IKEA is one of those companies.  IKEA-supplier and -subsidiary, Swedwood North America, is IKEA’s first manufacturing plant in the United States.  The announcement of their planned plant in Danville came in October 2006, and already 125 of the expected 740 employees are in place. 

Now, another IKEA-supplier is planning to locate a new plant just a few blocks away in Danville.  Governor Tim Kaine announced Thursday that Polish company Com.40 will be bringing 813 jobs to the area. (see the entire press release here)  The RTD reports that production on the plant is scheduled to begin at the end of this year.

Comments on The Crupi Report

Posted: November 27, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: General, Government Institutions, Hanover County, Henrico County, New Development, Office Buildings, Redevelopment, Residential, Restaurants, Retail | Leave a comment »

I just finished reading The Crupi Report, and there is quite a bit that I agree with…and some that I don’t.  Instead of taking this post to get into the individual points that I am for or against, I wanted to share my most immediate gut criticisms of the report:

  1. What was up with the misspellings?  I noticed a handful sprinkled throughout the report (and I wasn’t looking for them) — "lose" was mispelled a couple of times, i.e.
  2. What is the "medium of house prices"?  I assume Dr. Crupi meant "median", but I can’t be sure.  Maybe he meant average?  Who knows…
  3. There was a quote from "A black leader" that said "I drank from the back of the bus, but it doesn’t define my life."  I get the meaning and appreciate it.  But, am I missing some piece of historical reference here or is that a mixed reference — i.e., sitting at the back of the bus and having to drink at a different water fountain?  Given the other mistakes in the report, I don’t know whether that is a misquote or the actual words he/she used.  Either way, it’s  wouldn’t have used it in the report as-is.

My point is not to be nit-picky, but come on, these are pretty simple mistakes to catch and correct.  Why undermine your credibility by letting them slip through?  I certainly don’t think that my writing is perfect, but I’m not getting paid to produce reports that are going to be read by an entire region.

Getting past the simple mistakes, I enjoyed the overall theme of urging cooperation and overarching vision as necessary for the strategic growth of the entire region.

One of my favorite quotes from the report was:  "It is ironic that while people in the counties recognize that the city can influence it with negative pollitical and economic images, they under-appreciate the benefits of what would happen if those same images were positive."

I am anticipating a great future for the Richmond-metro area, and I think that this report was a great way to generate interest and involvement by the general populace.

New Downtown Master Plan released today

Posted: November 26, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Government Institutions, New Development, Office Buildings, Redevelopment, Residential, Restaurants, Retail | Leave a comment »

The new Downtown Master Plan was presented today.  See the following link for a quick RTD article about it: Richmond leaders see vision of downtown – News – inRich.com.

Here are links to the different parts of the plan:

It looks like a night of reading reports, between this new release and catching up on The Crupi Report.  I hope to have some insightful feedback for you within the next couple of days.

[edit, 5/17/10: I realize that the links for the Master Plan no longer work, but I don't seem to be able to find where they've put it. If you find it, please add a link in the comments below! -- NVH]

How to influence the future of Richmond

Posted: November 26, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: General, Government Institutions, Hanover County, Henrico County, New Development, Redevelopment | Leave a comment »

There aren’t many times in a region’s development where the leaders sincerely ask for guidance and input from the general populace.  Granted, this has been an initiative organized by a group of local business leaders and headed up by the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, but it is getting a lot of attention from the general population and recognition by the local governments.

If you are watching for the report delivered last Monday to be mentioned in the local news or blogs, it has been referred to as "The Crupi Report".  Dr. James Crupi was brought in "to re-examine the
greater Richmond area and make recommendations that would enhance its
future development and competitive position." — (see the article about the report on Richmond.com, or another article here from RTD)

I still need to sit down and read the report for the details, and I am hoping that the majority of people in the region do the same thing.  For your own You can find the report over at the GRCC‘s website by clicking here.  Over the next several months, those same business leaders who commissioned the report are looking for reactions from all of us.

An open forum on the subject is scheduled for Tuesday night at 7pm at the Richmond Times Dispatch’s Public Square, which will be held at their Hanover production facility.  (Click here for the announcement of the Public Square)  The address is
        8460 Times-Dispatch Blvd. Mechanicsville, VA 23116.  See you there!

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