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!
