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August 28, 2020 by Nathan Hughes

The Scoop on Ruby Scoops

The fond memories Rabia Kamara held on to from her childhood have a common, sugary theme: ice cream. Now, she wants a space for others to create memories.

After applying to law school upon graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University, she realized this was not her path to happiness. Instead, she attended L’Académie de Cuisine in Maryland and garnered eight years of restaurant experience.

With the intention of opening her own shop one day, Rabia began exploring her dream while living in DC, making desserts for various restaurants.

With a competitive real estate market in DC, she decided to look at Richmond where she held fond memories of college. A friend connected her to Sperity Real Estate Ventures.

Originally, she wanted to be closer to the VCU campus but it didn’t feel quite right. The joint efforts of Veronica and the Sperity team resulted in finding a perfect location in Richmond’s northside.

After looking at several possibilities, one of which would require extensive renovations, Sperity found a location a few blocks away at 120 W. Brookland Park Blvd, on the same block as other food joints including Ms. Bee’s Juice Bar and Ninja Kombucha. The community reception met and exceeded Rabia’s expectations.

Emmett Wright joins Rabia in opening Ruby Scoops. They met rather serendipitously at a panel on women-owned ice cream businesses, as Emmett was interested in opening their own ice cream shop, too. Emmett also enjoys fond childhood memories that center around ice cream, and had found themselves producing ice cream at Helen’s, perfecting a dairy-free ice cream to serve friends in the community.

When the shop opens, expect prepackaged pints and sandwiches, vegan desserts and  milkshakes to-go. Once restrictions are loosened, handcrafted sundaes and custom cookies will be added to the mix. In the meantime, you can support Ruby Scoops on Kickstarter and find her at local pop-ups around the Richmond area.

“It was nice to have them on our side, doing the work to make sure that our dreams of being here were fulfilled. They’re amazing.” Rabia reminisced. “They were always there when we needed something and it’s rare to get that in any business situation. We were prioritized.”

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Commercial Leasing, Company News, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail Tagged With: business owners, City of Richmond, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, Local Businesses, Redevelopment, retail business, retail real estate, Richmond, Richmond neighborhoods, RVA, Virginia

July 15, 2020 by Nathan Hughes

Instrumental Growth for Spacebomb

When Spacebomb, a Richmond based record label and recording studio, began to outgrow their Shockoe Bottom studio, they knew it would be a challenge to find a space that fit their needs and would allow them to grow in the direction they needed. Through a mutual friend, they had met and gotten to know Nathan over the years and knew if anyone would be up for the challenge, it was the Sperity team. Nathan and Veronica worked together to ensure the Spacebomb team wouldn’t miss a beat.

Spacebomb started looking for a new space in 2017. As a record label and recording studio, they had unique needs that they knew would take time to find. They were looking for a space that would have room to house both the creative team and the folks running the label and production company all under the same roof. Keeping these two teams together allows for communication in an efficient and fast paced way. “It’s a necessity in our industry,” says Jesse Medaries. “The ability to make decisions on the fly is super useful.” This space would need to have both an office area, and a full recording studio.

What does a recording studio require? A simplified breakdown includes the “live room” and the “control room.” The live room houses microphones where instrumentalists and vocalists perform and the control room houses equipment where the engineers and producers record the “tracks.” These are very specific needs, and not every space is able to be accommodating.

Nathan and Veronica didn’t waste Spacebomb’s time by showing them just anything that was available. They knew what their needs were, and showed spaces that they believed would truly work for them. Jesse remembered, “We looked at a few spaces that could have worked but didn’t quite meet what we needed. Eventually she showed us the space that we’re currently in.” Plans changed and a few months went by before the team decided to go back and look at the 106 S Robinson Street space.

The new space has been instrumental in their growth. “We’ve had a ton of really positive feedback on the space alone,” chimed Jesse. A lot of time, thought, and energy went into creating Spacebomb’s new headquarters. Not just the recording studio, designed by partner Trey Pollard in consultation with Adrian Olsen (of Montrose Recording), but the overall vibe and aesthetic — two things important in the music and art industries.

On top of finding a new space, Nathan and Veronica were tasked with finding a sublet for their Shockoe Bottom location. Handling both parts allowed for Spacebomb to focus on what really mattered: taking care of the artists they managed, and producing music.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Commercial Leasing, Redevelopment Tagged With: business environment, business owners, City of Richmond, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, Local Businesses, real estate development, Redevelopment, Richmond, RVA, Virginia

July 13, 2020 by Nathan Hughes

My TOP 5 Favorite Projects [VIDEO]

My TOP 5 Favorite Projects:

Hey RICHMOND!!!Do you love supporting LOCAL businesses and organizations?That's what I love MOST about my job. I’ve been in the commercial real estate and brokerage world for over 15 years. I get to help local businesses and organizations find a place to call home right here in Richmond. In fact, here are my TOP 5 Favorite Projects:#1) Flooring RVA.We helped find them a new showroom with more space AND we were able to help find a tenant to replace their previous lease so they could make a clean break.#2) The Summit (Scott’s Addition area).Such a great, action packed area of town where we were able to help long time friends sell two different properties at the same time.#3) Nomad Deli & Catering Company.Anthony and his family are proof that the American Dream is alive. They started this family owned business as tenants, but eventually bought their building and have continued a successful (and delicious) restaurant!#4) LUX ChurchThis is a great community minded organization that brought life back into a building that was over 130 years old and an area landmark.#5) Liberty Public HouseWhen Alexa told us about her dream concept of a restaurant inside a renovated, historical building, we knew we had just the right property for her! In fact, she moved all the way back to Richmond from the west coast to fulfill her dream of being a restaurant owner.

Posted by Sperity Real Estate Ventures on Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Filed Under: Buying a Business, City of Richmond, Commercial Leasing, General, Hanover County, Henrico County, Investing, Multi-family Housing, Office Buildings, Restaurants, Retail, Selling a Business Tagged With: apartments, business brokering, business owners, buying a business, Church Hill, City of Richmond, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, Local Businesses, real estate development, Redevelopment, Restaurants, retail real estate, Richmond, Sperity, Virginia

July 10, 2020 by Nathan Hughes

Muslim Beauty Salon Lands Permanent Mark on Main Street

Permanent makeup? You may be raising an eyebrow, but that is exactly where this story starts. 4 years ago, Ashley Meggie decided to get permanent makeup eyebrows — that is, a tattoo that mimics eyebrows. With alopecia, she had been drawing on her eyebrows for several years but had only considered permanent makeup when a Youtube beauty guru recorded herself getting them done.

Tattoos are viewed negatively in the Muslim community, so prior to her appointment, Ashley visited the Islamic Center of Virginia to get permission. They officially ruled it was permissible for her (and others) to receive permanent eyebrows as a tattoo, as one is allowed to do what is necessary to achieve a level of “normalcy.”

It took Ashley a three hour drive to Maryland, a three hour procedure, and a three hour drive back to Richmond to accomplish, and that left her thinking that there had to be a way to bring this to Richmond. So she went to work researching and then studying to become a permanent makeup artist.

With a business plan developed, Ashley had been looking for a downtown location for Boastful Beauty for a few months with no success. On a visit to see a vacant building on East Grace Street she met Nathan Hughes by chance. After peering into a building curiously, Nathan stepped out to ask if she needed assistance, and their working relationship began right then, when after hearing about her vision, Nathan took her immediately to see a unit off of 5th and East Main Street.

After meeting Nathan, Ashley did some more research. “As a Muslim business, I really liked that he had a lot of ties in the religious community. He’s very involved with helping churches and community based programs find buildings.”

“East Main is definitely a major road. It’s just as synonymous as Broad Street to me. I couldn’t ask for a better location, and it’s a corner lot. You can see my business from two angles.”

Boastful Beauty is Virginia’s first and only Muslim beauty salon. There are only a few in the country, including California, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. People travel far and wide to visit, from Fredericksburg and Stafford to as far as Philadelphia.

“I didn’t realize I was doing a big thing, I went viral when I shared on Facebook. I had over 6,000 friends request in less than 24 hours. The Muslim community went crazy!”

Boastful Beauty also offers services for Muslim women like henna, hair wax/dying, press on nails instead of acrylics. But she stresses that all are welcome. Of the five on staff, two are Muslim, and the other 3 are from different backgrounds and races. “I want everyone to feel welcome here.” Everyone is represented. “When you look at our logo, you see diversity. All women are welcome to come to our salon.”

At only 25, Ashley took her vision and made it a reality. In the future she hopes to branch to Short Pump and offer more medi-spa procedures such as chemical peels, botox, and lymphatic drainage. While managing her new business, she’s also back in school and writing up a curriculum to found Boastful Academy, where she can train others to become professional permanent makeup artists.

“Anytime I called and asked for help, they had so many resources to share with me. I know they’ll represent me in the future when I’m ready to grow,” she says.

 

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Commercial Leasing, Retail Tagged With: business owners, City of Richmond, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, Local Businesses, retail business, retail real estate, Richmond, RVA, Virginia

May 1, 2013 by Amber Shiflett

Coworking finds its home in Richmond @804RVA

Over the past decade coworking spaces have been popping up in big cities across the nation and with the changes in the economy, these spaces have been successful in fostering new ideas and startup businesses.

Larkin Garbee

804RVA Founder Larkin Garbee Photo by: Phil Riggan, Richmond.com

In America the median income for independent workers is about $51 thousand, according to a 2012 government report by the State of Independence government report. This coworking movement has even made its way to the Richmond market. 804RVA is the area’s first and only official co-working space, which is fueled by creativity and techie innovation.

Coworking is a concept that was originally cultivated in the late 1990s from the term “jelly” in New York City by a group of freelancers and it has now evolved into a worldwide movement. The concept is to create a shared workspace for freelancers, consultants and other people who typically work from home. The idea is to develop a space where creativity and new ideas can grow and people can exchange designs while working productively and freely.

804RVA was founded October 2011 by local small business dynamo, Larkin Garbee. “I was just looking for a creative, collaborative office space and I hadn’t understood the coworking culture yet,” Garbee said. Wolf shirt days, creativity, collaboration and jelly pretty much sum up the co-working movement at RVA. 804RVA is located on the corner of Allen and Broad streets near the VCU campus.

Garbee’s personality and experience is the model that the 804RVA coworking structure was built around. “I have a passion for technology but I also represent a lot of other things for small businesses and marketing,” she said.

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804RVA is an artistic, joint office area that is built in the showroom of Garbee’s other business, James River Tile. “I felt like it was a shame to have such a really gorgeous location that was being completely underutilized,” said Garbee. It wasn’t long before 804RVA was created.
“I think Larkin is really kind of the main reason most people are attracted to this and keep coming and that’s because she is a freaking fireball,” said Dorsey McFadden a digital marketing consultant and 804RVA coworker.

804RVA provides its members with varying levels of coworking zones including private offices, collaborative spaces, semi-private work areas and conference rooms. People come to 804RVA for a number of reasons including the value of working with others, for a sense of motivation, inspiration and unique networking opportunities. At 804RVA coworking gives people an opportunity to meet and interact with their peers in an environment that facilitates productivity and learning.

“To me and the next generation as a whole, we don’t want to just spend our time just passing out business cards. We want to learn, we want to get our hands on stuff and figure out how it works,” Garbee said. “Some coworking spaces are unique to having strictly just developers or just designers and I would say ours is truly a mix.”

Coworkers at 804RVA come from a variety of professional backgrounds such as web design, real estate, copy writing, web developing, marketing and researching.

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804RVA is known for its culture because it is different from that of a traditional workplace culture, since there are no bosses there is no tension between supervisors and workers. “The culture changes day-to-day depending on who comes in,” said Dan Kanach, 804RVA coworker and owner of One Duck Creative, a small creative media company. “It is generally like-minded, driven people who want to be around other driven people.” Most 804 coworkers agree that 804RVA provides a fun environment where individuals are free to create and collaborate. “I couldn’t see myself working with other people if I wasn’t here,” Kasach said, who described himself as a bit of an introvert.

Matt Russo is another 804RVA coworker who has been a member almost since the beginning. Russo is a freelance graphic designer and is currently working developing projects for 804RVA. He says 804 is still trying to invent its culture. Currently people are working hands-on trying to make the space a more active community rather than a place used strictly for working. “Members are trying to make 804RVA a place where people interact together, work on projects together and go out together,” Russo said. 804RVA offers classes and organizes social events to strengthen the overall coworking community.

Brian Bassett is a software development principal at IBM and a coworker at 804RVA who chooses to work from 804RVA instead of his traditional office setting because he finds the environment to be more dynamic, exciting, interesting and collaborative. “It’s collaborative even though people work on their own projects, work for different businesses and have different goals,” Basset said.

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Coworking is especially helpful to freelancers and remote workers because it provides those people with a sense of community and inspiration. “It creates a melting pot of creativity,” McFadden said, “not just design creative but techie too.” McFadden sees coworking spaces as motivational tools and she is driven by the office setting because it pushes her to be more accountable.

Coworking facilities like 804RVA operate based on memberships and provide members with better quality networking and stronger relationships. McFadden says small business people get the most out of these networking connections because it makes it easier access others and collaborate.

Coworking has helped some members break into new, cutting edge technology-based job markets. McFadden says coworking helps to hone professional skills and mold individual qualities and as a result of 804RVA she landed her first Pinterest account management job.

After talking with Garbee and Richmond’s coworkers the consensus is that people are tired of waiting on big companies to offer up jobs so they have taken matters into their own hands and created new jobs and projects through collaboration. People often turn to coworking spaces like 804RVA because of the lack of opportunities in traditional careers.

Some people agree with Dorsey McFadden and Dan Kanach and say coworking spaces serve a greater purpose as more transitional occupations. On the other hand others agree with Russo and Bassett and say these collaboration spaces have great potential to ultimately lead to better opportunities and new industries. As for Larkin Garbee, she says the future looks bright for coworking spaces in Richmond. As new ideas grow and evolve, she looks forward to playing host to more collaborative projects and classes in the future. She is currently planning on a larger scaled coworking space that will serve a larger community in the Greater Richmond Area by making things more accessible to non-members.

 

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Commercial Leasing, Office Buildings Tagged With: business environment, business owners, City of Richmond, commercial real estate, coworking, downtown Richmond, Local Businesses, Richmond, RVA, Virginia

October 17, 2012 by Nathan Hughes

What’s going on with all of the restaurant closings lately?!

There has been a lot of attention given to the recent closings of restaurants in the Richmond area. There have been a lot lately, no doubt — here is a list of closings this year from Richmond.com that they are keeping up-to-date as things change. Some of these have been big surprises to the community at large, but it is important to keep in mind a  few things.

Not all businesses close (or are for sale) because of poor sales. There are a variety of reasons:

  • personal issues (divorce, wanting to spend more time with children, need to take care of an elderly parent, the owner has an illness)
  • the business strategy has changed (the owners no longer want to be in a particular area of town, the owners only want to operate where they own the building)
  • the owners are absentee and have other full-time jobs that are suffering because of the demands of owning a restaurant
  • the business is on track to make a profit but the owners have run out of operating capital
  • the owner is burned out, having spent the last XX number of years in the same location
  • the owners realize that the best time to sell is when business is booming — cash out while things are good and maximize the sales price
  • poor money management — sales might be great, but if you don’t manage your money well then you won’t stay open for long
  • the landlord isn’t willing to renew the lease — maybe they have a better offer from another prospective tenant
  • the owner isn’t changing, but they are changing the concept
I have seen all of these over the 8 years that I have been brokering restaurant deals and I am absolutely certain that I haven’t seen everything. There is always something new in this business, for good and bad.

There is also the counterbalancing effect of new restaurants opening up. Karri Peifer, Editor and Food Writer at Richmond.com, has been keeping track:

35 opened or coming soon. RT @karripeifer: 31 restaurants closings thus far in 2012. ow.ly/er5lN #rvadine

— Karri Peifer (@KarriPeifer) October 12, 2012

Almost one year ago, we posted a story about the transitioning of ownership of one Richmond restaurant legacy, Mulligan’s Sports Grille. The past month (Tuesday, October 9, 2012, to be exact) has unfortunately brought us the end to this story — covered here by CBS6 and here by Richmond.com. The restaurant’s official statement from their website is posted here (click the photo to enlarge) –>

Another restaurant that has gotten a lot of press coverage for its closing is Cafe Diem, at the corner of Patterson Ave and N Sheppard St in the Museum District — and right beside our office at 604 N Sheppard St. Since our company is involved in the ownership and management of their building, and most of the commercial property in the area, the media turned to us for some insight.

NBC12 coverage of Cafe Diem closing (with video and a guest appearance from yours truly)

Richmond.com coverage of Cafe Diem closing

Richmond Bizsense coverage of Cafe Diem closing

I think the press has done an excellent job with the coverage on this closing. It is often a touchy subject, not only for the restaurant owner(s) but the landlord, the restaurant employees, the loyal patrons, the restaurant vendors, and even the surrounding businesses.

In short, there are lots of reasons why restaurants close. Sure, times are tough all around and lots of people are cutting back on spending, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. If anything, if you enjoy a particular restaurant, be sure to visit it plenty and enjoy it while it’s here. It is fun to always look for the next big thing, but don’t forget about the old favorites either.  — By the way, there are LOTS of new restaurants coming soon. Keep an eye out here for announcements!

Filed Under: B&H News, Buying a Business, City of Richmond, Commercial Leasing, Hanover County, Henrico County, Restaurants, Selling a Business, Television Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, business brokering, business environment, business owners, buying a business, City of Richmond, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, Economy, property management, Restaurants, Richmond, RVA

June 28, 2012 by CarliAmber

The Seven Hills of Richmond

Like Rome, Richmond, VA is a city that was built on seven hills. With all of the hills in Richmond, you may be wondering what are the “official” seven, where are they located and what makes these neighborhoods a great place to live in or own a business?

According to a 1937 ordinance by the City of Richmond, the seven official hills of RVA are:

  • Union Hill
  • Council Chamber Hill
  • French Garden Hill
  • Navy Hill
  • Gambles Hill
  • Shockoe Hill
  • Church  Hill

     Click on the map for an interactive view of the Seven Hills of Richmond

Here at RVAbusiness, we are going to explore Richmond’s neighborhoods, the “Seven Hills” and uncover what each neighborhood has to offer.  Stay tuned for more about the Seven Hills!

Filed Under: City of Richmond, General Tagged With: Church Hill, Council Chamber Hill, downtown Richmond, French Garden Hill, Gambles Hill, Navy Hill, Residential, Richmond neighborhoods, RVA, Seven Hills, Shockoe Hill, Union Hill

June 15, 2012 by Lauren Noelle Gauthier

RVA To Adopt Mass Transit by 2015

Good news, RVA!  After years of city-wide planning and discussions forums by various Richmond-based transportation groups like GRTC, VDOT and VHSR, mass transit is finally coming to Richmond.

Officially underway and expected to launch in 2015, GRTC will be implementing a “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)” system from Willow Lawn to Rocketts Landing, with Main Street Station as a passenger drop-off/pick-up hub.

The first step towards bringing mass transit to Richmond, the idea of BRT is to have a large passenger bus run on a dedicated track lane that will bring large amounts of travelers to point-to-point destinations.

Ultimately, the BRT system will lay the foundation for an INTER-city passenger rail service, the “Light Rail,” to connect the whole Central VA region; from Norfolk to Petersburg to Fredericksburg to Washington, DC.

In a recent interview with Danny Plaugher, Executive Director for Virginians for High Speed Rail (VHSR), we discussed VHSR’s recent 16th Annual Meeting, “Connecting Virginia: How Regional Intercity and Light Rail are Changing Virginia.”

“VHSR hosted the meeting, because we felt there is so much positive news happening right now, in terms of rail development throughout Virginia.  Norfolk launched a Light Rail system called “The Tide” in August 2011, and in less than a year has exceeded more than one million riders.  More than 50,000 riders used the Light Rail service this past weekend alone.

Richmond needs to take this same initiative.  As an organization, VHSR wants to highlight all of our successes, including Norfolk, and focus on utilizing these models in other VA cities such as Richmond.”

As for what VSHR’s 2012 plans mean for Richmond business, Plaugher reveals the City’s latest plans for mass transit, details of where BRT will run and answers some burning questions weighing on the mind of Richmond residents.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Government Institutions, Transportation Tagged With: business environment, Daniel Plaugher, downtown Richmond, high speed rail, inter-city rail, intra-city, light rail, light rail transit system, regional inter-city rail, Richmond, VHSR, Virginia, Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginians for High Speed Rail, walkability

June 8, 2012 by Amber Shiflett

Venture Richmond Forum Unveils New Developments in RVA

After years and years of work throughout the city, Downtown Richmond is finally getting the attention it deserves, thanks to a nearly $1 billion dollar makeover from the state.

This makeover was the highlight of discussion at Venture Richmond’s Annual Downtown Development Forum last Thursday, May 31st, as Richmond’s business leaders, developers and architects met to reveal their latest ideas for up and coming projects.

Proposed projects included the VCU School of Medicine building, the Virginia Biotechnology Park, a 150,000-square-foot addition for Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc, as well as several apartment buildings in the Manchester and business districts.

Over $120 million is going into creating more residential spaces across the downtown area, according to agbeat.com, who says the recent heightened demand for apartments is a result of the drop in the Multifamily Vacancy Index (MVI).

Fyi, the MVI measures the multifamily housing industry’s perception of vacancies which has recently dropped to a level of 31, an all time low.

“Multifamily construction continues to be a bright spot in the overall housing market,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe, in a report by agbeat.com.

Residential development across Richmond was a large part of the revitalization plans discussed at last Thursday’s forum.  For more information about how the State is funding these different projects, click here.

Another project in the works is by the Franklin Development Group, who is working to revitalize the Manchester District by building a 17-acre development at the Reynolds South Property.

“We’re a long way from closing,” said Franklin Development’s Manager, Thomas Wilkinson, who discussed the possibility of  over 300 apartments, office space and an upscale grocer at Thurday’s forum.

Although the project plans aren’t official yet, Wilkinson assures Richmond-ers  that the development will revitalize the Manchester district and appeal to the area’s increasipopulations on.  Checkouts Richmond BizSense’s coverage of the Reynolds Development for more info.

Millions of dollars from the City are being put into new construction on the VCU campuses, as well as some of Richmond’s most beloved landmarks, including the Main Street Station Clock Tower and 17th Street.

The idea behind Richmond’s makeover? To transform traditonal buildings and warehouses into modern, revitalized structures for public use.

Be sure to keep your eyes open, as these new developments pop up across the city!

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Commercial Leasing, Multi-family Housing, New Development, Office Buildings, Redevelopment, Residential, Restaurants, Retail, Virginia Commonwealth University Tagged With: City of Richmond, downtown Richmond, Franklin Development, Manchester, Multifamily Housing, New Construction, Reynolds South Property, RVA, VCU, Venture Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University

June 1, 2012 by CarliAmber

Richmond Broadens Its Taste Buds at Broad Appetit

Did you know that (according to the National Restaurant Association) for every $1 spent in any of Virginia’s restaurants, 97 cents of that dollar goes back to helping build revenue for the Virginia economy?

Well, this coming Sunday, June 3rd will prove to be a HUGE boost for Richmond restaurants as well as the Virginia economy with the 5th Annual Broad Appetit Festival, happening downtown in Richmond’s Arts District.

 The highly anticipated festival, which runs from 11 AM – 6 PM, will stretch from the 100 to 300 blocks of West Broad Street and give Richmond natives, visitors, families, students and foodies alike a great sampling of the diverse, eclectic Richmond restaurant scene.

There will be over 60 local chefs, live music, youth activities and of course cuisine from popular restaurants like Bistro 27, Blowtoad, Comfort, Cous Cous, Olio and Six Burner.

Food prices will range from $3.00-$5.00 a plate as well as offer a variety of combos and mixed plates.

This will be the first time in festival history that Broad Appetit will feature exclusive Virginia beers and its first ever People’s Choice Awards, where festival attendees can vote for their favorite dishes.

To give back to the Richmond community, Broad Appetit is donating a percentage of proceeds from the festival to the Central Virginia Food Bank and Meals on Wheels.  Last year, a record crowd of over 30,000 gathered for last year’s festival, making Broad Appetit Richmond’s largest dining festival in Richmond’s history.

Broad Appetit  plays host to live music and events for all ages. It is the place where food and art intersect.

So, while you’re gearing up a hefty appetite for Broad Appetit on Sunday, take a walk around Richmond and experience the flavor that this eclectic city has to offer.

Which restaurant are you looking forward to trying out most at the festival?

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Restaurants Tagged With: Broad Appetit, business environment, business owners, Central Virginia Foodbank, downtown Richmond, Meals on Wheels, Restaurants, Richmond, Richmond restaurants, Virginia

May 25, 2012 by Lauren Noelle Gauthier

Brown Greer Goes Waterfront on Rocketts Landing

Five years ago, Rocketts Landing – the rural neighborhood of Richmond bordering Downtown and Churchill along the James River – was desolate, barren and considered as just a watering hole by local fisherman. It was pretty much unheard of by the general public.

Two years ago, that all changed with The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing opening in 2010 and The Conch Republic soon after in 2011. The area was completely transformed into an attractive, scenic stretch of restaurants along the James and tourists, visitors, locals, couples, families and Richmond-ers flocked like seagulls.

Today, Rockett’s Landing is making an even bigger splash. One of the Richmond area’s biggest law firms, Brown Greer, is relocating its headquarters to the 38,000-square-foot Cedar Works Building along the riverfront on Dock Street.

Although the building still needs to be renovated, there are major factors in favor of moving to Rocketts, according to Principal Orran Brown: convenient parking, the location, and the long-term prospects of what Rocketts Landing could develop into.

Rocketts Landing Memorial Day 2012 event

Check out these recent articles in the Times-Dispatch and Richmond BizSense, which give a more detailed look into Brown Greer’s latest urban development.

In the mean time, be sure to visit Rocket’s Landing on Sunday, May 27th for Rocketts Red Glare.  The event will feature the Kings of Swingband and a fireworks display to benefit the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton.

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Henrico County, Multi-family Housing, New Development, New Urbanism, Office Buildings, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail Tagged With: Brown Greer, Cedar Works Building, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, legal, real estate development, Redevelopment, Richmond, Rockett's Landing, The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing, Virginia

May 24, 2012 by Nathan Hughes

Blackfinn to sell downtown location to a local restaurant group

From a press release received this morning:

RICHMOND, VA (May 24, 2012) – BlackFinn American Saloon, located at 1001 Haxall Point, today announced its plans to sell the restaurant to a local ownership group. The restaurant will remain closed until a sale is completed and the new ownership group has finalized its rebranding of the current space.

BlackFinn has been the sole restaurant tenant of the mixed-use Riverside on the James development since it first opened its doors in 2006. The new tenant will benefit from the revitalization plans that are in place for the surrounding Canal Walk area.

“With the efforts to update and expand the current offerings in the area, we feel that this is a good time and opportunity for both seller and buyer,” said BlackFinn operating partner Ryan Golbitz. “It’s been six terrific years and we are grateful for the support and the business that our community has provided.”

Details of the new restaurant’s name and theme are expected to be announced closer to the reopening date, estimated around fall of 2012.

Anyone else know details? I’ll update if I hear anything.

Be sure to watch the local news outlets for more updates/information.

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Restaurants Tagged With: commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond, Virginia

May 11, 2012 by Lauren Noelle Gauthier

18th Annual Museum District Mother’s Day House & Garden Tour

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Filed Under: B&H News, Charity/Non-profit, City of Richmond, Residential Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, downtown Richmond, Museum District, Museum District Association, Richmond

September 26, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

Starting a business in Richmond? You don’t want to miss this!

Being involved in helping start-ups in Richmond, we often get invitations to attend sessions put on by the Economic Development departments of the local governments. When we get them, I’ll make sure to post them here for your reference. The ones I’ve attended in the past have been extremely helpful and great brush ups on the resources that the localities provide for small business.

Here is the email from the City of Richmond that we received regarding the upcoming event:

As part of our  ongoing efforts to provide you with valuable information & resources, the City of Richmond Department of Economic and Community Development-Business First Richmond Program is pleased to announce another in our series of free educational seminars.

The City of Richmond Department of Economic & Community Development and the Virginia Department of Business Assistance will host the first in a two part series on establishing and  growing your business.   Part I in the series the” Entrepreneur Express Seminar” will address the basic concerns of establishing a business in Richmond.  The seminar will be held Wednesday, October 12, 2011 from 8:30 am to noon at the Police Training Academy, 1202 W. Graham Road, Richmond, Virginia 23220.  (See Entrepreneur Express Seminar Flyer for details)   Please share this information with your clients and colleagues.

To sign up (free!), you can either register online by clicking here, or call 804-371-0058.

Oh, and make sure to let me know if you’re going to be there! Leave a comment here or at least be sure to come up and say hello when  you see me there.

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Government Institutions Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, business environment, business owners, downtown Richmond, government, Richmond, Virginia

September 25, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

It’s true, RVA, Mint is coming to the Fan!

There was a rumor floating around for the past few weeks that Amy Cabaniss, the owner of Julep’s in Shockoe Bottom, was purchasing the building where Davis & Main operated a long-standing restaurant for decades. There was good reason for the rumor, because it was true!

Amy closed on the deal to purchase the real estate and the equipment at 2501 West Main Street this past Friday afternoon. Richard Holden, Principal Broker at Bandazian & Holden, represented Amy in the purchase.

It has been on the market for some time. Fan of the Fan reported back in June that the restaurant had closed, and I know that it had been for sale for some time before that. We are proud that Bandazian & Holden was part of making this sale happen, and even more proud that such a fine restaurateur will be the one taking over.

The new restaurant will be Mint New Casual Cuisine. From all of the great ideas that I’ve heard from Amy and from the reactions I’ve heard so far from the neighbors, the Fan District will be very happy to have her there!

Congratulations on the purchase, Amy! I can’t wait to try out the new place!

[blackbirdpie id=”117321754979999745″]

Filed Under: B&H News, Buying a Business, City of Richmond, Restaurants Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, business owners, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond, Virginia

June 27, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

Richmond restaurant pioneer dies at age 85

While we have many talented restaurateurs and chefs in Richmond, but only a handful can claim such a long-lasting impression on Richmond’s restaurant landscape as Stavros “Steve” Dikos can.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a wonderful article that commemorates his restaurant legacy. Read it — you will recognize the restaurant names! Dikos was the father of Katrina Dikos Giavos, whose husband Johnny Giavos is mentioned so much in the local restaurant scene because of their string of highly successful restaurant ventures (3 Monkeys, Kitchen 64, Sidewalk Cafe, etc).

Mr. Dikos passed away over the weekend of heart problems at the age of 85. My thoughts go to his family, and all of the people whose lives he touched, as they work through this loss.

Filed Under: Restaurants Tagged With: business owners, downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond, Virginia

June 14, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

New insights on the sale of Cafe Gutenberg

As you may have noticed, we have Cafe Gutenberg for sale (see the big “Cafe Gutenberg – FOR SALE” in the menu above, or just click here). It’s a little bit of a different situation than normal, since usually these matters are highly confidential and even to find out the name and address of one of our business listings you would have to go through a screening process and commit to a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

In this case, the owners had decided to be upfront with their staff and even agreed to do an interview with Style Weekly about their decision to sell. Unfortunately, the article published didn’t accurately portray how the owners of Cafe Gutenberg feel about Shockoe Bottom or what they said about their reasons for selling the business.

Jason Guard, aka @rvafoodie, has given Chef Jen Mindell a chance to tell her side of the story as to why she and her partner are selling the business and to provide some background on how the past few years have been in Shockoe Bottom. Check out her guest post on Jason’s blog, Caramelized Opinions.

Filed Under: Buying a Business, Restaurants, Selling a Business, Weblogs Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, business brokering, business environment, business owners, buying a business, downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond, selling a business

February 7, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

How to make zoning easier to understand

Government regulations are typically so complicated that not only can the lay-person not understand what they mean, but they are written in such a way that even people that think they know what is meant are left arguing completely different interpretations.  Zoning regulations are no exception.

In fact, in NYC the zoning regulations are so convoluted that “In a recent case, a judge said the word “development,” which appears at least 2,500 times in the [zoning] resolution, did not mean what the city said.” (source: New York Times article — we’ll see more about that article in just a minute)

The Planning Commissioner for NYC, Amanda Burden, is attempting to make the zoning regulations a little more accessible to the general public by issuing a new city handbook with plain explanations and cartoon drawings that illustrate what particular zoning designations look like and what they mean.  Check out the coverage in the New York Times about what she has been doing to bridge that gap.

While this may not be the right approach for every locality, the idea is one that every local government should take to heart:  Start building tools that puts control of the government back into the hands of the people.  Sure, we elect officials to represent us and we should not be ruled by mob mentality (see: California), but the people also need to be able to understand what is being done — especially when we are expected to interpret these rules and abide by them.

I have seen far too many business and property owners try to follow the rules that have been laid out, only to find a health inspector or building inspector come in with a totally different understanding and cost the owner thousands of dollars in hard cost and lost business because the rules were not clear enough.

What do you think, Richmond? Have you had any issues with the local zoning regulations (city or county)? What would you suggest could be done to make the rules more clear?

Filed Under: Government Institutions, Legal, Redevelopment Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, business environment, business owners, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, government, legal, real estate development, Redevelopment, Richmond, Virginia, zoning

February 6, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

Redevelopment plans for Carytown get nod from Museum District

The redevelopment of the old Verizon building at 10 N. Nansemond Street has been hotly debated and contested. (see: the official site for the Carytown Place; Don’t Big Box Carytown‘s website; & this post and the accompanying comment thread on Caramelized Opinions for a good summary & feel of the debate)

The Museum District Association had originally ruled to oppose the redevelopment based on the original plans, but Friday they sent out a press release announcing the reversal of that position.  The gist of the situation can be summed up from this one paragraph in the press release:

The Board voted 13-1 in November to oppose the original SUP and subsequently provided the applicant with detailed requests for further changes to make it more amenable to the neighborhood. The applicant responded by altering the SUP to remove vehicular ingress/egress on Nansemond Street as well as reduce the number of available uses of the property to 10 uses. The applicant also agreed to limit the usable floor space of any one tenant to no more than 25,000 square feet, ensuring there would be multiple tenants in the building and ruling out a single, larger “big box” tenant.

The whole press release can be read here on the MDA’s website (right now it’s at the top, but it will shift down the page as new releases are issued).

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the MDA’s ruling, or are the changes in the plan not enough for you? In that case, what changes would be enough to get your support for the development?

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Commercial Leasing, Government Institutions, Investing, New Urbanism, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers, Transportation Tagged With: business environment, business owners, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, government, real estate development, Redevelopment, Richmond, Virginia, walkability

January 24, 2011 by Nathan Hughes

Exciting times for a local revitalization organization

The Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods (A.C.O.R.N.) has worked diligently for more than a decade to “promote the purchase and renovation of vacant and abandoned buildings in Richmond’s oldest neighborhoods.” This past Friday, ACORN announced some big news that will help them in that mission, and that’s exciting for all of Richmond. I’ll let their press release speak for itself:

The Alliance
to Conserve
Old Richmond Neighborhoods

Press Release
January 21, 2011

The Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhood Joins Better Housing Coalition

The Alliance is pleased and excited to announce a new step in its evolution and a greater opportunity to improve lives in Richmond. As of January 31, 2011 The Alliance will be moving to become part of the Better Housing Coalition (BHC) family as its Center for Neighborhood Revitalization. The Center will expand BHC services for the Richmond community and continue to provide educational programs and urban revitalization tools for communities and residents.

The Alliance brings to BHC both experience and programs that benefit prospective homeowners in their desire to renovate and preserve older and historic properties; and this opportunity allows The Alliance to increase its capacity of programs and services, thereby continuing its mission of conserving and rebuilding Richmond’s neighborhoods.

The Alliance executive director, David Herring, will become the vice president of BHC’s Center for Neighborhood Revitalization.

The Alliance property director, Lane Pearson, will support BHC’s Center programs as revitalization strategy manager.

“Moving Richmond’s affordable housing climate forward often requires preserving its past,” said T.K. Somanath, president of BHC. “With the skills and knowledge The Alliance staff brings to the table, we can bolster our work to revitalize Richmond’s urban core featuring well designed, walkable developments that mix residential and commercial uses, integrating the places we live, work and shop.”

John McCann, chairman of BHC’s Board of Directors, said, “We also look forward to tapping the talents of Board members from The Alliance, who have provided unwavering support for The Alliance’s mission and outreach.”

The two organizations are delighted to be integrating programs of The Alliance into Better Housing Coalition in order to continue to strengthen Richmond communities now and for the future.

ALLIANCE TO CONSERVE OLD RICHMOND NEIGHBORHOODS
104 SHOCKOE SLIP, LOWER LEVEL ~  RICHMOND, VA 23219 

DAVID HERRING

DIRECTOR

LANE PEARSON
PROPERTY DIRECTOR

Filed Under: Charity/Non-profit, City of Richmond, Multi-family Housing, Redevelopment, Residential Tagged With: Church Hill, downtown Richmond, non-profit, Redevelopment, Richmond, Virginia

October 11, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Great dining + a great cause = Restaurant Week 2010

I love it when the restaurant community comes together for good times and to support a local non-profit.  Arguably, one of the biggest restaurant events of the year in Richmond is Restaurant Week.

Richmond Restaurant Week 2010 runs the last week in October, Monday the 25th through Sunday the 31st.

Here is a description of the event straight from the official Richmond Restaurant Week website:

Richmond Restaurant week is in its 9th year. Each year, 25+ local, independently-owned restaurants gather together to get behind a cause aligned with their interest: food. The restaurants each offer a 3-course menu for a set price, this year $25.10, and donate a portion, this year $2.10, of each meal purchased to benefit Meals on Wheels in conjunction with the Central Virginia Food Bank. We’ve seen great success in years past and have donated tens of thousands of dollars to feed the hungry in the Richmond area. Come out and try a new place or visit your favorite restaurant and support this great cause!

RVANews.com and Richmond.com are both posting menus as they come in, and it doesn’t look like you’ll go wrong with any of the participating restaurants.  In fact, I haven’t been able to choose yet because everything looks so good.  At least I still have a couple of weeks to decide — but reservations should be made as early as possible because the schedules fill up fast!

Where are you going for Restaurant Week this year?  Returning to an old favorite?  Or trying out somewhere new? Please leave a comment to help guide folks that are experiencing Richmond Restaurant Week for the first time!

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Restaurants Tagged With: downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond, Virginia

September 17, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

How important is biking and walking to you?

If you think biking and walking should be more prominent in Richmond City’s transportation planning, then I encourage you to get out to this and participate!

Received in my email this afternoon:

Department of Planning & Development Review

CITY OF RICHMOND
News Release

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
For Immediate Release

City to Hold Public Forum on Pedestrian Biking and Trails

Richmond, VA – The city of Richmond will hold a public forum on Monday, September 20, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Carillon in Byrd Park. The forum is being held to encourage input from residents on ways to make biking and walking an integral part of the city’s transportation system.

In May 2010, Mayor Dwight C. Jones established a Pedestrian Bicycling and Trails Planning Commission to provide his administration with advice on ways to make the city more pedestrian friendly. The commission divided into work groups: Economic Development; Public Policy/Legislation; Infrastructure and Physical Design; Grants and Funding; Outreach, Education and Safety; and Metrics and Evaluation. The workgroups have studied the plans and strategies of the city of Richmond, other jurisdictions as well as those of other countries.

On Monday, four of the Commission’s work groups will present some of their recommendations for public consideration. They are: Public Policy/Legislation; Economic Development; Infrastructure and Physical Design; Outreach, Education and Safety.

Residents who are unable to attend the forum can provide input through a survey that will be posted after the public forum on the city’s website at www.Richmondgov.com.

Contact: Tammy Hawley (804) 646-3110
Tammy.Hawley@RichmondGov.com

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Government Institutions, New Urbanism, Transportation Tagged With: downtown Richmond, government, Richmond, walkability

July 12, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Cleveland looks towards Richmond

It’s always interesting to hear what kind of impression Richmond leaves on someone visiting, and of course I especially enjoy it when that perspective reaffirms what I already love about the city.

Take a look at how a correspondent from Cleveland.com views the River City: “Richmond: Southern charm with an edge” (thanks to @verystickyrice & @sharischaefer for tweeting about the article, or I would have totally missed it)

I think he captured the feel of Richmond very well, and the piece was well thought through.  Granted, it’s a certain piece of Richmond and there are plenty more aspects that weren’t covered, but hey…he was only visiting for short time!  It’s hard to get the full view even while you’re living here.

Feel free to leave comments here on RVA Business, but it might be better to leave comments on their site to keep the discussion going.

Come on back anytime, Stephen!

Filed Under: City of Richmond Tagged With: business environment, downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond

July 8, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Don’t let them catch you dancing!

Everyone can now rest easy, dancing will no longer be tolerated in the City of Richmond! (Well, when I say “everyone can now rest easy”, I really mean everyone except for those pesky dancers.)  From what I hear, dancing brings about all sorts of immorality so I am relieved that we won’t have dirty dancers parading around making light of the city’s laws. (My research really is confined to movies from the first half of certain movies from the 80’s)

I’m actually a little confused because visitors or transplants to the city are always complaining about how there aren’t many dance clubs here anyways.

Style Weekly has plenty of information in this week’s edition here, including a Q&A follow up session with a representative from the Mayor’s office.

As a tribute to the new City ordinance, here’s a video of some scenes from the movie Footloose:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROSYW25vhc]

Actually, this ordinance is nothing new here in the Richmond metro area.  Chesterfield and Henrico have been issuing permits (or NOT issuing permits, depending on who you talk to) for a couple of years now.

Here are a few links about the stink from last year about Chesterfield and dance permits:

  • Richmond BizSense article from 3/24/2009
  • Midlothian Exchange article from 3/24/2009
  • NBC12 article from 3/27/2009

(thanks to Richmond Good Life’s time-capsule archives for those links!)

Henrico has the same type of ordinance and dance club permits, but I recently had a tenant that had to apply for one and it wasn’t a huge ordeal.

If you’ve run against any of these dance ordinances or know of how it’s handled in other areas, I’d love to hear about your experiences.  Leave a comment!

Filed Under: City of Richmond, Government Institutions, Hanover County, Henrico County, Legal, Restaurants Tagged With: business environment, downtown Richmond, government, legal, Restaurants, Richmond, Virginia

July 4, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

More details about the Cities of Service Leadership Grant

As a follow up to my post from a few days ago regarding the Cities of Service Leadership Grant (which you can find here), I wanted to share some more information about it.

This time, the info comes straight from the City of Richmond, via this press release:  “Richmond Awarded Grant to Aid Neighbor-to-Neighbor Initiative” (thanks to @RichmondSprite for bringing this to my attention)

And on an unrelated note: Happy Fourth of July,  everyone!

Filed Under: Government Institutions Tagged With: downtown Richmond, government, non-profit

July 1, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Congratulations, Richmond, you’ve just won $200k!

Congrats, Richmond, on being chosen to participate in the second round of cities to be funded $200,000 over two years as part of the Cities of Service! (link to original story — thanks to David Necessary for the tip on Twitter)

What does that mean, exactly?  I’m glad you asked because I just happened to look it up!

Here is the “About Us” page on Cities of Service — and here is the information on the Cities of Service Leadership Grants

To sum it up,

Cities of Service is a bi-partisan coalition of the mayors of large and small cities from across our country who will work together to engage citizens to address the great challenges of our time. Founded in New York City on September 10, the coalition and its member cities will respond to the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act’s historic call to action by finding new and innovative ways to harness the power of volunteers to help solve pressing local challenges.

And the grant program is:

The Cities of Service Leadership Grants provide recipient cities with $200,000 over a two-year period to hire a Chief Service Officer, a senior city official dedicated to developing and implementing a citywide plan to increase volunteerism and target volunteers to address their city’s greatest needs.

So I guess the next questions are: 1) When will this CSO be getting started?, and 2) Who will it be?

Does anyone have any observations from seeing this CSO working in any of the cities involved in the first round of funding?  I’d love to hear what has worked and what could be done better.  If we’re going to do this here in Richmond, let’s do it right!

Filed Under: Government Institutions Tagged With: downtown Richmond, government, non-profit

June 28, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Does downtown Richmond have a parking problem?

Given the info in this post at The Urbanophile, I sure hope we do!
desolation
The author is specifically talking about Buffalo, New York, but this is an issue that most cities of any substantial size have to wrestle with all of the time.  I can’t count all of the times I’ve heard people complain about parking in downtown Richmond — and I know that I have at certain times/events.

Here’s an excerpt that I felt summed up the key point of the post to me:

Downtown can never compete with suburban office parks on the basis of convenient and affordable parking. To compete successfully on that basis would mean the destruction of all of downtown’s remaining (and emerging) value.

By definition, downtown can never out-compete the suburbs on suburban, automobile-based terms. By necessity, parking takes up a tremendous amount of land, creating lots of dead, open space, which the suburbs have plenty of. In fact, that’s the suburbs’ main asset: lots of open space. A city’s main amenity is not open land, but density, walkability, a diverse mix of uses, and the quality of the streets and other public spaces. These are the areas in which the suburbs cannot out-compete downtown.

That doesn’t mean that we should ignore parking entirely.  Complaints about parking are a symptom, not the actual problem.

Parking will always be an issue if everyone is coming from out of town to visit the downtown.  More importantly, we should focus on bringing more businesses and residents downtown — increasing the walkability and decreasing reliance on cars will make parking less of a problem.

But more to the point of the post, downtown isn’t supposed to be a wonderland of surface parking lots.  It’s supposed to be a dense area with lots of people and businesses, and events that bring more people from all over.  If the downtown is a vibrant place, then people will deal with the parking issues (they will still complain, but they will still come).  If you want lots of open parking, go to the suburbs — that’s what they’re good at.

There a good discussion in their comment section, so be sure to check that out while you’re reading through the original post.

Photo credit greeneyedhedgehog

Filed Under: New Urbanism, Redevelopment, Transportation Tagged With: commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, real estate development, Redevelopment, Richmond

June 25, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Man v. Food — Richmond-style

Richmond restaurants have been getting lots of love from the national cable TV shows lately — Bobby Flay has been through a couple of times (or he’s been through once and he’s coming back through again soon) and Eric Ripert was spotted scouting the Richmond restaurant scene just last week.

Recently, Man v. Food stopped into three great local restaurants for their legendary food challenges — Caliente, Black Sheep, and Buz & Ned’s.  Rather than rehashing all of the details here, read this great recap of MvF’s visit to Richmond here on RVANews.com: “Man v. Food v. Richmond“


There was even a Nightline news crew covering MVF while they were here: click here for the video, which I can’t seem to embed.  It’s a Hulu video, so there are about 30 seconds of commercials, then skip ahead to 7:51 in the video by sliding the bar at the bottom.  Watch through about 15:52 and you’ll get to see the entire MVF report.

The reason I’m posting this now is because the Richmond episode will be airing soon, on Saturday, July 3rd at 10:30 E/P !  Set it up on your calendar, set your DVR because you won’t want to miss this!

[edit (6/26/10, 4:31pm): regardless of what the Travel Channel says, I’ve gotten multiple reports from people that their DVRs and other things have shown them that the actual premiere date is Wednesday, June 30th at 9:00pm E/P — given the incorrect info that I was relying on earlier, I feel that I should warn you that while the date has been confirmed by multiple people, I found the time through  some further research on the Travel Channel site]

In the meantime, check out the Travel Channel‘s photo slideshow of the visit.

Filed Under: Restaurants, Television Tagged With: business environment, downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond

April 26, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Restaurants in Richmond: New names & expansions

Every time you turn around in Richmond, there is a new restaurant popping up…well, pretty much everywhere! This week is no exception.

I’m not going to pretend that I’ll keep you up with ALL of the openings and closing through this blog, but I’ll keep up my tradition of sharing news when I’ve come across it and when there is a particularly active week or two I’ll compile the info and point you to where I’ve seen the news.

Speaking of which:

1) The old Fuddruckers at the intersection of West Broad Street and North Parham Road has been sold to Buz Grossberg to expand his Buz & Ned’s Barbeque concept to a second location from its original home on Boulevard. That was announced a few weeks ago or so. The reason why I think it’s noteworthy today is because of Buz’s interview with Al Harris of RichmondBizSense that was posted this morning. Lots of great info on his plans for the building, and how the deal worked when his last attempt at a new store didn’t.

2) Secco Wine Bar opened this week in Carytown (Style Weekly article from last week), after at least a couple of months of public preparation (and who knows how long this was in the works before it was made public).

3) Dos Amigos Burrito opened a couple of weeks ago on MacArthur Avenue in Northside, to replace a short-lived ice cream shop (posting from North Richmond News). From what I’ve heard, it’s related to Northside Grille around the corner on Bellevue.

4) Empress is opening with a “Grand Soiree” this Wednesday, 4/28, at 2403 West Broad Street (former location of Enoteca Sogno, and Ma Musu’s West African Cuisine before that). Check out this article on RVANews for more details on the restaurant and the Grand Soiree.

AND, there are plenty more on the immediate horizon! I can think of at least 5 others new restaurants that are coming soon, but they are all at a stage that I can’t spill the beans. Believe me, that you’ll be excited when you hear (and I’ll let you know as soon as they let me!).

If there are any others that I’ve missed, please share. We have a great restaurant scene here in Richmond, and it’s only getting better as we celebrate it!

Filed Under: Restaurants Tagged With: business environment, business owners, downtown Richmond, Restaurants, Richmond

April 14, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

More info about The Devil’s Triangle!

This is an article that you don’t want to miss about The Devil’s Triangle by Alix Bryan

I said my bit in a post yesterday, after seeing Alix’s videos — but there is SO much more that can be said, and she has a quite a few of the stories I have heard over the years about the rough days here in the Triangle. Be sure to read all about it!

Filed Under: B&H News, New Urbanism, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, business owners, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, property management, Redevelopment, Richmond, Virginia

April 13, 2010 by Nathan Hughes

Insight into The Devil’s Triangle

There is a little-discussed part of Richmond’s Upper Fan/Museum District that was once a pretty rough area — “The Devil’s Triangle”, or as it is sometimes called, “The Bermuda Triangle”.  Now it is an economic corridor with independent shops and restaurants that serve the residents of the Museum District, the Fan District, and anyone else that wants to wander through.

I lived in the area for several years back in the mid to late nineties, and I missed most of the rougher times but heard plenty about Felix’s, Cafe 21, and the Ritz — now Caliente, Cafe Diem, and Arianna’s.

We moved our offices over to 604 North Sheppard Street several years ago to be in the heart of the revitalization going on, and to show our commitment to the area.  Our founder and CEO, Bedros Bandazian owns all of the commercial along this part of Sheppard Street except for the 7-Eleven, as well as some nearby commercial buildings — so there was already a strong commitment within the company to revitalizing the area.  Our move made a further commitment, and  of course we all patronize the surrounding businesses faithfully.

The transformation has taken another step with the most recent additions of:

  • Sylvia’s Stitch & Suds (renovated coin laundrymat, now a seamstress and laundry),
  • Arianna’s Grill (Italian restaurant from the extended family who also own Mary Angela’s and several others around town — built out from almost from scratch shell)
  • The parking lot in the rear of the buildings at Park & Sheppard (repaved, landscaped, lighted, and available for any customers of the shops along Sheppard)

The Devil Doesn’t Live Here Anymore from Alix Bryan on Vimeo.
[vimeo vimeo.com/10851674]

The Devil’s Triangle is located in the Museum District, which is nestled within the Upper Fan, of Richmond, VA.

This area received its name from three rough local bars, which formed a triangle. The bars have changed ownership, and the area has undergone a major transformation.

However, the nickname has stuck, and has a quirky appeal to locals–locals who never went when it was actually the Devil’s Triangle.

It wasn’t unlikely for police to find wanted suspects in the bars, or for gun and fistfights to happen almost nightly.

Origin of a nickname from Alix Bryan on Vimeo.[vimeo vimeo.com/14935680]

Rich Holden, former owner of Felix, talks about how a two block area came to be known as The Devil’s Triangle. Located in Richmond, VA, this area was home to drug trafficking, prostitution, bar brawls and gunfights. The triangle consisted of three bars, The Felix, The Ritz, and Cafe 21.

Although Holden called it “The Bermuda Triangle,” that moniker is also commonly synonymous with “The Devil’s Triangle.”

[editor’s note: Richard Holden is now the Principal Broker and President here at Bandazian & Holden, Inc.]

I’m eagerly awaiting Alix’s article to go along with the videos, and if she’ll allow me I’ll share it with you in a later post — or at least I’ll link over to it! I greatly appreciate her allowing me to use the videos here, and encourage you to go to her Vimeo site to take a look at her other work!

If you haven’t visited the Devil’s Triangle in a while, you should!  Visit the Black Hand for some coffee that was roasted right there on site. Come sit on Caliente’s patio and enjoy the spring breeze while you have dinner. Come listen to some amazing music down at Cafe Diem. Or explore one of the other shops or restaurants.

[edit (4/13/10, 2:27pm): After a couple of off-blog responses, I’m curious to ask — If you are familiar with the Devil’s Triangle, please share some memories of your time there with us in the comment section below!]

Filed Under: B&H News, New Urbanism, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail Tagged With: Bandazian & Holden, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, property management, Redevelopment, Richmond, Virginia

November 30, 2006 by Nathan Hughes

UPDATE: Cineplex Slated for Boulevard

This is a call-back to a posting several months ago (5/18/06, to be exact): New Cineplex Slated for the Boulevard?  — see the post to get up-to-speed

This has been long in the works, obviously, and is still in the early stages.  As Style Weekly pointed out in this week’s edition ("Merger Won’t Slow Boulevard Complex"), the architectural plans are still being drawn up.

But there is no rush for Bow Tie Partners (the developers), as Richmond Steel isn’t planned to relocate for another 8 months.

Some interesting facts from the article:

  • the new cineplex will be called Movieland
  • the redevelopment project is being called Boulevard Square
  • there will be 13,000+ sq ft of retail and restaurants in the development
  • the area where Bowtie originally planned for a cineplex is called Jefferson Square (between Main, Cary, 3rd & 4th Streets)

Filed Under: Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail Tagged With: Bowtie Partners, cineplex, commercial real estate, downtown Richmond, new movie theater, real estate development, Redevelopment, Richmond, Virginia

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-Francis C.

“[We have] the utmost respect for what they do. They always made us feel like they knew our priorities. They were very clear about getting down to the nuts and bolts of what our needs were.”

– J. Medaries, Spacebomb

 

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Sperity

Sperity is a coined term, a combination of Inspire, Prosperity, and Integrity. We strive to bring all of those aspects to every interaction that we have, whether it is with a client, a customer, a competitor, or with anyone else.

We are a commercial real estate and business brokerage firm that works under a different model than anything else we've seen in the field. With the emphasis on treating our employees as a team, we incentivize excellent customer service and making sure that the whole company is working on every deal that we take on.


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SPERITY REAL ESTATE VENTURES

Address:  215 East Grace Street, Suite 100, Richmond, VA 23219

Office: (804) 464-3898

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