New report offers interesting suggestions for North Richmond

Create the first large downtown office park in the nation to spawn a major commercial development. There are insufficient funds to make the necessary changes related to many issues in the community. Richmond needs a commercial/corporate base to
fund its dreams. It should start by creating a campus-style office park modeled after
West Creek, The Boulders and Innsbrook inside the city limits. The initial park should
be designed and built on and around the area that currently houses the current Braves ballpark… The exit off I-64 at Boulevard should be redesigned as a major entrance into the city from the north through the park. The park should have biking trails, ponds and fountains with thousands of trees in the area.

Such a development would help balance the city’s tax reliance on residential property. It could include a technology and trade school. The park would have a major impact on the Fan and Virginia Union, not to mention housing developments, both within the city limits and Henrico and Hanover counties. A walking bridge could be built over I-64 to connect neighborhoods to the north and east. Richmond needs to create a campus environment for business development that mirrors that found in the region as the area moves from its manufacturing base to a service base. The city needs to understand that it can create even smaller parks and open green spaces and the market will decide what to build around it.