City starts planning for Diamond area

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder said yesterday that the city has chosen The Staubach Co. as a real estate consultant to recommend the best options for developing the properties and then issuing a proposal to developers to make it happen.

The Texas-based company is led by Roger Staubach, former star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, who is the firm’s executive chairman. The company conducted the search that led Volkswagen of America to announce last month that it is moving its headquarters from Auburn Hills, Mich., to a site near Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia.

The consultant’s selection is the first step of a long-delayed process to redevelop almost 60 acres that Richmond owns around The Diamond between North Boulevard, Hermitage Road and Interstate 95.

The city and its regional partners in The Diamond also are talking to the Atlanta Braves about a new or renovated stadium on the property for the club’s AAA affiliate. The stadium is owned by the Richmond Metropolitan Authority.

The process has been stalled by the search for a real estate consultant as well as concerns over the estimated $30 million cost of moving the massive Parker Field Maintenance Facility that the city operates on about 30 acres next to The Diamond.

Staubach’s job will be to give Richmond a detailed analysis within 90 days on how to develop the property, as well as the historic Blues Armory building on East Marshall Street that has housed part of 6th Street Marketplace for two decades.