Baseball may be leaving Northside; full-scale development on Boulevard proposed

It should come as no surprise to Northside residents that the long-discussed move of the baseball stadium from North Boulevard to Shockoe Bottom is back on the table again. As part of the proposal for the 60+ acres of city-owned land surrounding the Diamond along the Boulevard and Hermitage Road, Highland Properties has pitched a […]

November 1, 2008; 7:21 PM • by North Richmond News

It should come as no surprise to Northside residents that the long-discussed move of the baseball stadium from North Boulevard to Shockoe Bottom is back on the table again. As part of the proposal for the 60+ acres of city-owned land surrounding the Diamond along the Boulevard and Hermitage Road, Highland Properties has pitched a second proposal for a baseball stadium and transportation hub alongside Main Street Station in Shockoe Bottom. Michael Martz at the Times-Dispatch has been reporting on this story:

The company chosen by Richmond to develop public property along North Boulevard and in Shockoe Bottom has plans for $785 million in construction in those two areas, including a baseball stadium downtown.

Highwoods Properties, in a presentation this afternoon to Richmond City Council, outlined plans for a new, 6,500-seat stadium between East Franklin Street and East Broad Street as part of a proposed $363 million town center in Shockoe Bottom.

The 19-acre project would include an interpretive center or museum to chronicle the area’s history in the slave trade.

Meanwhile, the project along Boulevard would become a major $422 million mixed-use development. (Click the above image for a look at the proposed development.)

Meanwhile, Highwoods will begin discussions with the regional authority that owns the 23-year-old Diamond to clear it from the 65-acres of publicly owned property along the Boulevard and make way for a proposed $422 million mixed-use development there.

The proposed project also would clear away the Arthur Ashe Center, owned by Richmond public schools, while memorializing the late, Richmond-born tennis star in some other way within the development. The developer plans discussions with Virginia Commonwealth University and Richmond Sports Backers about relocation of Sports Backers Stadium, which lies next to the Diamond.

Richmond also would have to move the city vehicle maintenance and public-works complex that sprawls over 30 acres between the Boulevard and Hermitage Road.

Mayor Doug Wilder provided more details in his periodic Mayor’s Vision newsletter:

The vision for the Boulevard is a market driven, intimate mixed-use development, with a combination of residential, office, hotel, and retail, including a box retailer (i.e. Target, etc) similar to the new West Broad Village development in the West End. This tract of land is centrally located and easily accessible to so many Richmond neighborhoods, including Sherwood Park, the Fan, Ginter Park, Highland Park, and the Museum District.

For copies of the presentation and other materials delivered by Highlands to city officials last week, visit the the mayor’s website and scroll to the bottom of the page.

November 1, 2008 7:21 PM 0