Tag Archives: Walkability

City of Richmond Leads Regional Population Growth

Posted on May 23, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 1 Comment
The Lofts at Canal Walk in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom

The Lofts at Canal Walk in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom

It’s only one year’s worth of data, so I don’t want to make too much of it, but new U.S. Census numbers confirm my argument that the center of gravity of population growth and development is shifting back toward the urban core — at least in the Richmond region. Between July 2011 and July 2012, reports Graham Moomaw with the Times-Dispatch, the population of the City of Richmond grew faster than Henrico, Chesterfield or Hanover Counties.

The numbers:

population_gain

That’s all the more remarkable when you consider how many years the population of Richmond shrank. But the the city’s outstanding performance should come as no surprise to anyone who has visited downtown, Shockoe Bottom and Church Hill recently and seen the number of warehouse-to-condominium conversions that have taken place.  And there’s a lot more urban housing stock to come.

The picture really couldn’t be any clearer. The fastest population growth occurred in the walkable, mixed-use urban center, the slowest growth in auto-centric, low-density exurbia (Hanover County) and middling growth in the medium-density suburbs of Henrico and Chesterfield. The only thing likely to skew this trend, to my mind, is if the Innsbrook office park in Henrico successfully transforms itself into a second node of walkable urbanism.

Update: Clearly, this is a national trend, as reported by this Associated Press article, among others.

– JAB

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Posted in 2013, Demographics, Land use & development

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What’s Your Walk Score?

Posted on April 19, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 38 Comments

Charlottesville’s downtown pedestrian mall

If you haven’t checked your home’s walk score, you should. Walkability contributes to higher property values, a more livable neighborhood and a healthier community.

by James A. Bacon

Walk Score, a web-based service that measures walkability, is taking the urban planning profession by storm. Using an algorithm that awards points based on the distance to amenities within a location’s walking distance, Walk Score purports to measure the walkability of a neighborhood, city, county or even an entire region. The algorithm is far from perfect but it gives a pretty good rough cut.

Walkability matters a great deal. This crucial amenity affects property values; houses with higher Walk Scores enjoy higher property values per square foot. “In the typical market, an additional one point increase in Walk Score was associated with between a $500 and $3,000 increase in home values,” writes Joe Cortright in “How Walkability Raises Home Values in U.S. Cities.” Walkability also affects public health — there is a strong correlation between a person’s weight and how much he or she walks.

Walk Score rates places on a 1-100 scale, with 90-100 rated a walker’s paradise, 70-89 as very walkable, 50-69 as somewhat walkable, 0-49 as car-dependent.

Not surprisingly, the most walkable parts of Virginia are close to the urban core of the Washington metropolitan region, with Arlington and Old Town Alexandria racking up very high scores. As seen in the map to the left, high-walkability areas are shown in green, shading off to yellow, orange and red for lower levels of walkability. Northern Virginia has smaller islands of walkability in Reston, McLean, the City of Fairfax and… get this… Tysons.

The Tysons example points out the limits to the Walk Score methodology. Although the business district has a relatively high level of density, which means destinations are relatively close to one another, the ubiquity of parking lots and the paucity of pedestrian-friendly streets makes it one of the more pedestrian-hostile places outside the Daytona Speedway. Additionally, there is a poor balance of residential and retail-commercial; the only reason people working in Tysons have for walking is to traverse the parking lots to get to their cars and drive home! (See the metro-wide heat map here.)

The Walk Score people freely concede that their system, based on Google Maps, does not take those factors into account. “Walk Score simply measures the straight-line distance to … locations and makes no adjustments for ease of walking or other obstacles to walking,” states the website. “In essence, Walk Score is a measure of the proximity of a range of typical goods, serviecs and activities to a particular household.”

Among metropolitan areas, the highest score outside of the Washington area is Charlottesville, with a walk score of 63. There is high walkability around the University of Virginia, downtown and the area in between. Downtown, with its pedestrian mall, ranks especially high. (See the heat map here.)

Considerably lower down the scale comes another college town, Harrisonburg, which rates a “somewhat walkable” score of 53. (See map.)

Right on its heels is Richmond, with a score of 51. (See map.) The city has a highly walkable core, extending from downtown to Shockoe Bottom in one direction and to the Fan and the Museum District in the other. Other than one small patch — the so-called Libbie & Grove area — the region is a lost cause otherwise. Walk Score bequeaths a walk score of 9 to my suburban Henrico neighborhood, meaning that “almost all” errands require a car. That’s “almost all,” as in 99.9%. Not only are stores and restaurants two or three miles distant, but there is no connectivity between subdivisions, with the result that the only way to reach those destinations is Parham Road, a four-lane, divided road with 45 mile-per-hour speed limit and no sidewalks.You would have to be insane to walk anywhere! Read more.

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Posted in 2013, Land use & development, Public safety & health, Transportation

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Living the High-Line Life

Posted on March 18, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 2 Comments

Converting an eyesore into a celebrated park, New York City’s High Line showed how smart urbanism can create wealth.

by James A. Bacon

It was cold and blustery in New York City last week but the weather did not dissuade thousands of Gothamites and tourists from taking a walk along the High Line. The park, which snakes between, under and through apartments and office buildings on an old, elevated railroad bed, is popular year-round.

In mid-March the summer-lush gardens were dormant, with only a few blossoms budding. Still, the long, winding trail provided incredible views of Manhattan and the Hudson River. Every twist in the path offered new visual treats.

The seats and chairs were mostly empty — it was far too cold for sitting — but hundreds of people were jogging, strolling, gawking and even walking their dogs.


The freight line was built in the 1930s, thirty feet off the ground to remove dangerous trains from the streets of what then was New York’s largest industrial district. By the 1990s, the manufacturing operations along Manhattan’s west side had disappeared, the trains had stopped running, and the freight line was regarded as an eyesore. As New Yorkers debated what to do with the line — demolish it, convert it to mass transit — a remarkable thing happened: Nature took over. A disorderly profusion of plants colonized the track. Then the idea took root to preserve the rail line as a two-mile ribbon of green.

Today, New York City owns the High Line and the non-profit Friends of the High Line maintain it. The park is widely regarded as one of the most successful examples of urban reclamation in the United States and has served as an inspiration to civic enthusiasts around the country.

In my home town of Richmond, for instance, there is a concerted effort to build an elevated “urban oasis” over the James River. Although I’m a bit squeamish about the price tag, I think the BridgePark is one of those big ideas that can make an iconic statement and transform the city’s image. Also, I’m increasingly convinced that one of the few viable strategies for regions and communities to dig themselves out of the fiscal sink-hole they find themselves in is to pay more attention to “place making,” which creates economic value rather than destroying it as so much of our post-World War II development has done. The High Line shows how making places where people love to spend time can create economic value.

The urban fabric along the High Line is undergoing a transformation. There are several major construction projects underway along the route, and even buildings that aren’t undergoing major renovations are adapting themselves to the park’s existence. I don’t know the stories behind these initiatives but I can point to them as examples of the positive dynamic that the park has engendered.

As seen in the photo above, someone applied a rough-textured material to the glass windows of an adjacent building to create an arresting visual effect. I suppose you might call it art. Whatever term you use, the material injects an element of the unpredictable. So did the odd piece of metal-and-wool craftsmanship to the right. The object (I don’t know what else to call it) is not exactly art for the ages, but it is whimsical and fun. I expect that we’ll see a lot more creations like these, as artists and philanthropists donate more pieces.

The Friends of the High Line organization also puts on guided tours, star-gazing sessions, dance parties, art events and food festivals during warmer months, creating a magnet for activity that draws people from far and wide. Where people like to congregate, they also like to live. Where people like to live, property values rise — and so do tax revenues.

In a sure sign that the High Line is creating economic value, property owners have begun touting proximity to the park as a selling point for renters. “Home on the High Line!” proclaims the banner to the right, displayed to joggers and pedestrians on the elevated path. Property owners also are promoting a High Line location for business offices. “High Line Your Business,” exhorts signage overlooking the urban trail, morphing the name of the park into a verb.

Academic studies have shown that parks increase the value of nearby property by 10% or more. Obviously, some parks have a greater positive impact than others. Those that become dead zones, inviting only vagrants and petty criminals, can hurt property values. But parks like the High Line that are capable of luring visitors even on cold, windy days, enhance property values and create wealth. Read more.

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Posted in 2013, Infrastructure, Land use & development, Taxes, Transportation

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Fixing Broken Streams and Broken Dreams

Posted on February 14, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 9 Comments

The Bellemeade Walkable Watershed project aims to reclaim a damaged creek, create a route for kids to walk to school, and boost community spirit in a gritty, inner-city Richmond neighborhood.

by James A. Bacon

Bob Argabright got involved with Richmond city schools nine years ago when he volunteered to help two young students learn to read. It wasn’t long before he discovered that the challenges faced by inner city kids run far deeper than a difficulty with letters and words. As he delved deeper into their lives and their surroundings, his volunteer activity became a full-time vocation. Today, the retired paper industry executive is such a fixture at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School that children wave to him in the hall, call him by name and even run up to give him a hug.

“I think it’s totally unfair for a child to be born in the 23229 zip code and be set for life while a child born in 23224 has a low probability of success,” says Argabright. “Ninety percent of our kids say they want to be a rap star, an NFL football player or a beautician. We’re trying to show them other paths. … We’re teaching these children to dream.”

As unlikely as it might sound, Argabright is hoping that a few children might conceive the ambition of becoming an architect or an environmental engineer.

Making that connection would have been unlikely a year ago, when the students at Oak Grove-Bellemeade were attending the old Bellemeade Elementary School, an aged and decrepit school building that screamed urban blight. But this month they moved into a new, LEED-standard school building next door that is fresh, clean and airy. Every section of the school bears a name associated with the James River — the river bed, forest floor, forest canopy, and the like — to serve as inspiration for teaching about nature. Moreover, the city is moving forward with a project to restore the severely eroded creek behind the school with the aim of creating a community resource and a focus for environmental education.

The Bellemeade Walkable Watershed is a triumph of public-private collaboration, says Michelle Virts, deputy director of utilities. “It’s a great opportunity for the city to stretch our dollars.” The project is funded largely through a $187,000 National Fish & Wildlife grant to restore the creek, and a $60,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant to build a watershed coalition, but the city is chipping in land, public works money and staff time, while not-for-profits like the James River Association and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay are providing volunteers for clean-up and money for tree planting.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the walkable watershed is how the community is leveraging a single project to advance multiple goals: stream restoration, environmental education, a community garden and a network of sidewalks and trails. By making it possible for hundreds of kids, many of whom live in housing projects, to walk or bicycle to school instead of ride the bus, the project, it is hoped, will ward off the obesity that plagues Richmond’s inner city.

Many educators, public officials and not-for-profits have contributed to the project. But Argabright is the thread tying the efforts together. “Bob is extremely active in the neighborhood,” says Virts. “He makes things happen.”

“Bob Argabright is totally on fire about this thing,” says Champe Burnley, president of the Virginia Bicycling Federation, who recalls meeting with him more than half a year ago. Argabright was thinking ahead to when the new route opens for children to walk and bike to school. How many poor kids own bicycles? Not many. Even back then, he was working the angles to rustle up some used bikes. He now has 300 (only some of which, he regrets, are suitable for children) sitting in a warehouse in anticipation of the day when they can be used.

Argabright is not one to claim credit. He sings the praises of everyone involved in the project, from Oak Grove-Bellemeade’s principle Jannie Laursen to Lara Kling with the Blue Sky Fund, which has raised $275,000 to fund outdoor nature programs for inner city schools, including Oak Grove-Bellemeade. He depicts his contribution mainly as showing up at community events, pushing to get things done and building a web of contacts linking corporate leaders with City Hall and neighborhood volunteers and activists. Says he: “What I’m doing is networking, doing what I’ve done my whole career.”

Re-greening Richmond

Two developments were key to making the project happen. One was construction of the Oak Grove-Bellemeade School, which opened its doors this year. Children from the old Bellemeade School, located right next door, moved in right away. Students from Oak Grove will transfer next school year. The 90,000-square-foot facility is state-of-the-art. But it’s one thing to teach a subject like science in the abstract to inner-school children who have seldom ventured outside their concrete-and-asphalt domain, and quite another to teach them in a natural environment. More.

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Posted in 2013, Education (K-12), Water-waste water

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Chart of the Day: Planning Regulation

Posted on January 29, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 14 Comments

Graphic credit: UCLA

Stephen Oliner, a UCLA professor doing research for the Federal Reserve Board, has made the first-ever estimate of planning times for commercial construction across the United States. Drawing upon 82,000 projects nationwide, he found that the average planning time nationally is about 17 months. But it’s a long longer in some places and shorter in others.

Based on Oliner’s map, it appears that Virginia has a lot more in common with the blue states in California and the Northeast than “red” flyover country when it comes to planning regulation. Indeed, the state looks like an extension of the Washington-New York-Boston megalopolis. (Hat tip: Timothy Wise.)

Bacon’s bottom line: What does this mean for development and re-development in Virginia? If, as I believe, population growth and real estate investment is gravitating back toward the urban core, longer planning times slow the market’s adaptation to changing consumer preferences and economic conditions. As documented in “The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City,” in Houston, which has no zoning and minimal red tape, developers can turn on a dime in response to changing market conditions. The zoning restrictions and other red tape we have in Virginia (a) makes real estate more expensive, and (b) slows the evolution of human settlement patterns in response to market demand toward more compact, walkable communities. Not good.

– JAB

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Posted in 2013, Land use & development, Regulation

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Suburban Redevelopment in Merrifield Wins NYTimes Nod

Posted on December 21, 2012 by James A. Bacon| 15 Comments

EYA Townhomes in the Mosaic district

Taking notice of redevelopment in the Merrifield area of Fairfax County, The New York Times has suggested that this “suburban wasteland in Virginia” is at last getting an urban feel.

The centerpiece of the suburban makeover is the 31-acre Mosaic district, a project of Columbia, S.C.-based Edens, a private retail developer. When fully built out, the mixed-use project will include 500,000 square feet of retail and 1,000 residential units. Writes Alison M. Rice for the NYTimes:

In the Mosaic District, Edens grouped its tenants by type, clustering specialty grocers such as MOM’s Organic Market close to a butcher, fish market and wine shop, for example. “Mixed use has relied on food of all kinds as its primary anchor, from Whole Foods to Harris Teeter and restaurants of all types,” said Maureen McAvey, a retail specialist with the Urban Land Institute in Washington. “As bookstores closed, food has become even more important” to retail development.

Trendy new retail concepts are great, but they may not prove enduring. What Merrifield still really needs is the sought-after “walkability” factor, and that, in Rice’s appraisal, remains elusive. “Intended as a pedestrian-friendly town center and less than a mile from a Metro station,” she writes, “Mosaic is still best reached for many visitors by car or bus, rather than on foot, because of traffic on nearby roads.”

Six decades of disastrous land use decisions will not be reversed by a single project. The vast quilt that is Fairfax County, home to more than one million residents, can be repaired only one patch at a time. Fortunately, developers like Eden are quick to respond to changing market preferences and local government leadership seems willing to let the county evolve.

JAB

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Posted in 2012, Land use & development

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IG of the Day: Walking Communities

Posted on October 5, 2012 by James A. Bacon| 3 Comments

Governing magazine has just published an interactive map showing which United States metros have the highest percentage of workers who walk to work. No surprise, the leaders in Virginia are small metros with large student populations — Charlottesville, Blacksburg and Harrisonburg.

The graphics are somewhat deceptive, however. The size of the dot appears to bear some correlation to the percentage of population that walks to work, but it’s an imperfect one. (Hampton Road’s dot is so small it barely registers on the map, yet the percentage of population walking to work is nearly double that of Richmond.) So, to make sure you get an accurate picture, here’s the key data extracted from the interactive features of the map:

6.1% — Charlottesville
5.1% — Blacksburg/Christiansburg
4.7% — Harrisonburg
3.2% — Washington
3.2% — Lynchburg
2.7% — Winchester
2.5% — Virginia Beach/Norfolk
1.8% — Roanoke
1.4% — Richmond
1.1% — Danville
1.0% — Bristol/Kingsport

– JAB

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Posted in 2012, Transportation

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Talking the Talk, Walking the WalkUp

Posted on September 17, 2012 by James A. Bacon| 4 Comments

Momentum is shifting decisively from the traditional model of auto-centric development associated with “suburban sprawl” to WalkUps, the term that urbanist Christopher B. Leinberger has coined for Walkable Urban Places. Not only that, contends Leinberger in a new paper, “D.C.: The WalkUP Wake-Up Call,” but the Washington region stands at the vanguard of the national trend.

That may come as a surprise to those who know the region primarily for its hellish traffic congestion and developers’ voracious appetite for land. Despite its fearsome reputation for traffic gridlock, metropolitan Washington stands near the top of national surveys of walkability and the region has emerged since the 1990s as an example of how the nation should develop the built environment, Leinberger contends.

In the 1992-2000 business cycle, the share of office, retail, apartment and hotel property built in WalkUP neighborhoods was 24%. Between 2009 and the present, market share stood at 48%. In the future, predicts the George Washington University professor, WalkUps will continue to predominate as the market corrects for changing demographics and the excess supply of car-centered communities erected in previous building booms.

Leinberger defines six types of regionally significant WalkUPs: downtown, downtown adjacent, urban commercial, surburban town center, strip commercial redevelopment and greenfield. The Washington region is unique in the country for having all six types. He has identified 43 of these places, with the main concentration in the urban core of the District of Columbia but with a remarkable number (remarkable to me, at least) in Northern Virginia.


The 43 WalkUps are roughly 15 times more densely developed than the rest of the region. While accounting for less than one percent of the land mass, they account for one-third of the region’s employment. WalkUPs hold an even higher percentage of primary jobs (as opposed to local service jobs). These places are light on residential, contributing only three percent of the regional inventory. But the sales value per square foot for residential is 71% higher than for other areas. Likewise, office rent per square foot runs about 76% higher.

Leinberger ranks WalkUPs as copper, silver, gold and platinum, depending upon various walkability criteria including the presence of mass transit. Copper WalkUPs are walkable communities in the making where local governments have made necessary zoning changes and invested some of the required infrastructure but the private sector is only beginning to respond. Tysons Corner is an example of this type. Despite limited change, office leases go for a 4% premium, while housing price sales are 13% higher.

The Silver WalkUps in the Leinberger classification are 53% more dense than the Coppers and have 44% higher rents. The Golds have 19% higher rents than the Silvers, while the Platinums — downtown Washington, Georgetown — have 19% higher rents than the Golds.

Leinberger posits a strong connection between the average education level of a region’s workforce and its preference for walkable communities. Knowledge workers are driving the trend to walkable urban places. As the metropolitan region with the highest level of education in the country, he writes, Washington is “farthest along in adjusting to the demands of the knowledge economy.”

A rise in highly educated knowledge workers has powered the explosion in demand for and development of walkable urban places in metro D.C. and elsewhere. These highly educated creative class workers, especially the young Millennials (born between 1982 and 2004), want the option of living and working in walkable urban places. Since metro D.C. has relatively more of these workers than any other metropolitan area, it is not surprising that it leads the WalkUPs phenomenon. As these Millennials age,  many seem to be moving to or near suburban WalkUPs, such as Arlington. When it comes to developing suburban WalkUPs, metro D.C. has a substantial lead  over all other U.S. areas.

Bacon’s bottom line: I agree with Leinberger’s broad thesis, although I do think he pushes it too far at times. For instance, he entertains the possibility that walkable areas have greater social equity than other parts of town, thus creating a liberal-progressive trifecta of economic efficacy, environmental sustainability and social justice. The case is less than persuasive, as he reluctantly admits. The fact that walkable, mixed use areas command the highest premium for rents, house sales and office leases guarantees that only the most affluent members of society can afford to live and work there.

However, inequities could diminish if more WalkUps development occurs. The premium price for rents and leases stems from the relative scarcity of these places compared to the demand for them. Build enough and the premium will disappear.

In the meantime, all Virginians (including Northern Virginians) will have to look at metropolitan Washington very differently. Far from representing what’s worst and most dysfunctional about human settlement patterns, the region could be some 40 years ahead of other regions in adapting land use to the exigencies of the Knowledge Economy.

– JAB

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Posted in 2012, Demographics, Economic development, Land use & development, Transportation

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Eating the World’s Most Delicious Philly Cheesesteak at the Reading Terminal Market

Posted on September 17, 2012 by James A. Bacon| 9 Comments


by James A. Bacon

When the Bacon family visited Philadelphia this weekend to watch the Eagles play the Baltimore Ravens, there was only one thing I wanted out of the trip. I had to chow down on an authentic Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich. I’d tasted ersatz cheesesteak hoagies in Virginia but that was like ordering grits… in Connecticut. Or hamburgers… in Spain. (Trust me, I’ve tried the latter, and it doesn’t work.) I craved the real thing.

As it turns out, you can’t walk 20 feet in downtown Philly without bumping into a restaurant or food cart that sells the sandwiches. But I had the good fortune to purchase mine from Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagies and Cheesesteaks. Not only is Carmen’s arguably the Maxim’s of the junk food world, it was located in the Reading Terminal Market, which is surely one of the busiest indoor food courts in the western hemisphere. Originating as a farmer’s market, the Market has evolved into something more: a popular tourist destination and fun place for native Philadelphians to hang out.

Making cheesesteaks is an assembly-line process at Carmen's. When all you do eight hours a day is prepare hoagies and cheesesteaks, like these two guys, you get reaalllly good at it.

My half hour wait in line was worth the delayed gratification. Loaded with peppers, onions, mushrooms and Cheese Whiz — yes, Cheese Whiz is an indispensable ingredient, or so I was informed — my sandwich fully lived up to expectations. The popularity of Carmen’s and cheesesteaks generally also helped  explain why Philadelphia has the highest obesity rate of America’s largest cities.

The Philly Cheesesteak is a relic of the city’s glorious industrial past. These days, the knowledge-intensive Philadelphia region, with all of its universities and law schools, is being overrun with foodies and health nuts. Sunday morning, a half-marathon outside our downtown hotel attracted thousands of runners. The two sit-down restaurants where we ate served only organic food. And there is a major government-civic effort afoot to attack the city’s “food deserts” by inducing its ubiquitous corner markets to stock fresh fruit and vegetables.

My takeaway from Philadelphia for Virginia is this: Farmers markets are sprouting everywhere. That’s understandable: People love food and they love watching other people. Grocery shopping becomes a social event. It may be tempting to fashion a particular “vision” for these markets. Don’t. Let them evolve naturally in line with the character of the regions and neighborhoods they serve. In the Reading Terminal Market, Carmen’s coexists with Wan’s Seafood and an Amish dairy. There are sellers of herbs, purveyors of chocolates, cutters of flowers and vendors of free-range poultry. The result is culinary chaos — and a lot of fun.

The beauty of the Reading Terminal Market is that it has a roof and four walls, which provides a sense of permanence and encourages merchants to invest in counters, lighting, signage and displays that draw more patrons. Its location in a highly walkable, mixed-use downtown district also encourages loads of foot traffic. (Much of the traffic at Carmen’s was carry-out.) There are no national food chains there — all businesses are local and contribute to the regional economy. That’s a great business model for enterprising Virginia developers to emulate.

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Posted in 2012, Agriculture & forestry, Economic development, Economy

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The Densification of Richmond

Posted on August 30, 2012 by James A. Bacon| 8 Comments

Pressure is intensifying to redevelop Richmond’s retail enclaves at greater densities. But locals love the Libbie & Grove shopping district just the way it is. Is there a way to accommodate both?

by James A. Bacon

The Libbie & Grove shopping district is little known outside the west end of Richmond but it is much beloved by the people who live nearby. There is nothing especially distinctive about the architecture of the shops and restaurants – indeed the styles are very much mix and match. Some of the buildings, like a 7 Eleven and BP gas station, are major eyesores. But the retail district has an indefinable aura that makes it a great place.

The Westhampton Theater, the only movie theater in Richmond that plays independent and foreign flicks, is a major draw for the city’s wine and brie crowd. Phil’s Continental Lounge, a neighborhood restaurant and bar from another era, draws more of a beer and bubba clientele. Peter-Blair displays what just be might the world’s gaudiest assortment of bright, preppy neckties. There are numerous eateries in the area, and they all provide sidewalk dining. It’s fun to walk around, windowshop and bump into people you know.

For a fleeting moment, one might say, the Libbie and Grove area has achieved a state of urban grace. Everybody loves it, and no one wants it to change. But, as former Beatle George Harrison once crooned, all things must pass.

Artist's rendering of the Highline Developments project at the corner of Libbie & Grove

The mixed-use building would replace a BP gas station.

Highline Developments BP LLC has asked the city for a special use permit to build a four-story apartment and retail center where a BP gas station now stands. The project would offer several amenities, not the least of which is replacing the ugly gas station. Plans call for 24 parking spaces behind the building with another 53 underground, expanding the supply of desperately needed parking in the area. The ground floor would be devoted to shops and restaurants, while 22 apartments would reside in the upper floors. Perhaps most notably, the building would be architecturally striking. A cupola would provide a visual focal point the district now lacks.

There would be another big bonus for the city. The mixed-use building would generate roughly $150,000 in property tax revenue in place of a gas station that contributes only $11,000 in property taxes now. If the City of Richmond to wants to rebuild its tax base, it will have to encourage the higher-intensity development along its commercial corridors.

But the project has a major drawback – it’s big. The four-story structure will dwarf nearby buildings. The roof height would be 53 feet; the cupola would soar to 68 feet. That compares to 35 feet for the Westhampton Theater, the tallest existing building. By setting a precedent for developers to propose more tall, mixed-use buildings, it will forever change the character of the retail district.

The Richmond region is at a crossroads. The tide of development is shifting from the metropolitan periphery back toward the urban core. The new dynamic is most visible downtown, in Shockoe Bottom, the Canal district and the old Manchester neighborhood across the river. While a handful of downtown projects generated controversy because they would block the river views of established homeowners, redevelopment has been relatively free of conflict with adjacent neighborhoods. But not everyone who wants to move back into the city wants to live downtown. Developers are betting that there is pent-up demand for luxury condomium living in an affluent neighborhood like Libbie & Grove.

Pressure to re-develop traditional Richmond neighborhoods at greater density will only intensify. The question is, can the city accommodate the redevelopment, which is far more efficient from an infrastructure-utilization point of view than building in a green field on the metropolitan edge, or will resistance from neighbors limit the city’s evolution? Given the city’s status-quo vision for the city’s west end and outspoken community opposition, the answer is not at all clear.

You won’t find any grand mansions near Libbie & Grove, unless you cross River Road to the estates near the James River or travel a ways down Three Chopt Road. The houses are understated in the old Virginia manner but well-to-do. St. Catherine’s School, with its manicured grounds and stone school buildings, is within a short walking distance of the shops, while the Country Club of Virginia lies just beyond. St. Stephen’s, one of Virginia’s largest and wealthiest Episcopal churches, is only a block or two away, and the University of Richmond, St. Christopher’s School and Saint Mary’s Hospital are just down the road.

The red patch shows the location of the proposed mixed-use building. (Click for a more legible image.)

Though known as “Libbie & Grove,” the retail district technically follows Libbie all the way down to Patterson Ave. and encompasses several blocks of commercial activity there as well. The city’s Master Plan supports the status quo for the area, noting, “Opportunities for redevelopment or change in use … are extremely limited.” The plan’s guiding principles state that, in general, residential areas should be protected from commercial encroachment and that, in the specific case of Libbie/Grove, “the vitality of the commercial service centers … should be maintained by placing limitations on the extent and character of expansion to those areas.”

In 2010 the city embarked upon a review of the Master Plan for Libbie & Grove at the request of the area’s City Council representative Bruce Tyler. After a series of public hearings, stakeholders reaffirmed the Master Plan’s land use recommendations for the district. However, Scott Boyers, a CB Richard Ellis broker and investor in the Highline Developments project, says the review was a two-step process. The first phase, which is complete, created a “framework” for the area. A follow-up phase, which has not yet occurred, would address specific zoning densities, heights, sizes and setbacks. “My project was thoughtfully conceived in good faith with respect to the Master Plan and the process to complete the plan,” he told Bacon’s Rebellion. Read more.

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Posted in 2012, Land use & development

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