“We Were All Embarrassed;" A Bridge Too Slow; Slow Drip; This Is A Turtle Race; Drip, Drip, Drip.
RVA 5x5 - February 10, 2024
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The needed legislation for the city meals tax fiasco met two different fates in two General Assembly committees this week with one unmistakeable message: “we were all embarrassed by what we read about the City of Richmond.”
Two of the city’s most important economic development projects have such priority at City Hall that one has been stuck in neutral since May and the other is in a turtle race.
The city has the money for a vital bridge project to accompany the front door of the new baseball stadium, but it’s not a priority so it will remain a total mess right out front for two years after the first pitch.
Four stories in eight days about insane water bills for residents that echo the problems restaurants are going through with usury meals taxes— high bills, no explanation, and trouble finding details and/or resolution.
Public Utilities is fighting an uphill battle, and like many other city departments, needs help that has not been forthcoming from the “leadership” of City Hall. Can DPU, City Council, and/or the next Mayor get it turned around?
STORY #1 — This Is A Turtle Race
Two of the city’s largest economic development deals since the Navy Hill boondoggle were in the news in the last week and one seems still stuck in the gate and the other has burst out of the gate like a turtle.
The City Center Project concerning developing the old Coliseum site downtown and the 10 acres around it (much of which was part of the Navy Hill boondoggle) is still stalled, according to Katherine Schulte at Virginia Business. Of the four developer proposals the city accepted back in May 2023 to review and from which they vowed to select a developer to build a 500-room hotel, a renovation of the iconic Blues Armory building, and numerous streetscape improvements among other development, the process seems to have stalled. According to the article, “the city has been mum on when it will announce its choice."
Last summer, the Times-Dispatch ran an article on June 1, 2023 with highlights and diagrams of the submissions of all four finalists that are impressive. It also mentioned that “The [city’s] Economic Development and Convention Center authorities hope to announce a preferred development group this summer.”
A September 5, 2023 article in Richmond Bizsense mentions that an even more detailed look at the plans of the four development groups and also notes even more delays: “A development team selection for City Center had been targeted for this summer, but is now likely to be made in the fall, officials have said.”
So here we are now with the January Virginia Business article that reminds us what the developers would like to say but can’t say because it would put them in a bad spot with the city — it’s mid-February and no one knows where this process is, when a final selection will be made, and why the selection process is taking so long.
Look at the plans in the links above. These developers have their stuff, their staff and their money ready to go and they aren’t asking for a complex financing deal like the Navy Hill boondoggle which would have created an 80-block Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district and starved the city’s general fund (schools, roads, etc.) and cost the city $600 million over 30 years in bonds and interest payments. This is a deal that is delightfully not a disaster from the outset because the city is working with the very well run regional convention center (which unlike the city has has clear and transparent financials).
Which leads us to the second big economic development project — the largest in the city’s history — the Diamond District. This week the city finally transferred four of six the parcels for Phase I of the project to the city’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) so they can be sold to the developer of the project.
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