Green City

I guess I have a problem with associations. Because every time I see this thread title, I think....
 
VCU Finance 2008 said:
People that go to a regular season game in their local area aren't necessarily hardcore hoops fans but the ones that travel from out of town to go to a conference tournament tend to be. From what I see most get up and eat breakfast in their hotel, get together with other fans to pregame, go to one or more games then eat dinner and watch more games on TV. You only need a hotel and a couple of restaurants to accomplish that. Now if your team gets eliminated on day one then you might have to do some research to find something to do if you don't plan on attending any more games. It would be best if you had a car but there would be plenty of space to park it. Some people prefer that to having to pay a ton of money in a city to park their car and not being able to use it during the weekend. Having four teams within a 2-hour drive would certainly help as well. The locations definitely matter but I feel like the biggest factor in tournament attendance is which teams are doing well and progress throughout the tournament. It may or may not work but I definitely think it is worth a shot.
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That's definitely different from what I've observed/experienced. Most fans I've come in contact with attend their school's game and bounce. Maybe you stay for the next game in that session if you'll play that team next. Maybe you arrive after halftime to watch the game before your team's game. I know very few people who aren't hoop heads who are attending all or most of the games. Especially if you making this a family outing.

Most folks I know will attend the VCU game and are looking for stuff to do either that morning/afternoon before an evening game or if we play in the afternoon will be looking to do something that night. Even if we play the 7:30 game they may be looking for something interesting to do other than sit in a hotel room afterwards. The last time I attended the tournament in Brooklyn I was definitely doing stuff in NYC beyond going to games, eating and sleeping.

It's also not just about getting bodies to the game but making it an enjoyable experience. That was one of the big complaints about the CAA tournament in Richmond. I actually attended a focus group way back in the day facilitated by Jerry Stone soliciting ideas to improve the CAA tournament. By contrast the CIAA tournament was the complete opposite (haven't been in a while but I assume nothing has changed). There was so much going on to do in conjunction with the games, it was like "oh by the way, our team is playing tonight."
 
BradRamFan said:
Yes....exactly.
I think Green City will be great for A game or A concert but I am not sure about a multi-day events due to the lack of other local activities. It reminds me a lot of the old Cap Center in Landover, MD.......out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around.
Of course the design calls for a mix use area with businesses and housing I think. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Just look at the 6th street marketplace, the addition of a large hotel and convention buildings downtown. The Marketplace just never took off.
Green City may take off as it looks like they are actually trying to build an entire new "city" from the ground up. But I think it will be decades in the making to forge an area with lots of extra/additional activities.
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Yeah, I'm not sure what the official name of that area is, but if you go to the Short Pump Whole Foods they've built that area up to be a mini city/downtown-like environment. I can envision something like that working for Green City. But what I see makes it sound like a lot of residential and corporate offices with a hotel or two and not much in terms of entertainment entities other than the arena. And I don't see Lowe's or Walmart going anywhere so I wonder where the additional development would take place in the immediate vicinity.
 
VCU Heel said:
If $2-3 in tolls is a breaking point for someone to make a trip downtown, then they might want to stick to a cheap fast food place out near their house in the county. Get an E-ZPass and forget about it.
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It's not just the tolls but the experience trying to do stuff in the city now. Street parking has dried up and the city is daily making it more and more of a hassle to park downtown. So you take the $2-$3 toll, plus paying $4 to $8 for parking (depending on how long you want to stay downtown) or risk the potential of $25 parking ticket, plus trying to find a place to park where you don't think your car will get dinged (which is really just part of doing anything in any city).

You may be encouraged to deal with it all of that if there were more compelling things to do downtown.
 
Mistachill said:
Yeah, I'm not sure what the official name of that area is, but if you go to the Short Pump Whole Foods they've built that area up to be a mini city/downtown-like environment. I can envision something like that working for Green City. But what I see makes it sound like a lot of residential and corporate offices with a hotel or two and not much in terms of entertainment entities other than the arena. And I don't see Lowe's or Walmart going anywhere so I wonder where the additional development would take place in the immediate vicinity.
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I think you are talking about GreenGate which has Mellow Mushroom. Whole Foods is across Broad. It will be more like West Broad Village but much bigger. Brook Road is nearby and Walmart and a bunch of restaurants are minutes away.
 
AlienAiden said:
I think you are talking about GreenGate which has Mellow Mushroom. Whole Foods is across Broad. It will be more like West Broad Village but much bigger. Brook Road is nearby and Walmart and a bunch of restaurants are minutes away.
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Yes, GreenGate and West Broad Village was what I'm thinking about. Didn't realize they were two separate developments adjacent to each other.
 
Mistachill said:
Yes, GreenGate and West Broad Village was what I'm thinking about. Didn't realize they were two separate developments adjacent to each other.
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Greengate is exactly how I envision Green City and, to some extent, Diamond District (but larger with more focus on businesses) will look. This kind of development has become super common in "small" cities. I've seen it in NC a lot (Raleigh, Durham and Cary), Chesapeake, etc.

Targets 25-35 year olds for living in nice, but very overpriced (because of the convenience) "luxury" apartments with a mix of fast casual chain restaurants and more modern sit down restaurants, with a couple bars/breweries targeting a younger crowd and of course sidewalks with nice light fixtures for the vibes. A place where you can bring your parents for dinner with a city-esque feel without the hassle of city parking and all that.

I have a true love/hate relationship with these developments because they are nice but also scream gentrification lol still excited for Green City and Diamond District nonetheless even though it's gonna be a while before they're done.
 
AlienAiden said:
By car. Green City is on Parham near the 95 off ramps east of Brook Rd in the old Best Products building location. If you want to go anywhere else you would drive, Uber or catch a bus.
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I don't understand this notion that everything has to be in walking distance. People are more than capable of driving 10-15 minutes to find food/entertainment. When the A-10 tournament comes here people will likely stay downtown or in Short Pump and drive to the arena for games.
 
Mistachill said:
It's not just the tolls but the experience trying to do stuff in the city now. Street parking has dried up and the city is daily making it more and more of a hassle to park downtown. So you take the $2-$3 toll, plus paying $4 to $8 for parking (depending on how long you want to stay downtown) or risk the potential of $25 parking ticket, plus trying to find a place to park where you don't think your car will get dinged (which is really just part of doing anything in any city).

You may be encouraged to deal with it all of that if there were more compelling things to do downtown.
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I was specifically addressing the idea that they should get rid of toll fees because that was some kind of deterrent for people going downtown.
 
Mercury said:
I don't understand this notion that everything has to be in walking distance. People are more than capable of driving 10-15 minutes to find food/entertainment. When the A-10 tournament comes here people will likely stay downtown or in Short Pump and drive to the arena for games.
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Yeah, it is what it is. I go to away games and other venues that require driving. GW is an example. Lots to walk to but parking and other factors like DC traffic are a bummer. I went to Detroit once to the old Palace in Auburn Hills. Had to drive to find other activities before and after the NBA game. Green City is not really gonna be out in the boondocks. It is just north and east of RVA's northside. Brook Road is nearby. Hop on the highway and it takes minutes to be downtown. It is not like the Coliseum but if you wanted something downtown other than 6th street you needed to walk pretty good distances. It is not like the city had incredible offerings nearby.
 
AlienAiden said:
Yeah, it is what it is. I go to away games and other venues that require driving. GW is an example. Lots to walk to but parking and other factors like DC traffic are a bummer. I went to Detroit once to the old Palace in Auburn Hills. Had to drive to find other activities before and after the NBA game. Green City is not really gonna be out in the boondocks. It is just north and east of RVA's northside. Brook Road is nearby. Hop on the highway and it takes minutes to be downtown. It is not like the Coliseum but if you wanted something downtown other than 6th street you needed to walk pretty good distances. It is not like the city had incredible offerings nearby.
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Yeah, I don't understand how some people might think Green City or the Henrico Sports & Events Center is too far away. It's not like they're out in the sticks, they're both in heavily suburban areas with plenty of places to stay or eat and other things to do within a short driving distance.
 
WillWeaverRVA said:
Yeah, I don't understand how some people might think Green City or the Henrico Sports & Events Center is too far away. It's not like they're out in the sticks, they're both in heavily suburban areas with plenty of places to stay or eat and other things to do within a short driving distance.
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One other thing about the location of Henrico Sports & Events Center as well as the Green City location.....Henrico built a great roundabout and a new road that cuts from Woodman Road straight to Brook Road that puts you right in front of Va Center Commons. It cuts lots of time off a trip to get to that location. A right turn onto Brook up to Parham where you turn left is where Green City will be.
 
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