Green City

The trend is irrelevant because the city is incapable of building an arena downtown. The options are have something that is nice but in the burbs or have nothing at all. The location, which is right off 95, will attract premier events which will attract people.
No, the point I'm trying to make is you have to have significant development surrounding it to make it work in Henrico. That's the reason behind the trend to build stadiums/arenas in downtown areas. I know in Richmond downtown is not an option. But the philosophy to make this successful doesn't change. This notion that out of towners will just have to drive 10 miles to get to stuff they want to do is not ideal.
 
No, the point I'm trying to make is you have to have significant development surrounding it to make it work in Henrico. That's the reason behind the trend to build stadiums/arenas in downtown areas. I know in Richmond downtown is not an option. But the philosophy to make this successful doesn't change. This notion that out of towners will just have to drive 10 miles to get to stuff they want to do is not ideal.

Every out of towner that drives up and down I-95/I-295 is going to see Richmond has a new 17,000 arena as it's being built at the crossroads of those two highways. Regarding driving 10 miles to get stuff, Green City is not just a 17,000 arena. It's a huge multi-phased development with housing/retail/green space. Virginia Center Commons is just down the road and that is also going through a huge redevelopment phase that will compliment Green City. Also, being next to both interstates, Short Pump is a very short drive away, as is the City of Richmond - particularly Scotts Edition.

The City of Richmond has had multiple opportunities to build a new arena and have found ways to screw up each and every opportunity. You are arguing for something that will never happen in the City of Richmond and you need to get over it. And I have heard zero complaints from locals regarding Green City. In fact, most locals are just happy the area is finally moving into the 21st Century with an arena large enough to attract top name acts versus having to drive to Charlottesville or DC to see those acts.

When your only option is Option A, you go with Option A.
 
One other point. No one in their right mind is going to commit to a project like Green City unless they have done their due diligence and are certain they can make it work. I'm sure they have way more resources at their fingertips to make major decisions like this than some armchair urban developer on a basketball message board has.
 
Got it. There are a lot of reason they need to get rid of that toll but I don't think it deters anybody from going anywhere. You just pick a non-toll route if you don't want to pay.

I will say this though about the EZ-Pass, I think it makes things too easy. I've probably spent hundreds of dollars in tolls I probably would've spent if I had to dig for change or go in my wallet.
I love E-ZPass. I’m perfectly fine paying 75 cents to save me 5-10 minutes and have much less road rage.

And I think the tolls are fine. The people that are using the roads the most are paying for the roads. And some of these roads wouldn’t have been built without tolls.
 
People btch about the brown spaceship, but it was a centerpiece of this city and without it in operation a large part of what made this city enjoyable, the quality of life, has been removed. RVa dropped the ball and what was allowed to happen to it and the entertainment it brought is a sad reflection of life here today.
 
Not pushing back on the last part, it just got me thinking - within a 10-12 minute walk back when we played at the Coliseum you had Cafe Rustika, Capital Ale House, Mama J's, Tarrant's and Max's (back when both were good), and Croaker's Spot. Of course it's an open question whether folks from out of town would know about those places, but they were there.
You could also Uber from the airport to the hotels around the spaceship and not drive for the entire weekend. A Short driving distance is a huge deal when you don’t have a car because you flew in for an event.
 
Back
Top