Aiming for the fences

When renters tour the new Novel apartment building in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood, one fifth-floor vantage point has particular appeal. The windows on the building’s east side look across Arthur Ashe Boulevard onto the site where the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ new baseball stadium, CarMax Park, is expected to open in time for the 2026 season.

“It’s a lot of fun when we are giving tours. You’re looking down into the progress,” says Brandon Wright, managing director for Crescent Communities, the North Carolina developer that built Novel with Richmond’s Thalhimer Realty Partners. In August, Crescent began marketing about half of Novel’s 275 units. “We’ve certainly seen a demand for units on that side of the building.”

Crescent was driven to invest in the project, its entry into greater Richmond, by the hot Scott’s Addition neighborhood — known for its popular breweries, eateries and entertainment options — and plans for the adjoining $2.4 billion mixed-use Diamond District development, which is being led by Thalhimer.

“This is the hottest market in the entire Richmond MSA,” Wright says.

Wright’s observations echo the city government’s excitement about the Diamond District project, which will include replacing the nearly 40-year-old Diamond baseball stadium with the new $117 million-plus, 8,000-seat CarMax Park stadium.

But that’s far from the only major development happening in the greater Richmond region. From a massive indoor farm and sports arenas to manufacturing and office development, the state capital and its surrounding counties are ripe for growth.

Richmond

Over time, the Diamond District will be more than a baseball hub. Development plans for the 67-acre neighborhood call for as many as 3,000 residential units, 935,000 square feet of office space, 195,000 square feet of retail and community space, and a hotel. 

“It’s an opportunity to intentionally create a neighborhood that meets some economic development goals — bringing jobs, affordable housing [and] also public amenities like a stadium,” says Matt Welch, Richmond’s acting director of economic development. “Residents have said loud and clear that they want the Flying Squirrels to stay in Richmond, while creating an intentional neighborhood.”

Currently, much of the predevelopment work has involved putting in infrastructure and utilities, says Jason Guillot, principal with Thalhimer Realty Partners and managing partner for Diamond District Partners, the joint venture developing the project.

CarMax Park is set to debut for baseball’s opening day in April 2026 as part of the Diamond District’s first phase, which will likely not be completed until 2028, says Guillot.

“With a project this large and complex, the key is to break it down into bite-size pieces and to plan, design and then build while managing the expectations of every internal and external stakeholder, which for us is the most arduous task, as there are many,” Guillot says.

It’s unclear whether a $40 million lawsuit filed by a Connecticut developer against Diamond District Partners will delay the timetable. In the lawsuit, Republic Projects claims it was cut out of the development deal after initially being a partner.

However, “I think it’s fairly obvious to anyone driving by the site that this project is moving forward,” says Guillot, who adds he cannot comment on pending litigation.

Closer to downtown Richmond, Arlington County-based CoStar Group is moving forward on the $460.5 million expansion of its riverfront Richmond campus. The global real estate data and analytics company, which is known for its Apartments.com and Homes.com brands, is building a 26-story office tower and a six-story building adjacent to its main hub at 501 S. Fifth St. CoStar expects to add about 2,000 jobs and 750,000 square feet of office space through the expansion, which is projected to be mostly complete in 2026.

The company’s new Corporate Innovation Campus in Richmond will house employees in sales, marketing, software development and other divisions.

As part of the benefits package for CoStar’s Richmond expansion, the state legislature approved a $15 million grant reimbursing the company for public infrastructure improvements, including commuter access and parking and pedestrian access. The grant is contingent on CoStar reaching at least 90% of its pledged job creation and capital investment targets by Dec. 31, 2028. 

Another major project underway in the city is the 7,500-capacity, $30 million outdoor Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront. A project led by Charlottesville’s Red Light Ventures and Live Nation, the amphitheater is expected to open in time for the summer 2025 concert season. The first new major concert venue in Richmond in decades, the amphitheater will be set on 4 acres near the banks of the James River, near CoStar’s Richmond campus and Tredegar.

Henrico County

In neighboring Henrico County, GreenCity, a planned multibillion-dollar, 220-acre residential, commercial and entertainment community, is slowly moving forward.

Originally announced in 2020 as an environmentally friendly mixed-use development to be built around a 17,000-seat sports and entertainment arena, GreenCity has been delayed due to rising construction costs and financing needs, says Anthony Romanello, executive director of Henrico’s Economic Development Authority.

However, construction on the project’s residential portion is expected to begin in January 2025. “We don’t have a timeline on the arena, but we are excited that dirt will be turning,” Romanello says of the project from Concord Eastridge and Future Cities.

An arena would benefit Henrico’s sports tourism economy, says Romanello, noting that there’s already been high demand for the county’s Henrico Sports & Events Center, which opened in December 2023 off Interstate 95 in northern Henrico and has been booked for at least 46 weekends, he says.

“Sports tourism is a growth industry,” Romanello says. “We are working very hard to seize that opportunity. It’s a great revenue opportunity for the county.”

In the county’s East End, plans are underway for White Oak Technology Park II, a 622-acre site in Sandston that was rezoned to allow data center development. QTS Data Centers completed its purchase of the property this past summer for approximately $137 million.

Henrico already houses approximately 16 data centers, including several at the original White Oak Technology Park, located at the intersection of interstates 64 and 295 in eastern Henrico.

Romanello estimates that it could be 10 years before the second White Oak tech park is fully built.

To be sure, data centers have been fruitful for Henrico. From 2017 to 2024, through real estate and business property tax revenues, data centers have contributed more than $18 million to the county coffers.

Henrico’s board of supervisors announced in May that it would funnel unbudgeted revenue from data centers to a county affordable housing fund grant program.

Chesterfield County

Indoor vertical farming and a Lego toy-making factory are some of the newest developments in Chesterfield, a testament to the area’s economic development focus on manufacturing and production.

Last year, Danish toymaker The Lego Group broke ground on a $1 billion, 340-acre manufacturing campus in Chesterfield’s Meadowville Technology Park, with plans to begin production in 2025. But that timeline has been pushed back to 2027, due to finalizing agreements with the general contractor and assessing design and ramp-up plans. 

Even so, construction is already taking place at the site, and Lego’s first building is expected to take shape within the next six months, says Matt McLaren, deputy director for Chesterfield Economic Development.

Already, Lego has hired 300 people to work at a temporary packing and training facility in the county, and Lego plans to hire a total of more than 1,750 employees in Chesterfield over the next decade.

“We are really excited to continue to partner with Lego,” McLaren says. “They are keeping all of their promises moving forward. This is one of the largest projects in the county and in the region.”

According to Lego, its Virginia facility will expand its global manufacturing network and support its sustainability goals, with energy efficient production equipment and manufacturing processes that minimize energy use. It also aims to locate more factories closer to major markets, so that it can respond quickly to shifts in demand for products and shorten its supply chain, says Lego spokeswoman Colleen Arons.

Once complete, the Lego campus is expected to house 13 buildings and a high-bay warehouse, all housing everything from offices to operations such as molding, processing and packing.

Nearby, another tenant in the county’s Meadowville Technology Park, California-based vertical indoor farming company Plenty Unlimited, expects to reap the first fruits from its new $300 million indoor vertical farm in early 2025.

Plenty opened its 120-acre, multibuilding Chesterfield campus in September, its second farm and its first production site on the East Coast. Also its first berry farm, the facility will grow more than 4 million pounds of Driscoll’s strawberries a year on 30-foot-tall towers inside an approximately 40,000-square-foot space. Plenty’s farms use artificial intelligence and other technology to grow produce in indoor spaces that aren’t subject to variables in temperature and weather conditions.

Initially, the company planned to hire 60 employees, but as it expands its Chesterfield campus, it hopes to grow to more than 300 employees.

“We’re supportive of these kinds of projects,” says McLaren. “They are not like the typical greenhouse. They use industrial levels of power and light and nutrients. The scale of these buildings is such that it needs to be supported in an industrial park area, rather than outside on the farm.”

Both Plenty and Lego are examples of the ways that manufacturing jobs stretch across industries.

And that lines up with Richmond area economic trends. Since July, the majority of the Richmond region’s active development projects have involved manufacturing, followed by life sciences and food and beverage businesses, says Jennifer Wakefield, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership.

Meanwhile, Chesterfield continues attracting big manufacturing operations to Meadowville. This summer, Danish electrolyzer manufacturer Topsoe paid $4.95 million for about 57 acres at the county technology park, where it plans to build a $400 million manufacturing plant and create 150 jobs.

Located across the street from Lego’s campus, the company’s facility will manufacture solid oxide electrolyzer cell stacks, which are used to produce renewable hydrogen.

A Topsoe spokesperson has said that the company expects construction on this project to take two years.

In September, Garrett Hart, Chesterfield’s director of economic development, noted Topsoe was working on a site plan and expects to begin construction in 2025.

“They’re moving forward,” Hart said.  

Greater Richmond at a glance

Founded in 1737 by Col. William Byrd II, Richmond is known as the River City for its location on the James River. The state’s capital, Richmond is home to the Virginia General Assembly and much of state government. The metro region, which includes Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover and Henrico counties, is home to 11 Fortune 1000 companies. The region is also home to the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University and Virginia Union University.

Population
226,604 (city); 1.3 million (metro region)

Major employers

VCU/VCU Health System:
21,300 employees

Capital One Financial: 13,000

HCA Virginia Health System: 11,200

Bon Secours Richmond: 8,500

Dominion Energy: 5,400

Amazon: 5,100

Major attractions

Richmond is home to historical and cultural attractions such as the Poe Museum, the American Civil War Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. Visitors can also enjoy time outside at Maymont park or the Kings Dominion amusement park in Hanover. Carytown, the Fan District and Scott’s Addition offer many options for shopping, dining and entertainment.

Fortune 500 companies

Altria Group

Arko

CarMax

Dominion Energy

Genworth Financial

Markel Group

Owens & Minor

Performance Food Group

Notable restaurants

21 Spoons
New American, 21spoonsmidlo.com

Buttermilk and Honey
American fast casual, buttermilkandhoneyrva.com

Lemaire
New American, lemairerestaurant.com

L’opossum
Modern French, lopossum.com

Stella’s
Greek, stellasrichmond.com