Richmond City Center project awaits city decision

The City of Richmond continues to evaluate four proposals to demolish the shuttered Richmond Coliseum and redevelop the surrounding downtown area — 9.4 acres comprising the City Center Innovation District.

In May 2023, the Richmond Economic Development Authority and the Greater Richmond Convention Center Authority released renderings from four developer groups — Capstone Development, City Center Gateway Partners, Lincoln Property and Richmond Community Development Partners. Proposal requirements included a 500-room hotel anchor to support the convention center, adaptive reuse plans for the historic Blues Armory plus office, retail and housing.

The city has been mum on when it will announce its choice.

City Center Gateway Partners, led by Capital Square and including Shamin Hotels and Gold Key | PHR, proposed a 30-story, 350- to 375-foot-tall hotel, while Richmond Community Development Partners, led by Machete Group and Bank Street Advisors, put forth a 40-story, 450-foot hotel as an option. The other developers did not respond to interview requests.

A key component of City Center Gateway Partners’ proposal is a roughly 1-acre public park, as well as 700 to 1,000 residential units, of which about 120 would be affordable housing. City Center Gateway Partners estimates its proposal would generate more than $900 million in downtown investments.

“The reason we called ourselves the City Center Gateway Partners is because once redeveloped, we do actually think this area could be a gateway to downtown, just with how you come off the interstate to come into the city and then, of course, Broad Street coming east if you’re in town,” says Natalie Mason, Capital Square’s executive vice president of development.

Richmond Community Development Partners’ proposal includes a large, open bridge connecting a new hotel to the convention center. The team, which previously submitted a proposal for the Diamond District project, proposed adding more than 1,100 rental units and potentially several life sciences buildings.

“We’re already generally familiar with the market, based on the work that we did on the Diamond District, so we’re a fan of Richmond,” says David Carlock, principal of Houston-based Machete Group. The Coliseum area “is a part of town that will certainly benefit from investment, and we think it has the right attributes and adjacencies to be successful.”

City Council voted down a previous redevelopment attempt for the downtown Coliseum area, the $235 million Navy Hill project that would have included a 17,500-seat arena, in February 2020.