Henrico County’s $2.3B GreenCity project is dead

The $2.3 billion GreenCity development in Henrico County is dead, as the developers of the project failed to make more than $5 million in overdue payments by a March 13 deadline, the county said Friday.

The county previously sent two notices of default — one in regard to the property purchase agreement and one relating to the development agreement — to the developers of the planned 220-acre GreenCity mixed-use development, which was proposed in 2020 as an environmentally friendly development that would be anchored by a 17,000-seat sports and entertainment arena. It was expected to include two hotels with 600 rooms, about 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail space, 2,100 residential units, and green space and plazas.

The developers were Michael Hallmark of Los Angeles-based Future Cities and Susan Eastridge of Falls Church-based Concord Eastridge, who head development entities Green City Partners and Green City Development Corp. LLC. They did not immediately return calls seeking comment Friday.

Henrico County announced in a statement that it will reacquire the Best Products property from the Green City developers, saying the parties “have mutually agreed to go in a different direction, and the developers will expeditiously work to transfer the property back to the county and terminate the existing agreements.”

The county says the process will take roughly 30 days, noting that this transfer “will ultimately set the stage for the Best Products site to thrive as a large, mixed-use development anchored by a privately funded arena.”

On Feb. 15, county Manager John Vithoulkas sent the developers a notice of default on a development agreement between the county, the economic development authority and the developers, following a nonperformance notice sent in December 2024. Under the development agreement, Green City Partners had a 60-day cure period to address the nonperformance.

A March 3 default notice revealed that Green City Development Corp. failed to make the final payment on the roughly 93-acre land, the site of the former Best Products headquarters, for the planned arena. More than $5.22 million was due Feb. 28.

The real estate purchase agreement between the county’s economic development authority and the developers included an initial payment of $500,000 due on Feb. 28, 2023, and a second payment of the same amount due Feb. 28, 2024.

GCDC had a 10-day cure period for the remaining payment from receipt of the March 3 notice. If the developers failed to make the payment by March 13, the EDA had the right to repurchase undeveloped property and has “all rights and remedies available at law and in equity.”

Henrico said Friday that once the repurchase process on the Best Products property is complete, it plans to work with interested arena operators and developers “to make the vision a reality.”

“The need is abundantly clear,” Henrico County said in its statement. “Our region remains the most underserved community along Interstate 95 in terms of a venue capable of hosting large concerts, sporting events, and other family entertainment. This economic development and tourism project will also bring more quality housing, hotels, and commercial cores to the county, making it a destination center.”

Henrico says it’s eager to move forward and will be working closely with the economic development authority and Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority to identify “a proven, competent, and capitalized development partner or partners with both the vision and the capacity to deliver a world-class private development for our community.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.