Henrico EDA repurchases GreenCity site

The Henrico Economic Development Authority closed on its reacquisition of the site of the failed $2.3 billion GreenCity development on Thursday.

The 93-acre property at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Parham Road is also the site of the former Best Products corporate headquarters campus.

Essentially, in reacquiring the property, the EDA paid back the GreenCity developers — Michael Hallmark of Los Angeles-based Future Cities and Susan Eastridge of Falls Church’s Concord Eastridge — the $1 million the developers had previously put toward the $6.2 million price of the property.

Announced in late 2020, GreenCity was pitched to be an environmentally friendly development anchored by an arena and including two hotels, approximately 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail space and 2,100 residential units, plus green space and plazas.

But GreenCity failed after its developers were unable to make more than $5 million in overdue payments to Henrico by a March deadline.

Background

The county initially said in March it would reacquire the former Best Products campus property from the developers in a process anticipated to take about 30 days. However, the land transfer never occurred, and in April, the Henrico EDA sued two LLCs linked to the GreenCity developers, saying the developers had refused to convey the property back to the county.

According to the lawsuit, the EDA agreed to sell the 93-acre site to the developers in a November 2022 agreement for $6.2 million, and the sale took place on Feb. 28, 2023.

After paying the county $1 million in two installments on time in 2023, the developers failed to pay the remaining $5.2 million due Feb. 28, the complaint said. In March, the EDA sent a notice of default, giving the developers until March 13 to make the payment. When they failed to pay, the EDA notified Hallmark and Eastridge that the county would exercise its repurchase option of $1 million on April 15.

A Henrico County Circuit Court judge had previously issued a summons to the EDA in April, seeking to garnish the $1 million repurchase fee. The developers filed a motion to vacate the judgment, and they had “refused to convey the property to the EDA … unless ASM agrees that the EDA may pay some or all of the repurchase price to [the developers] rather than to ASM,” Henrico said in its complaint.

And while all that was happening, the GreenCity developers were the subjects of another lawsuit brought by the aborted arena’s would-be operator, ASM Global. On Aug. 15, the two parties reached a settlement agreement in that $1.5 million legal dispute.

ASM Attorney Jeff Miller confirmed to Virginia Business on Aug. 18 that ASM and GreenCity had settled their lawsuit.

Next steps

Henrico County released a request for interest regarding the site in May, asking developers to submit plans for an arena-anchored development. Pitches from developers were due July 28.

“We received a number of high-quality proposals from development teams,” Henrico EDA Executive Director Anthony Romanello told Virginia Business in late August.

County Manager John Vithoulkas has a review committee (of which Romanello is a member) for the proposals, he said.

“We’re in the midst of revieing those proposals,” Romanello added. “The hope is that the board of supervisors would formally identify a partner by December.”

After that, the property would be conveyed to the selected development team in January 2026, with a 17,000-capacity arena expected to open in 2028.

Construction of residences on the adjoining 110 acres, known as Scott Farm, is set to start later this year, under the development of a Markel|Eagle Partners subsidiary, according to the county.

Virginia Business Associate Editor Josh Janney contributed to this report.