Henrico to rebid arena project at former Best Products campus

Henrico County announced Thursday it is rebidding the development rights for the former Best Products headquarters campus, the site where the failed $2.3 billion GreenCity development had been planned.

GreenCity officially met its demise after developers failed to make more than $5 million in overdue payments by a March 13 deadline, and the county said in a statement that it would rebid the project.

On Thursday, Henrico announced it will issue a “request for interest” in late April for developers wishing to build an arena-anchored development on the 93-acre site just off interstates 95 and 295. The county expects to repurchase the land by April 15, the statement says.

“Henrico County is eager to attract a new partner or partners that are proven, competent and capitalized to deliver on what’s clearly a once-in-a-lifetime development opportunity,” County Manager John A. Vithoulkas said in a statement. “This location — along two major interstates — is perfectly suited for a large arena, and our region is starving for a venue to host major concerts, sporting events and other family entertainment.

“The county is issuing an RFI because we want to attract the best ideas for what this property can become. As a county, we are ready to move forward, and the building blocks for development are in place. Markel|Eagle Partners has begun site work for the residential component of this development, and the county has cued up key infrastructure projects, namely building Magellan Parkway across I-95, extending water and sewer infrastructure to the site and constructing the nearby Fall Line Trail.”

Interested developers must respond within 45 days of the RFI’s issuance, the county said.

The former GreenCity 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.

The 220-acre mixed-use development 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.

In February, 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.