Real Estate 2023: MICHAEL HALLMARK

Hallmark is lead developer of the $2.3 billion GreenCity development underway in Henrico County that plans to include a 17,000-seat arena billed as the nation’s greenest concert venue, as well as hotels, retail, office and residential space.

An architect, he moved to Virginia in 2018 from Los Angeles, where he designed the Crypto.com Arena, formerly the Staples Center, and founded the sports architecture division at Ellerbe Becket.

Hallmark was set to be lead developer for Capital City Partners’ Navy Hill project in downtown Richmond, which would have replaced the shuttered Richmond Coliseum. The $1.4 billion plan was ultimately voted down by City Council in early 2020. Hallmark and his business partner, Susan Eastridge, were also part of the team that proposed a second project downtown in 2021 — a new tower anchored by VCU Health System offices — but that, too, won’t be happening. VCU Health backed out of the deal earlier this year, paying $73 million to a third party to fulfill a bond debt.

Hallmark founded NBBJ Sports and Entertainment in 1995 and built retractable roof ballparks Safeco Field in Seattle and Miller Park in Milwaukee.