The 67 acres that make up the Diamond District are bordered by Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Hermitage Road, the interstate and the railroad tracks. (BizSense file)
As design work continues on its anchor baseball stadium, efforts to tee up the first phase of Richmond’s Diamond District project are getting a funding boost from the city’s Economic Development Authority.
The EDA board last month authorized staff to enter into a contract with Navigators Baseball LP, the ownership group of the Richmond Flying Squirrels, to provide up to $1 million in city funds to help advance the new stadium’s design and development.
Leonard Sledge, the city’s economic development director, told the board the funds are needed to push the project forward and keep the new stadium on track to open in time for the 2026 season, the city’s target for complying with new facility standards for pro baseball venues.
Leonard Sledge
“We have reached a point in the project that, to continue to make progress for the 2026 opening, we are asking the EDA to take action,” Sledge said, adding that the funds would be used “to continue advancing the stadium design and development of the facility.”
Describing “economic headwinds” with rising interest rates and inflation that he said have made other economic development projects across the state more challenging, Sledge told the board, “There are some in the commonwealth that are not moving forward. This one will continue to move forward.”
The contract gives Navigators Baseball more say in the stadium design, effectively making the ownership group the lead for that part of the larger Diamond District project, which is being steered by the city and development group RVA Diamond Partners.
Design efforts have been underway since May, when City Council approved definitive agreements with RVA Diamond Partners after months of negotiations that pushed the project’s timeline beyond a 2025 deadline set by Major League Baseball, which oversees minor league venues such as The Diamond.
The 39-year-old stadium does not comply with the new standards and has been deemed unfeasible for upgrades, though MLB last year required $3.5 million in improvements ahead of the 2023 season.
The area that makes up the Diamond District includes the namesake baseball stadium and nearby Sports Backers Stadium.
Sledge did not elaborate on what prompted the contract with Navigators Baseball or the need for the additional funds. A representative for the ownership group could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Sledge said the contract would be drafted in the weeks following the Dec. 21 meeting. A request for a copy of the contract was not fulfilled Wednesday.
The authorization followed a closed-door meeting to discuss, according to the board’s agenda, “the award of a contract or contracts involving the expenditure of public funds relating to the Diamond District development project and the terms and scope of such contract or contracts, because discussion in open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy” of the EDA.
The city previously assumed responsibility for public infrastructure improvements in the project’s first phase, to be financed with $23 million in general obligation bonds through a community development authority. The Diamond District CDA, which has yet to be formed, would issue the nonrecourse bonds as part of the funding for the stadium and infrastructure improvements needed for future phases.
Expected to take at least 18 months to build, the stadium with a capacity of 9,000 has been projected to cost $90 million, contributing to a minimum investment in the first phase that’s been projected at over $627 million.
The larger Diamond District development, to include a mix of office, residential, retail and hotel uses and infrastructure improvements, is projected at $2.4 billion and targeted for completion in 15 years.
A conceptual site plan for the first phase of the project shows the new stadium in the Diamond District’s southwest corner.
In addition to finalizing the stadium design, next steps for the project include creation of the CDA and lease agreements with the Flying Squirrels and VCU, which also would use the new stadium.
Creation of the CDA hinges on the city conveying its 60-acre portion of the 67-acre Diamond District site to the EDA, which would subsequently sell the 60 acres to RVA Diamond Partners. The remaining 7 acres that make up VCU’s Sports Backers Stadium would be purchased in a separate transaction with the university.
The EDA board in September authorized the filing of a petition to create the CDA to Richmond City Council, which approved the transfer of the 60 acres in May. The six city-owned parcels that make up the 60 acres had not been transferred as of this week.
Zoning changes proposed
Another step being taken to accommodate the Diamond District is an update to the city’s TOD-1 Transit-Oriented Development zoning district, which includes the 67-acre site that’s anchored by The Diamond and encourages higher density, mixed-use development.
The changes are largely driven by the Diamond District project and are meant to accommodate the development but also would apply to all TOD properties in the city. The zoning’s expansion since it was introduced in 2017, from 127 acres then to nearly 600 acres today, also is driving the proposal, which aims to address TOD properties adjacent to residential neighborhoods.
The changes stem from recommendations that resulted from public feedback to a proposed Stadium District that would have been specific to the development and was not further pursued. The recommendations were presented to the Planning Commission in March and were fine-tuned in the months since, planning staff said in a presentation to the commission this week.
In addition to adding Diamond District elements such as stadiums and parks to the zoning district’s permitted uses, the proposal also includes changes aimed at allowing more signage within the project site.
The commission endorsed the proposal at its meeting Monday. The changes go to City Council for a final vote next Monday.
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