An aerial shot of the area surrounding The Diamond. (BizSense file photo)
The latest push in the yearslong effort to replace The Diamond and develop city-owned land around it is now officially out in the world.
The City of Richmond on Tuesday issued a formal request for interest (RFI) for a ballpark-anchored mixed-use redevelopment of the roughly 60-acre site it’s been marketing as “The Diamond District.”
The long-anticipated document kicks off a two-part solicitation process that would culminate next year with the selection of one or more development teams to work with the city on a multi-phased project. If successful, the effort would be in keeping with Richmond’s master plan, while also keeping the city’s minor league ballclub in town.
The Richmond Flying Squirrels, the local Double-A club that’s been promised a new ballpark since its arrival in 2010, would need a new stadium by the 2025 season to be compliant with new facility standards that were implemented for professional baseball this year. Renovating the 36-year-old Diamond to meet those standards is not considered feasible, according to the document.
To meet that deadline, the RFI calls for the new, 10,000-capacity stadium to be built first – and in a new suggested location.
The document states that the city now envisions the new stadium along Arthur Ashe Boulevard just south of The Diamond — a change from the location described in an amendment to the city’s master plan that put the new stadium along Hermitage Road, east of The Diamond and in the area of the existing Sports Backers Stadium.
The location along the boulevard, according to the RFI, is intended to “integrate other retail, residential or commercial uses wrapped around all or a portion of the stadium.”
The new stadium, which would seat 8,000 with space for 2,000 standing-room patrons, is expected to fill seven to 10 acres and cost about $80 million. The Diamond currently seats about 6,000.
Sports Backers Stadium would effectively be relocated as part of the overall development effort, as would the nearby Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center. Developers are asked to assist in relocating the functions of those facilities to free up those sites for the larger redevelopment.
Now dubbed The Diamond District, the City of Richmond is beginning the process to redevelop The Diamond and the land surrounding it on North Arthur Ashe Boulevard. (Courtesy city documents)
The RFI describes “an ideal project” as including those components, as well as new uses including office, residential and retail, a hotel to support those uses, and upgrades to infrastructure such as water, sewer and roads. The residential component would consist of rental and for-sale homes that would include some units targeted to lower-income households.
The full RFI document is posted online and can be viewed at rvadiamond.com. RFI submissions are due at 3 p.m. Feb. 15, with a pre-submission virtual meeting and site tour scheduled in January. Developers will also have the opportunity to submit written questions.
Once the submission deadline is closed, a panel consisting of city staff, City Council members and VCU staff will evaluate the responses and compile a shortlist of firms to be invited to submit proposals. A request for offers would require those proposals in April or May, and final selections would be made in the spring or summer.
The RFI emphasizes that proposals are expected to utilize financing approaches that minimize public investment and risk and maximize private investment, such as through direct equity contributions, team lease payments, sharing of naming rights and other approaches.
It describes public funding as typically supported by revenues from property taxes, such as via tax increment financing, as well as sales taxes within the project area, lodging taxes, admissions taxes, and other revenue sources.
The city developed the RFI with consulting firm AECOM, which also worked on the Richmond 300 master plan update and related planning efforts that remain underway. Maritza Pechin, a former AECOM associate who joined the city’s planning staff this year, is leading the RFI effort.
The RFI includes a market analysis, ballpark feasibility analysis and other supporting documents produced by AECOM, as well as excerpts from Richmond 300 and other city plans.
The ballpark feasibility plan assumes that the Flying Squirrels and VCU would pay an unspecified rent for use of the stadium, which would host about 65 Squirrels games per year, 20 VCU baseball games, 10 high school games, other amateur sports and spectator events, two concerts, and 100 non-spectator events such as meetings and receptions.
The new stadium is projected to generate $339,000 a year in sales tax, $641,000 in meals tax, $270,000 in lodging tax, and $869,000 in admissions tax.
The plan states that The Diamond, built in 1985, is the second-oldest Double-A ballpark in the country and is considered functionally obsolete. Earlier this year, Major League Baseball issued new facility standards that put The Diamond out of compliance on issues such as lack of dressing facilities for female staff, lack of commissaries and dining areas, insufficient clubhouse, training and weight room space, and a lack of enclosed pitching and hitting tunnels.
Despite those challenges, the document states, the Flying Squirrels – the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants – have achieved a total annual attendance of 400,000, ranking third-highest of any Double-A ballclub and 23rd among all MiLB teams in 2019.
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