Sporting venues back in plans for Boulevard

Amateur and college sports are back in the plans for Richmond's North Boulevard.

A revised vision for the $420 million Boulevard Gateway project calls for keeping Sports Backers Stadium, a soccer and track facility owned by Virginia Commonwealth University.

Officials said yesterday that the venue would anchor a sports complex that could include an indoor/outdoor tennis facility for VCU and a new Arthur Ashe Center for the city.

The original vision for Boulevard Gateway called for demolishing Sports Backers Stadium, as well as The Diamond and the existing Arthur Ashe Center, to make way for a major mid-rise development with offices, retail space, housing and a hotel. The land now slated for the sports venues, generally on the south end of the site near Hermitage Road, had been marked for housing.

"I think this is an opportunity for a grand realignment of facilities," said Paul Kreckman, a vice president of Highwoods Properties, which is guiding the redevelopment proposal.

The changes aren't expected to affect the overall investment for the project because the revenue-generating uses have been adjusted on the site, project spokesman Pete Boisseau said.

The development group also is planning a new minor-league ballpark to replace The Diamond as part of a proposed $363 million development in Shockoe Bottom.

Norwood Teague, VCU's director of athletics, said the plans for Boulevard Gateway were revised after VCU and the nonprofit Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers made it clear that keeping Sports Backers Stadium was their preference.

"I'm not sure it would make a lot of sense to move," he said.

Jon Lugbill, executive director of the Sports Backers group, said the prospect of relocating the eight-year-old stadium was further complicated by potential replacement costs, estimated at more than $8 million, plus unknowns about where the new facility would be.

The developers and users of Sports Backers Stadium decided their interests could be intertwined, Lugbill said.

"I think in general, the sports components are sort of like the museums [on the Boulevard]. They add some traffic and, if done right, people would want to live next to [them]," he said.

The plans for Boulevard Gateway include no contingency for the minor-league ballpark that's now proposed for Shockoe Bottom, Boisseau said.

"The case is unanimous that the ballpark cannot work on the Boulevard."

Contact Emily Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or .

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or .