City to seek proposals for Shockoe revitalization

With a ballpark out of the picture, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones wants a new, market-tested plan for revitalizing Shockoe Bottom.

The city was preparing to issue yesterday a request for proposals for an economic strategy to guide development and redevelopment of city and private property in the Bottom.

"At the end of the day, we want something that's implementable and market-driven," said Peter H. Chapman, deputy chief administrative officer for economic and community development.

Among other things, the project's scope of work calls for a site plan, a market assessment of development issues, and opportunities and implementation strategies that would include "destination-anchor projects," reuse and redevelopment of property, expansion of retail, "market-rate and mixed-income residences," tourism, and public and private financing.

The summary stresses the city's interest in consultants with experience revitalizing historic downtown areas and "communities with a strong, yet unrealized potential for transit-oriented development." Shockoe Bottom's Main Street Station has been identified as part of a possible extension of high-speed rail.

"The high and increasing volume of foot, bicycle, auto and rail traffic make it important to improve the image of Broad Street and the surrounding area," the scope of work reads. "The blocks between Interstate 95 and 21st Street present opportunities to establish a front door on Broad Street for Shockoe Bottom and Main Street Station and to provide gateways to Church Hill," VCU Medical Center, the central business district and the Capitol.

The project is to be funded with $125,000 set aside by the City Council this spring. At the time, council members saw a need to review various plans for the Bottom, including the now-withdrawn Shockoe Center ballpark development proposal, a possible slavery museum, and the use of Main Street Station for the extension of high-speed rail and a bus-transfer center.

City Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, whose 6th District includes the Bottom, is kicking off a discussion about the Bottom's future at a constituents' meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow at The Old City Bar, 1548 E. Main St.

The city should not pursue any plan for development in the Bottom without recognizing the challenges presented by having much of the area within a floodplain, said David Napier, president of the Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association and owner of The Old City Bar. As a result, any new buildings must be required to have public access provided above the 100-year flood level, he said.

"Any study of what should be done down here should include what can be done down here in the floodplain," Napier said. "It's really a waste of taxpayer money to not start with the premise of what you can and can't do down here."

Chapman said he expects the plan to address the flood-plain issue, as well as to respect the Negro Burial Ground and other slave-heritage sites.

The city expects consultants to be hired by late October or early November and for a report to be submitted in the first or second quarter of 2010.

The idea is for the plan to lead directly to another request for proposals for specific development. A similar request by then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder's administration produced the proposal for Shockoe Center. The ballpark-anchored project was announced last October and abandoned in June after failing to gain traction with the Jones administration.

Napier said the Bottom has limped along since the neighborhood was flooded by the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston in 2004. He said the lack of a city plan for the area is one reason his restaurant is open for only private gatherings and he has shelved plans to open a brewery as part of the Atrium Lofts at Cold Storage in the former Richmond Cold Storage warehouses.

"I'm better reducing my exposure rather than increasing it," he said.

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