A man surrendered to Richmond police after they named him a person of interest in the beating and robbery of a 76-year-old woman in a grocery store parking lot. Lynell Alexander Jr., 22, turned himself in at police headquarters Monday, spokeswoman Karla E. Peters said yesterday. Alexander was being held on outstanding warrants charging him with driving on a suspended license and felony eluding, but he has not been charged in last week’s beating and robbery, Peters said. The investigation of that matter is continuing, she said.

The Bottom birds are back. Purple martins, which roost in Shockoe Bottom trees by the thousands before flying to Brazil, are now arriving in small numbers. “It’s starting up,“ said Mike Wilson, a biologist with the Center for Conservation Biology, part of the College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University. Sue Ridd, a member of the Richmond Audubon Society, said she saw about 75 birds arrive Sunday at dusk, and she saw about 100 swoop into the trees Monday.

To see the purple martins:
Drive east on East Main Street to Shockoe Bottom. Turn left on North 17th Street.
Cross East Franklin Street and see the birds’ roost trees on your left. Wait on the sidewalk across the street from the trees.
Right now, the birds arrive between 8:30 and 9 p.m. They arrive a little earlier each night.
If you wait a couple of weeks, you’ll see more birds.

Former Richmond City Councilman and federal prisoner Sa’ad El-Amin has resurfaced to oppose baseball in Shockoe Bottom and to help save black-heritage sites, such as the collapsed Eggleston Hotel. El-Amin sent a letter and an essay to Mayor Dwight C. Jones and the City Council on Sunday, making the case that the Shockoe Center ballpark project should be rejected and that much of the Bottom be reserved to memorialize the area’s role during the slave trade.

No one knows if people will flock to Shockoe Bottom to watch baseball. But we do know that purple martins flock there in summer. And that could be a problem. As it stands, the proposal for a minor-league ballpark in the Bottom would require the cutting of all, or nearly all, the trees in which the colorful birds roost by the thousands.

Transformation is the shared theme of two ballpark plans for Richmond. In October, Highwoods Properties proposed Shockoe Center, a development that includes a $60 million ballpark that would transform Shockoe Bottom. A minimum of two years would be required to build that stadium, if the proposal gains city approval. Then, last week, Opening Day Partners presented a $28 million transformation of The Diamond on the Boulevard, a facility that opened in 1985. Just about everything but the field and part of the lower bowl would be demolished and removed, with a modern ballpark constructed on the stadium footprint, according to Maryland-based ODP. The transformed Diamond, says ODP, could be ready for baseball next season if construction begins Aug. 1.

Transformation is the shared theme of two ballpark plans for Richmond. In October, Highwoods Properties proposed Shockoe Center, a development that includes a $60 million ballpark that would transform Shockoe Bottom. A minimum of two years would be required to build that stadium, if the proposal gains city approval. Then, last week, Opening Day Partners presented a $28 million transformation of The Diamond on the Boulevard, a facility that opened in 1985. Just about everything but the field and part of the lower bowl would be demolished and removed, with a modern ballpark constructed on the stadium footprint, according to Maryland-based ODP. The transformed Diamond, says ODP, could be ready for baseball next season if construction begins Aug. 1.

Location: The ballpark would be framed by East Broad Street, North 18th Street, East Franklin Street and Ambler Street.
  Cost: $318 million for the entire project, which involves a $60 million ballpark.
  Ballpark capacity: 8,500.
  Features: Party decks, picnic area, grass berms, walkway around field, 24 suites, playground, computer-gaming area, high-definition scoreboard, Wi-Fi, capability of use for community-oriented events.

The developers of the Shockoe Center ballpark plan say they’ll forgo indefinitely their project’s third phase to ease concerns about construction near the Lumpkin’s slave-jail site. In light of a request by Mayor Dwight C. Jones and concerns of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission, the developers are proposing to defer all construction west of the Main Street Station train shed until studies determine the land’s historical significance.

Richmond’s top prosecutor will not pursue a case against a woman who was arrested after filming police as they performed crowd control in Shockoe Bottom last year. Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring said yesterday that he is withdrawing a charge of impeding traffic against Joanne Jefferson because the statute is meant as a traffic-safety law, not as a measure to enforce crowd control.

Richmond’s top prosecutor will not pursue a case against a woman who was arrested after filming police as they performed crowd control in Shockoe Bottom last year. Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring said yesterday that he is withdrawing a charge of impeding traffic against Joanne Jefferson because the statute is meant as a traffic-safety law, not as a measure to enforce crowd control.

Bryan Bostic said yesterday that Richmond Baseball Club LC was about to close the deal to purchase the Double-A Connecticut Defenders on May 13. Then, “things happened,“ said Bostic, who was RBC’s leader. RBC did not meet the $15.4 million sale price of the Eastern League team by the May 31 deadline. The deal died. Bostic was the face of Richmond’s quest to secure a locally owned baseball franchise for Richmond. He said RBC included more than three dozen investors.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has declared himself intrigued by the idea of a Shockoe Bottom with high-speed rail, a bus-transfer center, black heritage sites and a ballpark surrounded by restaurants, residences and other development. But first, he wants to see if it all can fit on several blocks east of Interstate 95. At Jones’ urging, representatives of the proposed Shockoe Center ballpark development and the proposed bus-transfer center at Main Street Station said they’re working to resolve conflicts between their plans.

The developers of the proposed Shockoe Center ballpark project aren’t the only ones seeing a strong demand for housing in Shockoe Bottom. As the first units of a 351-unit apartment complex are set to hit the market this summer, at least two other projects are queuing up for the area east of downtown Richmond and VCU Medical Center. Those three projects would total about 625 units on top of the 250 apartments and 60 condominiums that are planned for Shockoe Center. In addition, the 65-unit Raven Place Apartments, at East Broad Street and Oliver Hill Way, opened last summer.

The question comes frequently these days. Should a baseball stadium be built in Shockoe Bottom or on the Boulevard? The answer? Neither. The Short Pump area in Henrico County makes the most sense for the region. The stadium in Shockoe Bottom is supposed to serve as the anchor around which condominiums, a hotel, retail shops and restaurants will be built.