Here’s a recap of of the week of March 7, 2025:
BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers and VPM News Reporter Lyndon German break the news on the two-sided dispute.
Default notices were delivered to the development team led by Susan Eastridge and Michael Hallmark. The pair began working with Henrico after being a part of Richmond’s failed Navy Hill development.
The pair were also behind the proposed redevelopment of the city’s Public Safety Building, which was not completed.
The county sent Green City Partners LLC and following a nonperformance notice delivered last December and a missed payment of over $5 million that was due last Friday.
The payment was meant to secure the former Best Products site along Interstate 95 between I-295 and Parham Road, where the planned 17,000 seat arena and supporting commercial developments would be located.
Green City Partners have until March 13 to make the $5.2 million payment, after which ownership of the property would revert back to the country's Economic Development Authority.
County Manager John Vithoulkas told BizSense that the county has been in conversation with Eastridge and Hallmark and have had two meetings since the notices were issued.
Vithoulkas added that he remains optimistic that the $2.3 billion project can move forward.
City of Richmond officials finalize $11 million sale related to the Diamond District development.
Reported by BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers
The land transfer is for the first portion of dozens of acres of mixed-use developments attached to the commercial district anchored by a new baseball stadium.
The 18-acre property was issued to the Diamond District Partners, the development team led by Thalhimer Realty Partners that’s driving the mixed-use portion of the 67-acre Diamond District.
Richmond City Council approved a development agreement last year which called for the sale last August. The due date was extended giving time for officials to determine the parcel’s boundaries.
Diamond District Partners also paid $500,000 to the city’s Economic Development Authority to help reimburse it for costs to administer the project’s solicitation process.
The Diamond District’s remaining 57 acres are to be developed in phases over several years, either by Diamond District Partners or potentially other developers.
The Thalhimer-led group beat out 14 other teams that had vied for the project A lawsuit between the earlier group’s lead developers is still playing out in court.
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