Thank you to all those that came to support the Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity!
Back to Charleston and Wilmington. When it came to their entertainment districts, Charleston and Wilmington were very similar to River Street in Savannah. Charleston has East Bay Street and Wilmington has Front Street. Very active riverfront entertainment districts. Both very fun and very beautiful.
Now, for those of you that have been following along this past month, I have traveled to some pretty great cities and I have researched a lot for Richmond. Brace yourself, cause here comes the summary!
Week One brought me to two great Cordish properties inLouisville and Kansas City. Their "Live!" concept and knack for developing entertainment districts is impeccable. Using Cordish to redevelop the four blocks that intersect at 18th and Main would be a great way to "restart" and re-brand the Historic Shockoe Valley District.
With the two blocks west of 18th, you could have the actual "RVA Live!" concept that surrounds bars around an open air courtyard. Walnut Alley could extend from 17th Street to 19th Street. Everything between it and Main Street would be torn down, aside from the restaurants that have store fronts on 17th Street.
New store fronts would then be zoned and built for restaurants along 17th Street between Cary and Main, following the north end of Cary Street to 18th Street, then along 18th Street to Walnut Alley.
This gives "RVA Live!" a "horseshoe" shape with a courtyard in the middle. You would then build the "RVA Live!" stage behind the store fronts facing Cary Street. Being that most Cordish properties are two stories, you would connect the second story with two pedestrian bridges across Main Street.
The southeast block of 18th and Main would be cleared to allow for a parking deck with a rooftop park like I saw in Kansas City. The northeast block would be torn down and made available for a large retail space like a grocery store or theater, with a rooftop pool, like I saw in Kansas City (The Jones Pool was actually on top of a Cosentino's Market). This completes my Cordish potential for influence in the Historic Shockoe Valley District.
Then, finish the Main Street Corridor from 19th Street to Poe's Pub with restaurants and shops on both sides of the road to resemble Charleston and Wilmington's East Bay and Front Streets.
Week Two took me to Oklahoma City and San Antonio, which have beautiful Canal and River Walks. Both of these cities have restaurants, hotels, and shops, lining their waterways. Our Canal Walk is currently vacant. There is absolutely no reason why restaurants and hotels can't straddle both sides of our Canal Walk from the flood wall opening near 17th Street to 12th Street. The Canal Walk should be one of the most vibrant areas in Downtown Richmond, well into the night. If it were, I'm sure Venture Richmond would leave the canal boats running well past 7pm.
Week Three took me to New Orleans, Jacksonville, and Savannah. These gave me a mixture of ideas. New Orleans really only gave me one idea: Walnut Alley be turned into a miniature Bourbon Street (minus the pure lawlessness). The north side of Walnut Alley could have a French Quarter feel with the narrow alley and second story balconies from restaurants and hotels.
Jacksonville has a very unique River Walk that runs along the Jacksonville River on both sides. Now here in Richmond, we have the James River. There needs to be more emphasis on the north side of the James River. A River Walk should stretch from the moorings at Rockett's Landing, along the river (including Chapel Island, which is in the Riverfront Plan as a large park space), to Brown's Island. A loop could be created to include the Canal Walk with connection points at Great Shiplock Park and Haxall Point where the Christopher Newport Monument is currently located. This should be the most stressed portion of the City's Riverfront Plan. Get it done before 2015, when our city is on the world stage!
The other two parts of Jacksonville (I learned a few things there), are the downtown sports complex and thetransportation network. You may have seen this in the Week Three article. Main Street Station would be perfect as a transportation hub for light rail and bus rapid transit to connect with the soon to come, High Speed Rail. And the ever so controversial ballpark (which I believe should be mulit-purpose for baseball and football, should VCU finally create a football program) be placed where it has been proposed and then an arena just on the other side of Broad Street, with a parking deck placed just north of it right next to the interstate off-ramp.
Traffic could be better regulated with lane control lights that can change the direction of traffic based on time of day or traffic volumes.
And Savannah, beautiful Savannah. The Farmer's Market needs to copy the City Market in Savannah. It is pedestrian only with restaurants and shops on either side of the open air market that gives way for al fresco dining and outdoor festivals. Pretty sure we love our festivals. Tearing down the Farmer's Market would also make ideas like the Bacon Festival a lot more spacious. But let's be serious, the Bacon Festival needed to include all of Shockoe, cause that thing was huge.
And finally, the ABC ordinances in Kansas City, San Antonio, and Savannah. This was a very large part of my research, and the reason why I chose those three cities to be my weekend cities, In these cities, I spent four days each and had meetings with several city officials. In all three cities, their ordinances that make their alcohol laws more liberal also give their municipalities more regulation power, making it easier for them to crack down on the knuckleheads. Their tourism industries thrive with sold out hotels, packed restaurants, and numerous touring concepts like carriage rides, walking tours, and well used trolleys (heck, bring back the street cars!).
I would like to clarify that I don't drink, but I recognize the entertainment value that progressively liberal alcohol laws bring to the tourism industry.
As I brought the tour home and toured my own city as if I had never been here before, there was one clear difference. I tried to go for a run along the James River, but could not do so without encountering multiple obstacles. In all 11 of these River Cities I visited, they all had easily accessible River Walks that were well-lit, paved with either concrete or asphalt, and right next to the river and the downtown entertainment district. This is something that needs to be severely stressed in our city. As active as we are with support from organizations like SportsBackers and the RVA Road Runners Club, this needs to happen, very soon!
Feel free to learn more about all my proposals by checking out my blog at mrrvatourism.blogspot.com. You may find a few Facebook pages that have not at all been promoted, but surprise! Now you know about them.
Follow me on Instagram (DJmFace) and look for the hashtag #RVAred. Pay close attention to all pictures taken on August 1st. You will find that I took a few pictures of places around town, mostly Shockoe, and then referred to places in my travels. Go check it out and you will see what I mean.
Over the course of the next couple days, weeks, months, years, I will be meeting with city officials and civic leaders. My goal will be to advocate for the changes I have described which will help us compete with the cities in my travels, by developing the Historic Shockoe Valley District as the city's tourism centerpiece.
