According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the $1.5 billion Navy Hill plan that would bring over 2,000 condos, apartments, a hotel, and a new 17,500 seat arena to downtown Richmond is lacking support from the City Council. “This is about faith in the people over the fear of what we have been put through for not rubber-stamping this deal,” said Kimberly Gray, the 2nd District councilwoman who opposes the plan. Council President Cynthia Newbille of the 7th District shot back: “At no time have I been a part of rubber-stamping anything.”
The vote came hours after the council received a favorable review of the project from a consultant it hired. A Chicago-based consultant laid out strengths and weaknesses of the plan. Its preliminary report praised the arena-centered development that would bring a 500-room hotel without a subsidy and replace public infrastructure in the area on the developer’s dime.
“I think this can be, and would be, a world-class type of project,” said Charlie Johnson, president and CEO of C.H. Johnson Consulting Inc., which the council paid $215,000 to review the proposal. “A lot of work has gone into this [project] by a lot of competent, professional people.”
The firm’s report did not soften the stance of the majority of the council or opponents of the project who spoke during a public hearing held Monday. They asked the council panel to strike the ordinances from its docket.
NH District Corp., the development group led by Dominion Energy CEO Thomas F. Farrell II, said the report made clear the council bloc should drop its opposition and return to the negotiating table.
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