Henrico supervisors green-light GreenCity development

The Henrico Board of Supervisors Oct. 12 gave a green light to the planned 204.2-acre GreenCity mixed-use development in northern Henrico, unanimously approving rezoning plans and a provisional use permit for the massive $2.3-billion project.

When buildout is complete (sometime in 2033 or 2034), the community will include a $250-million, 17,000-seat arena; more than 2,100 residential units; more than 2 million square feet of office space; 280,000 square feet of retail space; and an extensive network of parks, plazas and open spaces as part of its “eco-district” design.

“This GreenCity will probably be a head-turner in the sense that it’s going to change things in Henrico, and there will probably be other similar initiatives coming after this,” Fairfield District Supervisor Frank Thornton said during Tuesday’s meeting.

The board’s votes Tuesday followed similar recommendations from the Henrico Planning Commission last month and authorized the rezoning of the site to an urban mixed-use designation to permit the development to take shape and (through the provisional use permit) construction of the arena, high-density residential development and other elements of the proposal.

The site sits north of East Parham Road, east of Scott Road near I-95 and south of I-295. Until Tuesday, it had carried a combination of agricultural, residential, industrial and planned industrial district designations.

A final piece of the process was the review by county officials and the Virginia Department of Transportation of a traffic impact study prepared by the developer. That study proposed five new traffic signals associated with, or serving, the development:

• at Parham Road and the existing Best Products building, near I-95;
• at Parham Road and St. Charles Road (which will be extended into GreenCity);
• at the best Products building access point and a new internal road;
• at the new portion of St. Charles Road and another new internal road;
• at Brook Road and Magellan Parkway.

Key to the project will be the county’s extension of Magellan Parkway westward across the site and across I-95 to a point on Brook Road near the Virginia DMV location there. That will provide a second access point to the community, so that Parham Road won’t be overwhelmed.

Additionally, developers GreenCity Partners, LLC (led by Michael Hallmark and Sustan Eastridge) proffered plans that would prohibit I-95 North traffic that is exiting onto Parham Road east from turning left into GreenCity at the first traffic signal, in order to prevent massive back-ups.

Drivers also would not be able to cross Parham Road on St. Charles Road and would instead have to turn left or right from either portion of St. Charles onto Parham, attorney Andy Condlin told the board on behalf of the developers.

Condlin described the “20-minute-living” philosophy that the developers are seeking for residents of the community, so that all uses will be within a 20-minute walk, bike ride or drive. GreenCity also will be designed to reduce the emphasis on automobiles, he said, and officials hope that it will reach a carbon-neutral live and also divert 90% of waste on site by 2035.

A complete renovation of the existing 305,000-square-foot Best Products building will be the first part of the development, and officials hope to make it one of the most green-friendly and self-sufficient buildings in the world, according to Condlin. It may qualify for Living Building Challenge standards, which would require it to generate more energy than it uses and collect more water than it uses. The largest such building currently is only 60,000 square feet, Condlin said.

That renovation and the construction of the arena and one hotel are among the items expected to be completed by 2025.

The developers have proffered that construction will take place only between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and Board Chairman Dan Schmitt (Brookland District) urged them to continue to be cognizant of their neighbors – both during the construction process and once the community begins to attract visitors.

“We’re right on 95, which is a great thing,” Schmitt said. “And we’re right on 95, which is a tough thing when you’re taking all that traffic. I would just encourage the applicant to be real careful about traffic management, because it’s important to our residents.”

Condlin said the various amenities planned as part of GreenCity should help that process.

“The nice thing about the arena and having a mixed use is people are coming in at different times and staying, and leaving at different times,” he said. “So that helps with the traffic and event management, because there are going to be a lot of activities here beyond just going to the arena itself.”

Hallmark, who has been involved with the design of 13 National Basketball Association and National Hockey League arenas nationwide, told Schmitt that the GreenCity arena would be the most green-friendly one in the nation.

“That’s a promise,” he said. “We are the beneficiary of a full evolution of thinking about arenas, and so all of that’s coming through to this project.”

The sustainability features of the arena are expected to help it attract many touring musical artists and groups, a number of whom are making a point only to play at such arenas, Hallmark said. The developers also are hoping to attract either a minor league hockey team or minor league basketball team – or both – to the arena.