Henrico's GreenCity plans collapse as developer misses payment deadline

Plans for a mixed-use ecodistrict that was expected to usher in a new era of development in Henrico County and provide the county with a regional entertainment attraction, in the form of a 17,000-seat arena, have collapsed.

Green City Partners, with whom the county announced plans in late 2020 for the $2.3-billion GreenCity project near I-95 and Parham Road, failed by a March 13 deadline to make the final of three payments necessary to purchase from the county the 93-acre former Best Products site, which was to compose slightly less than half of the overall 220-acre development.

Now the Henrico Economic Development Authority will take back those 93 acres by mid-April as part of a mutual agreement between the two parties and begin marketing them to other potential developers, according to a statement released Friday attributed only to Henrico County.

"We welcome this opportunity and believe it will ultimately set the stage for the Best Products site to thrive as a large, mixed-use development anchored by a privately funded arena," the county's statement read. "Once the repurchase process is complete, the county looks forward to working with interested arena operators and developers to make the vision a reality.

"The need is abundantly clear. Our region remains the most underserved community along Interstate 95 in terms of a venue capable of hosting large concerts, sporting events, and other family entertainment. This economic development and tourism project will also bring more quality housing, hotels, and commercial cores to the county, making it a destination center."

The Best Products portion of the overall GreenCity site was to house the arena, as well as two hotels, office buildings and retail and green space. The other 117 acres of the project have been scheduled to include about 2,400 residential units planned for development by Markel | Eagle.

Original plans for the 93-acre arena portion of the site called first for the 305,000-square-foot former Best building on the site to be refurbished by 2023 into an environmentally friendly "living" building that developers in 2021 said could become one of the most green-friendly and self-sufficient buildings in the world.

Construction of the arena and at least one hotel was anticipated to occur by sometime this year. The open date for the arena later was pushed back to 2026.

Instead, nothing has happened on the site to date. The developers had made only two $500,000 payments toward the purchase of the site in four years, prompting Henrico to issue two default notices in the past month – one for nonperformance and the other for lack of payment.

County 'eager to move forward'

The failure of GreenCity to materialize as planned is a rare black eye for the county, which has a long track record this century of successful partnerships with developers for large-scale projects, including Short Pump Town Center, The Shops at White Oak Village and Reynolds Crossing (each of which involved the creation of a community development authority to issue bonds that assisted with infrastructure – money later repaid over time through tax revenue).

Henrico created two separate community development authorities for the GreenCity project in 2023 that would have issued bonds to assist with the development.

In anticipation of GreenCity's arrival, Henrico initiated a $55-million project to extend Magellan Parkway (toward the rear of the site) across I-95 toward Virginia Center, in order to create another main access point for the community. That project is expected to finish sometime next year.

In the statement attributed to the county Friday, officials said that they were "eager to move forward and will be working closely with the EDA and Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority to identify a proven, competent, and capitalized development partner or partners with the vision and the capacity to deliver a world-class private development for our community."

The principals of Green City Partners, Michael Hallmark and Susan Eastridge, have not commented publicly about what led to the downfall of their ambitious plans, which were announced amid great fanfare Dec. 1, 2020 in front of the Best Products building.

That announcement came just more than nine months after the duo had failed in their attempt to build a similar $1.5-billion development featuring an arena in Richmond, as part of what had become known as the Navy Hill project. That effort was designed to replace the aging Richmond Coliseum, which has since been shuttered.

The Henrico Planning Commission endorsed the GreenCity project in September 2021, and the county's board of supervisors approved it the following month.

At that time, Hallmark told county officials that the entire buildout of the development could take as long as 13 years. The development of residential units was expected to have taken place between 2022 and 2032.

The project also was to include:
• more than 1.9 million square feet of office space;
• nearly 180,000 square feet of retail space;
• an extensive network of parks, plazas and open spaces, and a plethora of sustainable features that prompted its developers to label it an “eco-district” upon its introduction.

Its centerpiece, the arena, was expected upon its completion to be the most environmentally friendly arena in the nation, attracting major musical and performing acts with its prime location on I-95. Officials anticipated landing a minor league hockey or basketball team, or both, along with a wide variety of other events, potentially including NCAA tournament basketball games.

Henrico officials remain bullish on the possibility of those visions eventually becoming reality with a different developer.

But could they face renewed competition from Richmond, which has been slow to progress with its City Center redevelopment project that was aimed at breathing new life into the Richmond Coliseum and surrounding area? That remains to be seen.