building downtown

Kent Jennings Brockwell
Thursday April 27, 2006

Amid clear signs of new construction - concrete barriers, dozens of hardhat donning workers carrying power tools and the diesel generator clanking away on the sidewalk - is the newest and largest sign of things to come for the old Miller & Rhoads department store downtown.

Wednesday morning at a chilly and windy press conference, Mayor L. Douglas Wilder as well as numerous City and development representatives "unveiled" a billboard-sized rendition of the new Hilton Hotel and condominium complex redevelopment of the former department store. Affixed to the side of the building facing Broad Street and visible to eastbound traffic on Broad is a colorful rendering of what the 460,000 square-foot, $80-plus million project will look like once completed in the summer of 2008.

Though the press conference was held in order to give spectators a grand unveiling of the new sign, the rendering was visible and uncovered as news crews and local dignitaries arrived. An event spokesperson said windy conditions prohibited the flamboyant part of the presentation but Michael Laing, executive vice president of ECI Development Services, a development group that has been involved with the project since 2001, was able to make light of the presentation snafu.

"Now, we are supposed to invite all of you to come for our unveiling," Laing said addressing the crowd, "but Mayor, this project is moving so fast we have already done the unveiling."

Once completed, the project will include a 250-room Hilton Hotel with full amenities as well as 150-unit condominium complex. The hotel will also bring 20,000 additional square feet of retail space to the area. The condominium units are expected start in the low $200,000s.

Though many groups and organizations have been trying to get the mixed-use redevelopment project underway since 2001, plans for action were solidified this March when a development agreement was singed between Louisiana-based Historic Restoration Inc. and Illinois-based ECI Investment Advisors Inc. Construction inside the 115-year-old building began shortly thereafter.

The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority conveyed the property to the partnership in December for $2.74 million.

HRI Properties Inc., ECI Investment Advisors and Prudential Securities share joint ownership of the development, which some say could be worth as much as $95 million by the time of completion.

"We have had the great fortune on this project to be working with lots of terrific people here in Richmond but certainly and most importantly in this partnership has been our work in the planning stages with the city of Richmond," Laing said. "Certainly without the City of Richmond, and specifically our mayor, this project frankly would not have been possible."

While the mayor's involvement throughout the redevelopment planning stages for the Miller & Rhoads building is renowned among local city planners, Wilder said his determination was important for the Hilton project to become a reality. Once completed, he said the new hotel and condominium complex will act as an announcement of downtown Richmond's renewed vitality and residential viability.

"Richmond is not only a good place to talk about, it's a good place to live," Wilder said. "And when we see a condo hotel combination, it's advancing that people are not just going to be passing through but they are going to be living in downtown Richmond. That is significant because that has not been the case always."

Wilder, who lived in Church Hill when he was growing up, recalled that the area around the Miller & Rhoads building used to be a shopping and cultural Mecca for not just Richmond but the whole state of Virginia.

"I am personally proud because as a boy I would come to these buildings, to the Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimers [buildings] and it was vibrant. It was the place to be downtown," Wilder said. "To be able to know that people came from all over Virginia to be here…everything was here in downtown Richmond and I think we will be recapturing that spirit. We will be rebuilding upon the plans and dreams that people had years ago when we talked about 'the capital city.' When we talked about the city that was the gateway to the South."

Pres Kabacoff, founder and CEO of HRI Properties, said besides acting as a catylist to bring more residents downtown, he hopes the new project will act as a primer for similar redevelopment projects in downtown Richmond.

"When you look at this neighborhood, which is a beautiful candy store of historic and wonderful structures and then you recognize that it is surrounded by such strength - Virginia Commonwealth [University], your new BioTech, your Coliseum, your convention center, your medical college, your city hall and state government, the federal court system, the financial sector - what you realize is that you have got great health around this historic center," Kabacoff said. "So a project like this will encourage other projects to come and this will become like most cities that have these characteristics [of] a vibrant neighborhood downtown."

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