Unveiling Richmond’s New Arts & Cultural District

There’s a commotion on Broad Street. Construction crews are renovating properties. A shuttle van from a hotel is dropping off passengers at Tarrant’s Cafe. The sidewalks are busy well past dark. The scent from a grill wanders around the block as theater patrons wait for a table at a restaurant.
This activity, all in the Arts and Cultural District, is the energy that officials at the Department of Economic and Community Development want to see multiplied exponentially. In fact, the district is benefitting from a confluence of interests coming from entrepreneurs, developers, property owners, and the city government. “The Arts and Cultural District encompasses a pretty big area and is really a revitalization program of economic development, leveraging off of the arts and culture of that part of the community,” explains Peter Chapman, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Richmond’s Office of Economic and Community Development.

Harnessing economic development to an Arts and Cultural district is powerful because of the inherent energy of art and the creative process. Currently, it’s estimated that First Fridays Art Walk attracts 3,000 to 5,000 people. “(In the future) you can have this district mature, but that’s not necessarily an end point,” says Lee Downey, director of the Department of Economic and Community Development. “Looking at other similar areas, you see that once you get the momentum going it never stops. Art continually reinvents itself.”

There is definitely momentum. One business actively engaged in the reinvention and creative spirit of the area is Walter Parks Architect, a firm specializing in urban renewal and projects in the Arts and Cultural District. “The architecture of the area is really interesting and the goal is to maintain and enhance that,” says Walter Parks, who works in the district with his staff from an office on Adams Street. “Architects should be creative and we feel that the work we do is most compatible with where we are.”

Jason Alley, owner and chef of Comfort restaurant, tells a similar story about choosing the area for his business 10 years ago. “Initially the first thing that was attractive to us was the architecture, the downtown and the feel. Architecturally this was a good fit,” recalls Alley. Since that time, when there were a few small independent law firms and some art galleries, Alley has watched the area change and opened a second restaurant, Pasture. “It was a very different business environment than it is now. Now of course, there are tattoo parlors, bars and restaurants and even more galleries. It’s fantastic to see the change.”

The district stretches from the State Capitol westward to Belvidere Street and the future home of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Institute for Contemporary Art. The district doglegs south to the Richmond Ballet and reaches north to the Leigh Street Armory, the future home of the Black History Museum.

Economic development strategies like Richmond’s Arts and Cultural District have worked in areas as diverse as Pawtucket, Rhode Island and Austin, Texas. Those cities’ experiences are a harbinger of the possibilities in Richmond.

“We’re trying to rise with the tide of the creative economy,” says Nicolas Feucht, special assistant to Chapman, emphasizing that the goals for this district are far reaching.

The vision is big and audacious: The Arts and Cultural District will become a robust generator of economic prosperity for all Richmond residents.

Supplementing the organic growth of the area are new public resources made possible by a series of legislative victories. First the General Assembly granted authority to localities to make decisions on such a district. Then the City Council created incentives to promote economic development in the area.

The end result is a toolbox of economic development tools available to Richmond officials that are being focused on creating a place where people want to live and visit. The whole district will benefit from funds earmarked to support artist live/work space, provide gap financing as well as promotion and marketing.

Within a special incentive area of the district, the tools at the city’s disposal will further accelerate the redevelopment process: building permit reviews will be completed in 10 days. Additionally programs are in place to encourage new outdoor dining areas at restaurants, as well as incentives for building permits and re-zoning applications. There are already examples of this vision bringing a new vitality to the area.

“The Hippodrome was our first Arts and Cultural District project,” Chapman says. In addition to the performance space at the historic stage, the project included a restaurant and mixed-income housing.

A diversity of experiences is a key to successful Arts and Cultural Districts, which is exactly what Richmond’s district offers. Within the district’s boundaries are the Museum of the Confederacy and the Maggie Walker House. Music lovers can hear the Richmond Symphony at CenterStage or touring bands at The National. In that mix are a variety of art galleries, the Library of Virginia, and a growing number of restaurants.

“There is a huge body of data that supports our belief that if you harness the arts in the right way they can be a positive force for economic revitalization,” Chapman says.

Creating more residences within the district is critical for the overall success of the district. There are early indicators, in addition to the Hippodrome project, that point to success.

“We are starting to see it with the John Marshall Residences,” explains Anedra Wiseman Bourne, tourism coordinator the Department of Economic and Community Development. Once a hotel, the John Marshall is completely renovated as apartments and almost completely leased.

A project benefiting from the development tools is at 213 East Broad/214 East Grace Street, which dovetails with the emerging creative economy by providing space for artists to live and work.

“We want Richmond to be a better Richmond for the residents,” says Bourne, noting that the largest numbers of visitors to Richmond are friends and family of the city’s residents. If there are more opportunities to live and play in the city, there will be more reasons for visitors to come and spend money, creating still more opportunities.

“Broad Street is completely different than it was 10 years ago, and 10 years from now we’ll be booming,” says Bourne.

Future success for the Arts and Cultural District could be measured through a variety of gauges, such as population and demographic data, tax base information and real estate figures. Anecdotally, there is a measure that serves as a reminder of what happened to downtown and the possibilities for reinvention.

“We will know we’ve been successful when someone takes down a parking lot to put up a building,” says Feucht.