This morning's online inRich.com homepage uses strong language -- "Richmond wants to demolish Diamond, Ashe Center" -- to draw readers into Michael Martz's "breaking news" snapshot of the city's plans for a large tract of land around the Diamond baseball stadium. Buttermilk & Molasses provided a detailed overview of those plans yesterday. Martz's piece has a few new details, including an interesting nugget about the Richmond Coliseum:
The city has asked developers to submit ideas for transforming more than 60 acres of publicly owned land between North Boulevard and Hermitage Road, as well as the potential redevelopment of almost 20 acres now occupied by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Mayor L. Douglas Wilder has discussed swapping the Richmond Coliseum to the state for the ABC property at 2901 Hermitage Road.
I'm not entirely sure about the idea of swapping the Coliseum for 20 acres and a mule, but urban development fanatics and Richmond political watchers know that last year VCU President Eugene Trani pitched the idea of replacing the Coliseum with a new, $200 million facility. Is there some bad horse trading in Richmond's future?
Another interesting note -- today's inRich.com piece represents another slice of output from the Richmond Times-Dispatch's infamous NOW teams, and the paper's efforts to "own" breaking news. Martz is now on the early shift at the TD and if last week's breaking story on GRTC's BRT bus system is any indication, this story will be expanded and updated later in the day.
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