Diamond District

As part of the Richmond Community Development Partners (RCDP) team, Hanbury helped craft a large-scale redevelopment plan for the Diamond District to be reimagined as a dense, community-centric mixed-use district with abundant public open spaces within a framework of multimodal streets and greenway connections, and a new, first-class baseball stadium.

The project presented our team with a series of important objectives and opportunities including:

• Engaging the community in a thoughtful and comprehensive conversation about what the project can and should be.
• Developing a new home for the Flying Squirrels and VCU baseball, that will be activated 365 days of the year.
• Creating vibrant public green spaces.
• Providing strong connections to the neighboring districts.
• Championing the ability to walk, bike, and other forms of micro-mobility by delivering a dense and safe urban neighborhood linked to the City street grid, transit network, and Fall Line Trail.
• Delivering meaningful benefits to the community, including jobs, opportunities for start ups, local small businesses, and support for the arts.
• Providing a highly desirable 21st-century campus for companies eager to provide a true live-work-play environment for their employees.
• Ensuring that the project includes a significant amount of affordable and workforce housing including for sale product.
• Celebrating and enhancing Richmond's rich history and culture.
• Practicing sustainable, resilient, and responsible development that creates a new standard for future urban infrastructure in Richmond.

We incorporated each of the above into our plan while honoring the existing physical and cultural context of the site. The redeveloped Diamond District will celebrate the neighborhood’s legacy of being a lively gathering place for entertainment and sport through a new stadium and vibrant mix of restaurants, entertainment venues, and activated public spaces. More than a symbolic nod in preserving the legacy of a legend, the integration of Arthur Ashe's legacy and the arts embodies the ethos of our Civic & Community practice in looking beyond the four walls of the project to empower, uplift, and fully integrate with its surrounding community.

Additionally, our plan uses strong connections—streets, bike and walking paths, transit, and green space—to seamlessly and equitably integrate the project into surrounding neighborhoods, creating an authentic place that will feel like it’s always been a part of the City. A mix of building typologies and massing delivers high density while creating a comfortable, human-scale environment designed and developed in accordance to resiliency best practices and welcoming to all.

Through the reimagined Diamond District, Greater Scott’s Addition will continue it's transformation as a vibrant, inclusive destination for cultural and economic activity ensuring a more prosperous, equitable, and empowering future for all Richmonders. By working closely with the local community, civic leaders, and a uniquely experienced team of professionals, we aim to unlock the potential of this neighborhood and further solidify Richmond’s standing as one of America’s most compelling cities with true global appeal and as a best practice case study for future innovators.