On Wednesday, I noted the opening in Church Hill of the Robinson Theater Community Arts Center and recalled seeing footprints of the dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson out front on the corner. I wondered where they'd gone to. Faithful readers know of my appreciation for etchings set in sidewalks.
Well, it isn't that the hunk got removed in the renovations; it's just that the elements have made the prints less visible. They are there in front of the ticket booth by the remnants of Robinson's signature.
Robinson executive director Betsy Hart explained, "Depending on the light and water in the sidewalk, and the time of day, makes it better to see than at other times."
Now this makes me wish the renovators had either taken the sidewalk up or placed some kind of clear preserving layer over the prints. But that should've been done years before the Robinson Theater group ever got ahold of the place. And nothing, in the end, lasts forever.
Speaking of not lasting forever, this past weekend I was out with Amie picking up a recliner from Mark McIntyre, who is also the maker of good edibles through the Norwood Cottage Bakery.
Well, she Mapquested for a Crestwood address. This took us out to a strange no-man's land in near-western Henrico where the Suburban Apartments once stood. About six years ago, this was a neighborhood of internationals: Vietnamese, Hispanic, and south-central Europeans. Many of their kids went to Crestwood Elementary.
The Suburban buildings were 1950s barracks-style housing. There was some debate about a better way to rectify the issue of deteriorating housing stock there. I remembered talk of a big plan for transforming these lots. We drove around up and down Crestwood and Nunnally looking for a house that didn't exist.
It was strange vacant space unusual for Henrico, and reminded me of Fulton Bottom after the "urban renewal" clearances and before new houses were added. Similarly, there are street signs and paved streets, but the last sign of habitation, a rusting playground swing set bereft of seats. You could sit in the middle of this and not see any houses at all.
We called Mark the baker and he told us that he's on Crestwood Road, not Avenue.
He's got a very pleasant cottage set snug among grand North Side houses of all kinds. Not only did we get a recliner but some of his red pepper-flakes-and-parmesan bread and a scrumptious caramelized croustade, with pears, plums, almonds and walnuts. (He's also contributing this weekend to the 1708 Gallery Auction.
But I remained puzzled by the extensive empty quarter we accidentally stumbled into. So I did some checking.
In 2001 Henrico County gave the green light to Gumenick Properties to develop almost 80 acres into the Staples Mill Centre. That's approximately 80 football fields of space.
This project is to include 571 condos, 391 townhouses, 32 single-family houses and 1,096 apartments, with some 150,000 square feet of office space and retail space. But not big box stores, and plenty of sidewalks.
I contacted Ed Crews of Gumenick who said that Staples Mill Centre is at the opening phases of a 10-year build out. " We estimate that when we are done, the value of all that stuff we're going to do, there'll be a $434 million mixed-use community. "
The project, Crews says, is actually on schedule. The razing of buildings and moving people was a step-by-step process that included relocating a Mennonite congregation. The last apartment units were taken down in late 2008.
Crews said, "Where we are, obviously with the current economic situation, we think it would be prudent to get a clearer sign of where we're headed. When we see signs of a sustained recovery, then we will return and do everything we said we're going to do. The project is a reality, it's going to happen. Projects like this are a function of the economy, labor and material availability, and weather. The economy goes up, and it goes down, and we built that into the plan."
The next step would be installing sewer and utilities lines, but that's not happening for a while.
"We're at a milestone where we can take a breath," Crews said.
