The Housing Interpreter December 2016

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Housing InterpreteR CURRENT TRENDS IN REAL ESTATE AND THE RICHMOND REGION A PUBLICATION OF THE RICHMOND ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

DECEMBER 2016

Celebrating Another Year of Progress in Richmond

IN THIS ISSUE: • RICHMOND NONPROFIT TRICYCLE GARDENS WORKS TO ELIMINATE LOCAL FOOD DESERTS • SHORT PUMP’S NEW ‘GREENGATE’ DEVELOPMENT WILL BRING A SLICE OF THE FAN TO THE WEST END • ANOTHER YEAR OF FANFARE FOR RICHMOND • RICHMOND’S NEWLY ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS • PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT BUILDINGS

WeAreTheR.com

Richmond Nonprofit Tricycle Gardens Works to Eliminate Local Food Deserts

by Kate Landis, Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Richmond Association of REALTORS® and Central Virginia Regional MLS

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lmost six years ago, Tricycle Gardens, a local nonprofit dedicated to growing healthy food, healthy communities, and a healthy local food system, broke ground on a half-acre, year-round urban farm in Richmond’s Manchester district to provide surrounding neighborhoods with access to fresh produce and a nutritional and agricultural learning environment.

Since then, Tricycle Gardens has partnered with local businesses, organizations, and volunteers to bring fresh food and nutritional education to additional Richmond neighborhoods—particularly “food deserts,” or those communities lacking consistent access to fresh, healthy, and affordable foods.

One particular program, called ‘Corner Farm,’ seeks to elminite food deserts by partnering with convenience stores in Northside, Southside, and East End neighborhoods and stocking fresh, healthy produce in these stores.

This program is now in its third year and has a significant opportunity for expansion: The Cabell Foundation has offered Tricycle Gardens a matching grant, specifically for the expansion of this program, in the amount of $121,000.

Tricycle Gardens intends to use this opportunity to expand its reach and impact by partnering with additional stores, increasing nutritional education placed within stores in these areas, providing additional assistance to store delis, in order to

prepare healthy take-out food, and investing in storage equipment to keep produce fresh.

Additionally, Tricycle Gardens announced this fall that it is launching a pilot urban agricultural farming certification program in 2017 to teach environmentally friendly farming practices that can be duplicated in other communities— particularly those that lack accessible sources of fresh, healthy food.

The program is funded though a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resources Conservation Service and a $100,000 grant from Bon Secours Richmond Health System.

“The work that we do for this program will address needs that reach far beyond the food our work produces,” said Sally Schwitters, Executive Director of Tricycle Gardens.

How to Get Involved Donate Click here to make a donation to Tricycle Gardens.

Volunteer Volunteers are needed to assist with farming tasks at RVA’s Urban Farm, located at 9th and Bainbridge Streets in Manchester. Tricycle Gardens holds hold open volunteer hours every Wednesday from 10am-2pm. Contact volunteer@tricyclegardens.org with questions.

Short Pump’s New ‘GreenGate’ Development Brings a Slice of the Fan to the West End

A rendering of Greengate’s residential townhomes (image courtesy of Markel | Eagle)

Those who wish to purchase a home in Richmond’s Far West End area, but

have a preference for the architectural character, walkability, and local restaurant scene of the fan district are in luck—provided that a base price starting in the high $300,000s falls within their budget (the average sales price for homes in Henrico County during the third quarter of 2016 was $263,454, and the median price was $227,000).

Markel | Eagle’s new 75-acre mixed-use ‘GreenGate’ development is currently underway on Broad Street, across from the new West Broad Marketplace. The preplanned community will combine 230 single-family detached and townhome residences (architecturally similar to those found in the fan district), with walking trails, pocket parks, and office and commercial spaces—bringing plenty of walkable amenities to the new community. The homes will also be within walking distance to Nuckols Farm Elementary School.

Commercial tennants within the development will include a drive-thru Starbuck’s (one of the first also serving beer and wine), an indoor cycling studio, a nail salon, a Lidl grocier, The Daily Kitchen and Bar, Eat steak and sushi restaurant, Mellow Mushroom pizza eatery, and West Coast Provisions (a sister restaurant to Carytown’s East Coast Provisions, a seafood restaurant and wine bar).

The townhome-style residences recently began selling, and offer four-floor living spaces ranging from 2,192 square feet to 4,303 square feet. Each floorplan has a two to three car garage and a deck or terrace (some have rooftop terraces). Most of the floorplans also have the option to add an elevator.

The painted and unpainted brick facades of the townhomes will be similar in appearance to those of upscale residences within the city limits. The names of the floorplans themselves—the “Boulevard,” “The Westmoreland,” “The Park,” “the Kensington,” and “The Malvern”—give a nod to streets of Richmond’s historic Fan district.

The community will likely appeal to those looking for the architectural character, walkability, and some of the commercial diversity of the city, who prefer living in the suburbs.

“I think we’re going to be very unique relative to what’s surrounding us,” said Markel | Eagle Principal J.B. Gurley. “Ours will be the only development that will be fully integrated, in that you can live at GreenGate, have your office at GreenGate, and eat at GreenGate. We believe we will be a model for developments going forward,” he added.

ANOTHER YEAR OF FANFARE FOR RICHMOND

Richmond is making national and global headlines with such frequency these days that it is becoming difficult to keep

track of which media sources ranked us on which lists this year, or awarded us with which titles. Proud residents of the region certainly have not run short on news to share on Richmond’s accolades this year.

Here is a recap on the region’s accolades of 2016:

Accolade

Source

Top 10 city for global trade in the U.S. 9th, Best Cities for Foodies 1st Place in Mayor’s Climate Protection Named a Priority City to connect youth to the great outdoors Named Tree City U.S.A. (for 25th Consecutive Year) Named Playful City U.S.A Ranked #47 of the top 50 Invest Health cities Ranked 3rd internationally in Best Places to Travel Ranked 8th in Top 10 Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker Ranked as nation’s 4th Hottest Housing Market Named one of 20 Best Places in America to Start a Business Named among America’s 50 Best Running Cities Named a Top City for Creatives Ranked #7 on America’s Favorite Places Survey Named The Modern Cultural Capital of the South Ranked in top Best Places to Live in the U.S.A. Ranked among The 10 Trendiest U.S. Cities You Can Still Afford to Buy In Named a top destination for food travel Carytown named one of the Top 15 Cool Streets Across the U.S. and Canada Richmond’s Hanover Ave. named one of the Best Places to Trick or Treat

Global Trade Magazine American City & Country U.S. Conference of Mayors Let’s Move! Outside Arbor Day Foundation KaBOOM! Invest Health Travel & Leisure Movie Maker Zillow CNBC.com Runner’s World Thrillist Travel & Leisure Men’s Journal U.S. News Realtor.com National Geographic Cushman & Wakefield Wall Street Journal

Richmond’s Newly Elected Public Officials The November elections introduced several new officials to the Richmond City Council and School Board. Here is a recap on the final results:

Mayor, City of Richmond: Levar Stoney Richmond City Council: 1st District – Andreas Addison 2nd District – Kimberly Gray 3rd District – Chris Hilbert (incumbent) 4th District – Kristen Larson 5th District – Parker Agelasto (incumbent) 6th District – Ellen Robertson (incumbent) 7th District – Cynthia Newbille (incumbent) 8th District – Reva Trammell (incumbent) 9th District – Michael Jones Richmond School Board: 1st District – Liz Doerr 2nd District – Scott Barlow 3rd District – Jeff Bourne (incumbent) 4th District – Jonathan Young 5th District – Patrick Sapini 6th District – Felicia Cosby 7th District – Nadine Marsh Carter 8th District – Dawn Page 9th District – Linda Baker Owen To stay up to date on government affairs in the Richmond region, tune in to “Selling Richmond: The Civic Realtor®,” a new monthly podcast created and produced by the Richmond Association of Realtors® (RAR).

In this monthly update, RAR’s Government Affairs Coordinator, Jo Gehlbach, sits down with leaders in the region who make decisions affecting Realtors® and their clients. The inaugural 15-minute episode features a chat with newly elected City Councilman Andreas Addison.

Planning for Sustainable and Resilient Buildings Submitted by Viridiant (formerly known as EarthCraft Virginia)

A resilient building is also a sustainable building. Buildings that do not need replacement or significant repairs after a disaster

are inherently more sustainable. More critically, resilient buildings provide a safe shelter to their occupants during adverse weather events and throughout the following days. As weather patterns shift toward the more extreme—with hotter temperatures, heavier rainfalls, and higher winds—resilient buildings are becoming a practical and smart choice.

As winter approaches, we encourage you to review the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (toolkit.climate.gov), which provides an intuitive five-step process to make your home more resilient.

Brock Environmental Center, Virginia Beach, VA (photo: Prakash Patel/SmithGroup JJR)

Step 1: Assess your region’s risk

The first step is to determine potential threats specific to the building’s geographic location. This includes common, known risks (like hurricanes); emerging risks, like flooding; and risks scientists have determined are likely to arise in the future, such as more frequent, severe storms and ocean level rise. The building owner ultimately decides which risks to address; but during the planning phase, it’s valuable to understand the full range of possible adverse events that could impact the structure. For example, in Virginia, flooding, extreme temperatures, a range of storm types, and wild fires are issues that often affect homes and other buildings. These events are often coupled with risks that occur at the same time, such as power outages, or water damage to equipment. A building’s susceptibility to risk and severity of risk will vary significantly, based on the building’s location and unique features.

Step 2: Assess your structure’s risk

The second step is to assess the building’s specific vulnerability to the identified threats within a given timeframe.

Some people will want to make their building more resilient in the near term, while others may consider all vulnerabilities the building is likely to face in the next hundred years. Additionally, the assessment needs to be highly location specific. For instance, a city may be prone to flooding, but if the building itself is on a hill with welldrained soils, flooding may not be a concern for that structure.

Step 3: Look into mitigation strategies

After determining risks to the building, the third step is to investigate options to mitigate the potential for adverse impacts from those risks. It’s helpful to assess mitigation strategies through two lenses: what can be done to maintain the physical integrity of the structure and what can be done to ensure the building provides safe shelter in the days after an event occurs.

There are several aspects that go into a safe shelter. One, “thermal resilience,” is the ability of a building to “coast” in a safe temperature range for humans in the event of a power outage. Well-insulated and air-sealed structures can coast for long periods of time, and, when passive cooling and heating is integrated, can remain very comfortable. If a building overheats or becomes too cold, it becomes dangerous or uninhabitable. The acceptable temperature range is roughly 54°-86°.1 The two other key aspects to consider are access to food and potable water, and whether this will be provided through ample stocks on site or through regenerative means, like collecting and filtering rainwater and growing food at the site. The Red Cross recommends storing a two-week supply of food and water.

For additional assistance with determining options, here are some available resources: • Strategies for Multifamily Building Resilience, by Enterprise Communities —This guide is for both new and existing multifamily buildings and addresses protecting the building, improving its ability to adapt to a changing climate, providing backup power for critical needs, and increasing community resilience.3

• Disastersafety.org, by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety —This website allows owners of new and existing homes, as well as commercial buildings, to assess threats in their area and find highly detailed technical guides for preparing buildings for those threats.

• LEED pilot credits4: Assessment and Planning for Resilience, Design for Enhanced Resilience, and Passive Survivability and Functionality During Emergencies —These credits are meant for a wide variety of new construction buildings and work by doing a hazard assessment, putting measures into place, and calculating a building’s ability to maintain thermal resilience.

Step 4: Make a plan

The fourth step is to create a prioritized action plan. When prioritizing actions, there are several useful factors to keep in mind.

First, consider if the risk would affect anyone’s safety. Other factors include near-term versus future risks; chances of risk occurance and potential frequency; and the costs and benefits for mitigation strategies. These factors should form a metric that informs the decision making process. Consider how desired measures can be integrated with planned maintenance or replacement of building components. Likely, some measures will overlap with energy and water efficiency measures under consideration to reduce operating expenses, and can be completed as part of “greening” projects.

Step 5: Take action

Finally, start to take action. An excellent example of a building undertaking this process, start to finish, is the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

It serves as an office and educational center for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished through undertaking this five step process. The building has already weathered several significant storms, and occupants enjoy the office space year-round.

1USGBC, http://www.usgbc.org/credits/passivesurvivability 2Red Cross, https://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4440181_Food_and_Water-English.revised_7-09.pdf 3Enterprise Community, http://www.enterprisecommunity.com/resources/ResourceDetails?ID=0100907 4 USGBC, http://www.usgbc.org/credits/new-construction/v4/pilot-credits