RICHMOND, Va. – The City of Richmond and the group that aims to replace the aging Richmond Coliseum and redevelop the surrounding area have entered into formal negotiations.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced the plans Wednesday after a “comprehensive and thorough” review of the group’s proposal to redevelop the North of Broad area.

That proposal by NH District Corp., led by Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell, was the only response to a city request for proposals for the redevelopment.

The proposed redevelopment would include replacing the Richmond Coliseum with a new arena and redevelop much of the surrounding city-owned acreage,” according to Richmond BizSense.

“Though many questions remain and there are important points to negotiate, based upon the results of this review process, I believe there is potential in this proposal to provide transformational change in an underutilized portion of downtown, without negatively impacting the City finances or debt capacity,” Mayor Stoney said in a release.

Stoney said he came to the decision after a briefing with members of city council.

“I’ve instructed staff to negotiate with NH District Corp with the understanding that we will only take the next step in this process if we determine it is in the best interests of the community,” he wrote.

Mayor Stoney announced plans for a Coliseum redevelopment in November 2017. In that announcement, Stoney said he hopes to revitalize the community and also juggle economic opportunities, affordable housing, poverty mitigation, historic preservation, tourism, sustainable development and invest in infrastructure.

Boundaries of the project area are N. 5th Street to N. 10th Street, bounded on the South by E.Marshall Street and E. Leigh Street to the North. Flanking the western boundary of the project are is the Richmond Coliseum.

Negotiations are expected to continue throughout the summer. If successful, the project would be presented to City Council for consideration in the fall, according to the city officials.