Ambitious plan is one of six proposed by developers to build indoor arena

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An eye-opening $291-million proposal to redevelop Belmont Golf Course in Lakeside into a mixed-use community – featuring a multipurpose arena, an outdoor whitewater and outdoor adventure park and a mix of hotel, office, retail and residential space – is among six proposals submitted to Henrico officials as part of the county’s request for bids to build an indoor arena.

Key details about four of those proposals – including costs and whether they would involve associated development projects in addition to an arena – are not yet known because they were redacted in versions made public last week by the county. The other proposal included only an offer for the location of an arena.

But full details about the Belmont proposal – submitted by Belmont Community Development, a group that was formed specifically to make the bid and that includes Odell Architecture, contractor Barton Malow Company and Sports Facilities Advisory/Sports Facility Management – are public and appear to be the most ambitious of the six submissions. They would change the face of Lakeside and the region.

The plan calls for the demolition of the Belmont Golf Course and Recreation Center and in its place, the construction of:

• a 240,000-square-foot, three-floor indoor arena, featuring 12 high school basketball courts (which also could be used for volleyball and other indoor sports), 24 flex rooms and other amenities; the facility could seat 4,500 people for commencement activities;

• an outdoor adventure sports facility that would include a whitewater center – similar to the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C. – that could be used for kayaking, canoeing, rafting; other amenities would include a climbing course, a zip-line course and hiking trails;

• a 2,000-seat outdoor amphitheater for concerts;

• an outdoor education center that would double as the starting point for zip lines and high ropes;

• a two-building complex designed for a restaurant, retail space and operations offices;

• a rooftop bar;

• a five-story hotel and conference center;

• a four-story office building;

• six three-story mixed-use buildings for retail and residential units, totaling 160,000 square feet;

• two five-story mixed-use buildings for retail and residential units, totaling 356,000 square feet (located just south of Hilliard Road, where holes 10 through 17 of Belmont Golf Course are located);

• fifty “single-family starter town homes” averaging about 1,700 square feet apiece (also on the south side of Hilliard Road);

• 1,320 parking spaces.

The project would have an annual economic impact of $115 million to Henrico County, create 1,200 full-time equivalent jobs and net $3.5 million annually in new tax dollars for the county, Belmont Community Development Director of Development Brett Burkhart wrote in the proposal. It would create more than 2,300 temporary construction jobs, he wrote.

“[W]e have aimed to provide a facility that not only meets the needs of the county but strives to set a new standard in national amateur sports tournament facilities,” he wrote. “It is our belief that the sports tourism industry is becoming very competitive and to continually win the major tournaments and events that drive economic impact, one must meet and exceed the offerings and experience provided by established and planned projects.”

Financing details

To fund the project, developers would rely upon Henrico to back the issuance of bonds that would finance the recreation elements of the project, while the developers would fund the traditional elements (office, retail and residential space) themselves.

The group has proposed that the county back the issuance of about $70 million in tax-exempt bonds (to pay for the arena) and about $10 million in “gap-financing.”

The developers would provide $30 million in equity capital and rely upon their own issuance of $157 million in institutional debt, as well as $24 million in Virginia Tourism Zone Gap financing, according to their proposal. The Belmont Community Development group includes as a principal Sweet Frog founder Derek Cha.

BCD would own and operate the development through a long-term lease from Henrico County, according to the proposal. At the end of that lease, ownership would revert to Henrico unless the two sides initiated a subsequent agreement.

Construction would occur in phases, with the indoor arena first, followed by the other outdoor recreational amenities, the hotel and mixed-use buildings and then the residential units, according to the proposal.

“Our project will be a catalyst for economic growth in the Lakeside area, Fairfield District, and Henrico County as a whole,” Burkhart wrote. “We believe there will be wide-ranging support for our project and its vision of a lifestyle and sports tourism hub that supports active and healthy lifestyles for all generations. Given the significant investment and bold vision our project represents for the area and county, we anticipate support from local businesses and residents.”

The proposal comes nearly seven months after Henrico’s Board of Supervisors declined to fund a $300,000 renovation of Belmont Golf Course, citing operating losses of $176,000 at the county-owned course in 2017 and an overall downward trend in public interest since the 1990s.

In the spring, officials discussed the possibility of weighing new uses for the site. They also solicited interest from private groups that were interested in taking over management of the course and intend to revisit that idea later this year and early next, Henrico Recreation and Parks Director Neil Luther told the Citizen.

County officials seeking to enhance sports tourism options

Henrico officials believe the time is right for an indoor arena that could amplify the county’s commitment to sports tourism and allow it to:

• host a number of local, state, regional and national indoor sports events and tournaments;

• provide space for Henrico-based leagues and organizations to play basketball, volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics, among others;

• provide a space to host high school graduations, which currently are conducted at VCU’s Siegel Center at a cost to the county (about $72,000 this year, according to school system spokesman Andy Jenks).

Henrico realized more than $47 million in economic impact from amateur sports tournaments and related spending on hotel rooms, retail outings and dining last year alone, according to county officials.

In August, county officials issued a request for indoor arena proposals as part of the state’s Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act, which allows private entities to enter agreements with localities to build a wide range of facilities. The PPEA is designed to foster faster completion of such projects by allowing private groups to fund them in whole or part initially and recoup their money through agreements with the localities.

The benefits to localities: new facilities, completed faster than they likely would have been otherwise, payable over time, with a reduced financial risk.

Henrico officials this summer made public their conceptual rendering of the type of arena they envision – one that would contain nearly 195,000 square feet, enough space for 12 basketball courts, team rooms, concession space, spectator viewing space and 1,200 parking spots.

The county could consider paying some of the costs of development, Henrico Recreation and Parks Director Neil Luther has said, though county officials have not mentioned publicly how much they might be willing to spend.

In addition to the Belmont bid, the other five groups that submitted proposals by the Oct. 3 deadline were:

• Eastern Sports Management, LLC;

• MEB General Contractors, Inc.;

• The Rebkee Company/Hourigan Development;

• S.B. Ballard Construction Company;

• Riverstone Properties.

From the portions of each proposal that are publicly available, the first four of those appear to center primarily around construction of an indoor arena without much, or any, associated development. Overviews of each proposal – based upon the available information – appear below.

Eastern Sports Management, LLC proposal

Eastern Sports Management is proposing to locate an arena, which it termed the Henrico Field House, at Richmond Raceway on East Laburnum Avenue in Northern Henrico. Details about the proposed facility, however, are not known; the company redacted all specifics, including its proposed size and scope, from the version of the proposal that is publicly available, citing a desire for confidentiality.

ESM, founded in 2010, built and manages two other facilities in Virginia – the 75,000-square-foot Fredericksburg Field House and 175,000-square-foot Virginia Beach Field House – as well as a swim and sport center in Fredericksburg and a sports training center in Pennsylvania. It also has a contract to manage the Virginia Beach Sports Center, an indoor arena with 4,500 seats that will open in 2020.

Company officials term ESM “the premier public/private sports facility operator in Virginia.

“ESM knows how, in a single building, to satisfy local users’ need for recreation space while still meeting economic impact objectives by bringing visitors to the County,” they wrote in their proposal to Henrico.

As part of the Henrico proposal, ESM would partner with SCOR (the Sports Center of Richmond), which would operate indoor soccer leagues at the arena. SCOR currently operates its own 108,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor sports facility near the Diamond and I-95 in Richmond.

ESM also is part of the S.B. Ballard bid; it would manage the arena proposed by Ballard in that plan.

MEB General Contractors, Inc. proposal

Construction of MEB’s proposed Henrico County Sports and Events Center would “transform the county into a national leader in sports tourism,” company officials wrote in their proposal. Though the publicly available version of the proposal does not identify its proposed location, it does indicate an intent to honor late Brookland District Supervisor Dick Glover and cites the recently opened Glover Park in Glen Allen, which contains ample space for such an arena.

“Mr. Glover had a vision of the impacts that youth sports would have long before sport tourism was an industry,” officials wrote. “He understood that tax revenue generated by non-county resident would lessen the tax burden on Henrico citizens and increase local business.

“We envision the Henrico County Sports and Events Center to further Mr. Glover’s legacy and vision.”

The facility would include 12 basketball courts (convertible to 24 volleyball courts) and six collegiate-size basketball courts, as well as multi-purpose spaces, concession and dining areas, retractable seating, team rooms, administrative offices and referee rooms, among other designated spaces.

It also could incorporate a “Glover Wall” Hall of Fame to honor noteworthy Henrico athletes, as well as lobby space honoring Glover, officials wrote.

MEB’s proposal champions its plan to work with industry experts with extensive experience building and operating similar facilities. MEB, a Virginia-based construction firm, would partner with American Sports Centers (a nationwide sports facility management company) and Phase 5 Sports Management (a Virginia sports management company), among other companies. MEB currently is working on Henrico County’s massive Cobbs Creek Dam water project in Cumberland County, which eventually will provide a new, long-term source of water for Henrico citizens and others in the region.

Initial research by MEB partner Victus Advisors and other Mid-Atlantic studies suggest to MEB officials that the sports and events center would create the need for 60,000 annual room nights at hotels in the region and about $120 million in new net economic impact during the first decade of its life. The center also might create 200 new sustainable annual jobs and more than $1 million in new tax-related revenue to the county, MEB officials wrote in the proposal.

“The right sports and events center will generate endless opportunities for seniors, adults, and youth to participate in sports leagues, fitness/training programs and wellness classes,” they wrote.

Though the full proposal does include a preferred site, officials wrote that they would partner with the county to find the right solution if that site was not amenable to Henrico officials.

The Rebkee Company/Hourigan Development proposal

Key elements of the joint proposal from The Rebkee Company and Hourigan Development were redacted in the document made available by county officials, so its proposed location, design and amenities are unknown.

In their proposal, officials from the two companies describe their proposal for an indoor sports and convocation center as one that will “help spur economic development opportunities with jobs and an improved taxed base.”

The two companies chose to submit a joint bid to enable what they termed “a depth of project understanding that is borne of involvement in each stage of a project, from concept to facility opening.”

Rebkee (a real estate development and investment firm) is involved with the redevelopment of Henrico’s Regency mall. Hourigan, a commercial construction firm, has completed a variety of local and regional projects, including the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center and the Stone Brewing Distribution Center in Richmond and the Queally Admissions Center at the University of Richmond.

S.B. Ballard proposal

Virginia Beach-based S.B. Ballard Construction Company is proposing what it terms an indoor sports center and convocation center, working with AECOM, an architectural firm that has designed a number of sports facilities at the collegiate and professional levels, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice facility.

Ballard has built a number of college and high school sports facilities (including Old Dominion University’s basketball, football and recreation centers; JMU’s convocation center and Virginia State University’s multipurpose center, among many others.

Key details about the proposed facility were redacted in the version made public last week, but company officials championed the concept as one that would help Henrico earn sports tourism dollars it couldn’t accept last year.

“New athletic facilities such as Glover Park and other 2016 bond projects will offer Henrico the opportunity to bring in more sports business,” company officials wrote in their proposal. “In 2017, $52.2M in economic impact was left on the table due to lack of facilities.

“These stats and so many more make it no secret that this project is compatible with the local, regional and state economic development efforts.”

Riverstone Properties proposal

Local philanthropist Bill Goodwin’s Riverstone Properties group did not submit a formal proposal for an arena but suggested that it be located on some or all of the 109 acres of land that Riverstone owns in northern Henrico. The company’s Scott Farm site (which it purchased from the Scott family in 2015) sits just south of the I-95/I-295 interchange, adjacent to the Henrico-owned former BEST Products headquarters site.

“The location of the facility is critical to the efficiency of its future operations,” Riverstone officials wrote in their proposal. “Ideally, the site will be located in proximity to the I-95 and I-295 corridors with adequate on-site parking. To that end, Scott Farm is strategically located to support the locational needs of the County. It is situated [to provide] unrivaled access to instantaneous North/South and/or East/West travel throughout the County and the Commonwealth. It is perfectly suited to support the needs of any organization requiring a centralized location from which to accommodate stakeholders from across Henrico County.”

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County officials hope to recommend a private partner to the Board of Supervisors by December if they deem one of the proposals worthy of action.

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