Stoney also wants developers to consider redeveloping the Public Safety and Social Services buildings, which he said no longer meet the needs of the city’s residents.

Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, who represents the area as part of the 6th District, applauded the mayor’s commitment to redeveloping those properties, which together total almost 5 acres behind City Hall between East Marshall and East Leigh streets.

The city “is willing to consider the use or reuse of any of its properties in a proposal,” states the RFP, which also advises that the social services building carries $3.2 million in outstanding debt.

The RFP also calls for the construction of a new, permanent transfer plaza for GRTC bus riders, who now must stand along North 10th Street unsheltered in foul weather, the mayor said. “They deserve a facility that treats them with dignity and respect.”

Additionally, any proposal must provide low-income, workforce and market-rate housing, and advance his administration’s poverty-reduction and job-training goals by hiring minority-owned and small contractors, Stoney said. “All of Richmond must benefit from this development, not only after it is completed but as it’s being built.”