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To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Lease Agreement between the City of Richmond, as lessor, and The Shockoe Foundation, as lessee, for the purpose of facilitating the development and operation of a cultural space in a portion of the Main Street Station train shed located at 1500B East Main Street in the city of Richmond. (7th District)
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THE CITY OF RICHMOND HEREBY ORDAINS:
§ 1. That the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, be and is hereby authorized to execute a Lease Agreement between the City of Richmond, as lessor, and The Shockoe Foundation, as lessee, for the purpose of facilitating the development and operation of a cultural space in a portion of the Main Street Station train shed located at 1500B East Main Street in the city of Richmond. Such Lease Agreement shall be approved as to form by the City Attorney and shall be substantially in the form of the document attached to this ordinance.
§ 2. This ordinance shall be in force and effect upon adoption.
O&R Transmittal
DATE: October 10, 2023
TO: The Honorable Members of City Council
THROUGH: The Honorable Levar M. Stoney, Mayor
THROUGH: J.E. Lincoln Saunders, Chief Administrative Officer
THROUGH: Sabrina Joy-Hogg, DCAO Finance & Administration
THROUGH: Sheila D. White, Director of Finance
THROUGH: Jason P. May, Director of Budget & Strategic Planning
THROUGH: Robert C. Steidel, DCAO Operations Portfolio
FROM: Sharon L. Ebert, DCAO Planning & Economic Development Portfolio
RE: Development and Operation of the Shockoe Interpretive Center in MSS
ORD. OR RES. No.
PURPOSE:
1. To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Subgrant and Operating Agreement between the City of Richmond and The Shockoe Foundation, for the purpose of supporting the planning, development, and initial operations of a cultural space to be located at the Main Street Station train shed in the city of Richmond.
2. To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Lease Agreement between the City of Richmond, as lessor, and The Shockoe Foundation, as lessee, for the purpose of facilitating the development and operation of a cultural space in a portion of the Main Street Station train shed at 1500B East Main Street in the city of Richmond.
BACKGROUND:
On January 23. 2023 and June 12, 2023, City Council adopted Ord. No. 2023-022 and Ord. No. 2023-165, authorizing the City to execute a grant agreement and accept grant funds in the amount of $11,000,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the purpose of supporting the planning, development, and initial operations of the Shockoe Heritage Campus Interpretive Center (the “Shockoe Center”) in the Main Street Station train shed.
The Shockoe Foundation was established in order facilitate implementation of the Mellon Foundation Grant and to expedite and secure the long-term financial viability of the Shockoe Center at a minimum cost to the taxpayers of the city of Richmond, Virginia. The ordinances requested by this transmittal letter will enable the Shockoe Foundation to undertake certain planning and fund-raising activities and to operate the Shockoe Center through both short and long-term activation that will provide a state-of-the-art immersive environment with a powerful story that interprets the history of the adjacent Devil’s Half Acre and Richmond’s larger role in the slave trade. Specifically, the requested ordinances will (1) authorize the City to subgrant a $6,927,700 portion of the $11M Mellon Foundation grant funds enable The Shockoe Foundation (the “Subgrant” and (2) lease a 12,300 s.f. portion of the lower level of the Main Street Station train shed to The Shockoe Foundation for operation of the Shockoe Center.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
Shockoe has been the focus of extensive community engagement for several years beginning in 2016 and again in 2018 around visions for the Lumpkin’s Jail/Devil’s Half Acre site. The Rose Fellowship, in 2018, was focused on Shockoe and included both small and large focus group discussions. In 2019, as part of the Shockoe Small Area Plan process there were three public visioning sessions for Shockoe that attracted a combined total of nearly 600 participants. In 2021, there was another public session to review and gather feedback on the final draft of the plan. A center piece of the Shockoe Plan is The Shockoe Project which includes the Shockoe Center, the Campus and other sites throughout the city. There will be focused community engagement in January 2024 about The Shockoe Project and its many related projects.
STRATEGIC INITATIVES AND OTHER GOVERNMENTAL:
Alignment with Existing City Plans
The creation of the Shockoe Center aligns with Richmond’s recently adopted, national award-winning Master Plan, Richmond 300: A Guide for Growth. The City’s vision is as follows:
In 2037, Richmond is a welcoming, inclusive, diverse, innovative, sustainable, and equitable city of thriving neighborhoods, ensuring a high quality of life for all.
• Objective 3.1 Preserve culturally, historically, and architecturally significant buildings, sites, structures, neighborhoods, cemeteries, and landscapes that contribute to Richmond's authenticity.
• Objective 3.3 Broaden the constituency for historic preservation by more equally representing, preserving, and sharing the sites related to traditionally under-represented groups (e.g., Native Americans, Blacks).
Goal 4: Urban Design: Establish a distinctive city comprising architecturally significant build-ings connected by a network of walkable urban streets and open spaces to support an engaging built environment.
• Objective 4.1 Create and preserve high-quality, distinctive, and well-designed neighborhoods and Nodes throughout the city.
• Objective 4.2 Integrate public art into the built environment to acknowledge Richmond’s unique history and neighborhood identity, and engage the creative community, focusing public art efforts in areas that do not have public art today.
Goal 5: Planning Engagement: Foster a planning engagement culture that effectively and equitably builds people's capacity to organize to improve the city and their neighborhoods.
• Objective 5.1 Increase public knowledge of planning processes and continuously engage civic associations, special interest groups, and traditionally underrepresented groups in the planning process.
The City is currently finalizing a small area plan for Shockoe. The vision in the Shockoe Small Area Plan is:
Shockoe is the premiere international destination for learning and experiencing the history of the U.S. slave trade. Residents, employees, and visitors live, work, learn, and play in a mixed-use urban community that is anchored by historical landmarks, an immersive museum, and spaces for reflection and memorialization.
The Shockoe Small Area Plan is a guide for the deliberate and thoughtful redevelopment of underdeveloped sites in Shockoe and establish Shockoe as an international destination to explore the powerful and complex narrative of this sector of the City once tied to the domestic trade in enslaved Africans. The primary destination in Shockoe are places for commemoration and re-flection that include a museum and memorial park interconnected by greenspaces and surround-ed by development that supports and uplifts the Heritage Campus. Complimentary development will provide places for people to live, work, shop, and play, while the Heritage Campus provides places to learn, reflect, and heal. Shockoe will linked to the broader narrative of the city, the state, and the nation via multi-modal transportation that connect to Franklin Street and Monument Avenue, the 5th Street Cemetery, and Church Hill.
FISCAL IMPACT: The requested ordinances will have a neutral impact.
Subgrant: Funds granted to The Shockoe Foundation under the Subgrant will be limited to a portion of the funds the City actually receives from the Mellon Foundation.
Lease: In order to comply with FTA requirements, The Shockoe Foundation will pay the City annual rent of $172,000 plus $6,300 for parking ($75 per month per space for seven parking spaces), with 3% annual escalation. Beginning in FY25, the Administration intends to include the amount of money that the Foundation will owe the City for rent/parking during each fiscal year cost/rent in the non-departmental budget in order to grant to the Foundation the amount of money that the Foundation will owe the city for rent/parking during each fiscal year.
DESIRED EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon adoption.
REQUESTED INTRODUCTION DATE: November 13, 2023
CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING DATE: December 13, 2023
REQUESTED AGENDA: Consent
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL COMMITTEE: Finance & Economic Development
AFFECTED AGENCIES: Finance, Budget & Strategic Planning, Public Works
RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING ORD. OR RES.: Ord. No. 2023-022 and Ord. No. 2023-165
ATTACHMENTS:
- Subgrant and Operating Agreement between the City of Richmond and The Shockoe Foundation
- Lease Agreement between the City of Richmond, as lessor, and The Shockoe Foundation, as lessee
STAFF:
Sharon L. Ebert, DCAO
Leo Mantey, Deputy Director, Senior (Dept. of Planning & Development Review)