VCU buys Ukrops at Harrison and Grace

Here’s a pricey VCU land-grab that probably won’t earn the university much criticism from its usual chorus of detractors (you know who you are):

The VCU Real Estate Foundation purchased the former Ukrop’s store and parking lot at Grace and Harrison streets for more than four times what a previous investor paid in 2002.

Did VCU pay too much? I certainly don’t know, but I thought the real estate market was down. Maybe not in all circumstances. To read the entire story at Richmond BizSense, click here.

Posted in Business, Hub's Blurbs, RVANews-news, VCU

7 Comments.

‘here’ link to BizSense does not work.

Jon @ January 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Jon,

Thanks. It’s fixed.

FTRea @ January 13th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I think even though the real estate market on the whole is down (or at least slow in Richmond), I understand a much higher price for the space now compared to 6-7 years ago.

I was still at VCU in 2002, and I can assure you that the whole stretch of Grace Street from Belvedere to at least Lombardy (and probably further, realistically) was pretty grunge-tastic. I wouldn’t have wanted to really be around there after dark.

On the whole, much of that stretch of Grace Street has since cleaned up considerably. Is it prime real estate? Nope. But I’m not as nervous about being near that 7-11 at 10 o’clock like I used to be.

Daniel @ January 13th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Remember when VCU told Oregon Hill, the city, and the state that there was no alternative to demolishing the historic stables and encroaching further into the neighborhood in order to build the massive student recreational center? Now they just happen to buy most of this city block less than a year later from starting the rec center construction?

Does anyone believe anything the VCU admin says anymore? Will any state legislators listen to citizens who keep asking that VCU and its private Real Estate Foundation be investigated for their continued misrepresentations?

What will VCU be paying for its share of the City’s stormwater utility for all the parking lots and paved surface it owns? How will that compare to City residents’?

Scott Burger @ January 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Scott,

You make a good point if you’re saying the City Auditorium project, at least some aspects of it, could/should have been put somewhere else. I didn’t support that move by VCU. And, now we see, this very space might have been a key piece to solving VCU’s need for such space to expand.

Plus, no doubt, this was a parcel the Foundation had had its eye on for a long time.

FTRea @ January 13th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
http://www.oregonhill.net/2008/10/24/ohna-president-asks-vcu-to-take-positive-step-for-true-community-partnership/

Scott Burger @ January 13th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Thank goodness VCU is saving the city from itself, what with all the blight and grunge-tastic night dwellers on Grace. Those were dark, dark days when Hardees was the only fast food option at Shafer and Broad.

Thank Trani I can now choose between Qdoba, Five Guys and Extreeeeme Pizza and I can even charge my Rambucks after dark without being confronted by those scary panhandlers.

If we’re lucky enough maybe VCU Real Estate Foundation will lease their overpriced building to Crate and Barrel so I don’t have to motor all the way to Short Pump Towne Centre for accent pieces for my dorm room.

Stuart @ January 14th, 2009 at 1:01 pm