The Carver neighborhood sits tucked between the highway and the downtown sprawl, close enough to reach everything and overlooked long enough to feel like its own island. So when CONEX appeared there a few weeks ago, rising out of a sunken concrete pit built from cargo containers and covered in murals, it felt like the neighborhood had quietly grown a new cultural hub that no one saw coming.
I wanted to talk to co owner Brandon Garner because, to me, this place is not just another spot. It is one of the first businesses in the city to take the street art scene seriously enough to give it real walls and real permanence as part of its business plan rather than scenery. It is also a future outdoor music venue in a part of the city that never seemed destined for one. And on top of that, it is becoming a market, a hangout, a stage, a gallery and a family stop all at once. A lot of the culture we highlight at the magazine seems to naturally converge here.
The containers first arrived in 2021.
Then the whole project sat on its concrete pad like a stalled spacecraft. By that point, Garner had already opened two gyms in the region and built a reputation for making complicated things look simple. When future co owner Chris Farag became a client at his gym and mentioned the dormant site, Garner walked the lot and saw the outline of something that did not exist yet.
He did what inspired people do. He offered to finish it. “I told him I could be the guy who drives it home,” he said.
Part of what convinced him was the vision Chris already had. Farag had been talking about building something that felt like Wynwood Walls, the Miami arts district where the murals are not background but the entire point. “He loved the total experience, the feeling of being immersed in the art,” Garner said. When he first walked the site, the concrete pit and tall facades made sense immediately. This could be our city’s version, where the walls did the talking.
Garner added his own twist from a trip north. He had always loved the winter setup at Bryant Park in New York, with its mix of skating, vendors and open-air energy. “They have hundreds of vendors, a rink right in the center, places to hang out,” he said. Standing in the empty Carver lot, he could picture something similar taking shape in Richmond. “I thought, we can bring something like that here.”
From that point forward, the half-built space was no longer a stalled project. He could see the long-term goal. “I never really envisioned myself in a space like this,” he told me. “But once I got here, I knew exactly what it could be.”
The walls at CONEX are not decoration. They are the spine. Humble was the first artist Garner reached out to, and he immediately pulled in regional and local heavyweights like Nils, Basta, D. Kane, Ian C. Hess, JERRO, Silly Genius and others who have already left their marks. And they are only getting started. The place already looks like a museum that forgot to build a roof. The murals climb the concrete and the containers in a way that makes you appreciate Richmond street art again.
Garner wants the painting to happen while the public is watching. He wants rotating sections, new artists cycling through, and even a community wall where teenagers can spray their names without feeling criminal. It is a simple idea that almost no one in Richmond has bothered to create. (ed. note: Outside of Hess’s stalled public art walls concept HERE.) Give artists space and get out of the way.
And people are paying attention. Officials from City Hall and the General Assembly have already taken a look, which is unusual for a part of the city that has not seen much progress in years. If they are showing up this early, it suggests CONEX might become a test case for how Richmond, its artists and its small businesses grow together under the new mayor’s agenda.
Because the whole thing is made from containers, the space can grow in whatever direction the owners feel like. It can get taller. It can get stranger. It can become a stage or a market or something completely new. You cross a container bridge guarded by Rudolph to get inside and walk down into the pit. It feels like entering a small alternate version of Richmond.
And CONEX is not alone. Another container-based concept is already on the way, which tracks. Repurposing containers into public spaces feels like the kind of evolution we will probably see more of. With container housing and modular builds being talked about across the country, you have to wonder if Richmond is catching the early wave.
Garner talks about concerts and half pipes and food truck battles. He talks about a space that is different every time you show up. He talks about people gathering here for reasons that are not predictable. It all sounds ambitious until you are standing in the space looking around.
For now, they have opened with a winter market and a synthetic ice rink that confused a few purists but delighted everyone else. Vendors are filling the constructed shops and food trucks will line the walls throughout the season. The lone food mainstay, River City Smash Burger, came out strong with a simple menu focused on being consistently good.
So far the crowds are steady and the questions have not stopped. People walk in, look around and ask what is this place. It is a fair question because it is not settled yet. But while visitors are still trying to pin down what CONEX is, Garner remembers exactly when it clicked for him.
On the same morning CONEX received its ABC license last week, he went to pick up their first liquor order, something he used to do eight years ago for someone else’s bar. The woman loading his truck asked where he worked. He answered without thinking, “My own bar.” He sat in the truck afterward and let it settle in. That was the first time he felt this thing was not just an idea anymore. It was happening, and the shape of what it could become finally made sense to him. The rest of us will see that vision play out in the months ahead.
Richmond needs a few more spaces like this. Somewhere that honors the street artists, gives musicians a stage, gives small businesses a home and gives families a reason to come out. Somewhere that does not fit neatly into a category.
And CONEX is still building itself, but the shape is already coming into focus. It feels like something that could become culturally important. And there it sits in Carver, waiting for spring, for someone to plug a PA system into the wall and wake the whole neighborhood up.
Photos by R. Anthony Harris
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