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GRTC Connects: The Pulse – Scott’s Addition to Rockett’s Landing

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The twelfth and final installment in a monthly series in which a hometown Richmonder who has spent over a decade abroad explores the many different neighborhoods accessible by GRTC bus lines to discover the ways transit connects us all.

Scott’s Addition:

When out-of-towners tell you they had a great time in Richmond recently, they almost always mean they spent a day bouncing among the bustling breweries of Scott’s Addition.  Few corners of the city better encapsulate the rebranding of the former capital of the Confederacy into the hipster mecca of the South — a place where cold brew, BBQ, and coworking spaces comfortably cohabitate. As easy as it has become to lampoon Scott’s Addition for its status as frat boys’ drunken playground of choice, the area’s rapid transformation from an industrial wasteland into Richmond’s hottest neighborhood proves our city’s vast untapped potential and the ways we can all too easily squander it.

General Winfield Scott inherited the original 600-acre estate from his father-in-law and Confederate Richmond Mayor Joseph Mayo in 1818. The four-time failed presidential contender and presiding officer over the removal of the Cherokee sold off the parcel in 1890, triggering the neighborhood’s first residential development. The expansion of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad and its Acca yard along the area’s perimeter altered the course of Scott’s Addition in a decidedly industrial direction.

A 1927 zoning ordinance locked in the area’s industrial designation, leading to a proliferation of plants and factories done up in surprisingly chic architectural styles, including Mission Revival, International Style, and Art Deco. The Hofheimer Building is a prime example of the era’s surviving beauty, which earned the neighborhood a historic designation a decade and a half ago. The construction of I-95 and I-195 to the area’s north and west, respectively, isolated Scott’s Addition, leaving it largely forgotten for half a century.

The long-neglected nature of Scott’s Addition and its core location made the area a prime target for redevelopment as Richmond swung into its post-millennium renaissance. Upon that clean slate, developers have spent the last decade building breweries, apartments, breweries, offices, and breweries. The 2017 Pulse Corridor Plan and associated upzonings on Broad Street accelerated the growth, fostering Richmond’s best modern example of transit-oriented development — jargon to describe that people like to live where it’s easy to get around by bus. That’s not to say that developers aren’t still building parking decks as high as the apartment buildings they aim to serve.

This sometimes overwhelming infusion of new businesses, residents, and vitality reflects our region’s untapped potential; however, the growing pains have been pronounced. In a neighborhood teeming with people, Scott’s Addition is surprisingly dangerous to traverse on foot due to the one-way streets drivers speed down and the 60 stretches of missing or inadequate sidewalk. The fact that the area’s only parks are a private wine garden and two community–crowdsourced greenspaces is embarrassing.

Given the failings so far, especially the lack of a single affordable housing unit, it’s understandable that the plans to create a “Greater Scott’s Addition” were met with mixed emotions at their debut this summer. Under this vision everything north of Broad, west of Lombardy, south of I-95, and east of I-195 will be merged into an oasis of amenities, mixed-use development, and new destinations. The nods toward more housing, a new crescent park, and complete streets are all positive, but the devil will be in the details of implementation.

It’s far easier to cite the shortcomings of the Richmond 300 master planning process which produced the Greater Scott’s Addition Conceptual Plan than it is to demand the city do more to address our housing crisis over the coming years. Of the 53 parcels Mayor Stoney proposed be handed over to affordable housing developers during the recent election, not a single one lies within Greater Scott’s Addition.

If Richmond’s growth is to continue, then it must become more inclusive. A new state-level Lower Income Housing Tax Credit could help. Removing parking minimums on new housing would reduce the costs of new construction and produce more apartments with lower rents. The question is whether the city’s leaders are willing to make such minor changes, let alone the bigger items that need addressing if the rest of Richmond is to grow along with Scott’s Addition.

The Ride:

For this last installment of GRTC Connects, I offered readers the chance to ride along. Roughly twenty of us gathered in front of the Blanchard’s on Broad back in March — just a couple weeks before the pandemic pushed writing this series to a back burner. We took a tour of Scott’s Addition together, coffees in hand. Along our half-hour ride through the heart of the city to Rockett’s Landing, we enjoyed the best transit Central Virginia has to offer.

Richmond’s award-winning bus rapid transit (BRT) — a style of bus acting like a subway — serves as a glimpse into what the future of mobility in RVA could be. When the Pulse was first conceived in 2016, the plan was for not just one BRT line but six. Short Pump, Ashland, Mechanicsville, RIC Airport, Petersburg, and Midlothian would have all become termini on a truly regional BRT network, crisscrossing localities to boost connectivity and reduce congestion.

In this light, the Pulse’s detractors have a point. High-quality transit shouldn’t just serve the city’s busiest corridor. All corners of Greater Richmond deserve the fast, frequent, and reliable mobility that the Pulse provides. While ridership on the Pulse during the pandemic is 41 percent lower due to VCU going virtual and the drop in commuting, the rest of GRTC’s routes are at 94 percent capacity. One of the best ways we as a region can honor our essential workers is to invest in their connectivity and build out comfortable and convenient new BRT routes across the region.

The idea may sound unrealistic in an era of pandemic-induced budget cuts, but the money exists in the form of the Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA). The entire construction of the Pulse cost just $62 million. The CVTA is projected to bring in $170 million annually for Greater Richmond to spend on upgrading its transportation systems.

Improvement could start small but equitable. There’s no reason the Pulse ends in Rockett’s Landing and doesn’t continue the extra mile to serve Fulton — a transit-starved majority-Black community. The addition of a Sauer’s Garden stop between Scott’s Addition and Willow Lawn could help folks move to an up-and-coming area without having to buy a car to get around.  

A North-South Pulse route from Ashland to Petersburg would prove a tougher challenge, but tying together our region’s six most important localities (Hanover, Henrico, Richmond, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, and Petersburg) would be a coup for residents’ mobility. If we pull it off, a decade from now folks could seamlessly live, work, and play in all corners of Central Virginia without having to worry about parking, insurance, or how to make their car payment.

The plans for a six-route regional BRT network have been sitting on the books for years. All we need to do is fund them.  With the CVTA’s as yet untapped millions already rolling in, it’s time for Central Virginia to double down on the vision of better mobility, less traffic, and a climate-friendly future made possible by robust public transportation. Everyone deserves a Pulse.

Rockett’s Landing:

At the opposite end of the Pulse lies an equally young and growing urban neighborhood, but that’s where the similarities cease. Scott’s Addition may often give off an exclusive air, but Rockett’s Landing feels like a gated community without the gates. After alighting from the Pulse, one must cross the city border via an overly large parking lot before reaching any homes, restaurants, or human life. Could there be a better metaphor for entering Henrico County?

Exactly 400 years before Varina’s first-ever New Urbanist community sprouted up here, Captain Christopher Newport ended his exploration of the James with a landing along these same shores. The area didn’t grow into a bustling trading town until 1730, when Robert Rockett began operating a ferry service across the James that was so well used, it was once considered the busiest inland port in America.

As the Civil War erupted, this riverfront community was converted into Richmond’s first line of defense against Union forces. After the Confederates torched and abandoned the Portsmouth Shipyard in 1861, both banks of the James transformed into the official Confederate Navy Yard, hosting ironclad warships and submarines alike. Just a few years later, however, Rockett’s Landing would suffer the same fate, as Southern soldiers burned its ships, shops, and homes before fleeing to Danville. When Lincoln came to the fallen capital following the defeat of the Confederacy, he docked in Rockett’s with the ruins of Richmond still smoldering in the background.

In the wake of the war, Rockett’s Landing reverted to serving as a sleepy port. By the 1920s, Virginia’s growing network of railroads had lured most freight shipping away from the area. The rise of the interstate sapped the last life out of the port, allowing for its conversion into an industrial zone in 1970. The decline of large-scale manufacturing over the following decades left this corner of Henrico empty and ready for redevelopment.

Walking through Rockett’s Landing today, one can tell the area was rebuilt according to a large-scale, developer-driven master plan — the result of a secretive effort to turn Richmond’s former dock into a gold mine. Each successive set of housing feels like a new row of massive Lego blocks, aesthetically crisp though lacking in architectural charm. The only historic structure left is the old water tower, anchoring the modern construction to the area’s past.

With just two restaurants, few public spaces, and no other storefronts or amenities, this community of nearly 37,000 can come across startlingly like a ghost town. While life in Rockett’s Landing may frequently feel more like a senior living community, that’s no reason to scoff at the dense development Henrico has fostered. Although each townhome and apartment comes with bountiful parking out front (the rows of parked cars somewhat detracting from the area’s charm), where else in Greater Richmond has so much transit-oriented housing been built in such a short period of time?

With countless further apartments, condos, and even $1 million townhomes in the works, that growth isn’t dying down anytime soon either. If anything, the rise of Rockett’s Landing will be roaring ahead throughout 2021 and beyond, thanks to the nearly 20-acre Fulton Yard development Richmond and Henrico jointly approved last year. With an average median household income of $57,066, the “village” isn’t even so far out of line with the rest of the region ($45,117), but it’s not exactly affordable to average folk either.

The astonishing growth of Scott’s Addition and Rockett’s Landing over the past decade proves Greater Richmond is ready to grow and shed off the shackles of its past. The question these two neighborhoods raise is: where is that growth inclusive of low-income people? Scott’s and Rockett’s have both mastered the art mixed-use development, but not mixed-income. From new low-income housing tax credits to community land trusts, we already know what tools we need to build our way out of our housing crisis. Do we have the political will to use them?

GRTC Connects: Route 4 – Shockoe Bottom to Fulton

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The seventh installment in a monthly series in which a hometown Richmonder who has spent over a decade abroad explores the many different neighborhoods accessible by GRTC bus lines to discover the ways transit connects us all.

Shockoe Bottom:

The vacant storefronts scattered throughout and the empty parking lots that encompass entire city blocks belie the Shockoe Bottom of two centuries ago, when this neighborhood was the heart of Richmond’s economy.  Tobacco Row ⁠⁠— today a stretch of nearly waterfront condos and apartments ⁠— got its name from the long line of buildings that warehoused Virginia’s most valuable export.

This patch of Richmond was shaped just as profoundly by our country’s most profitable import: enslaved Africans. Tucked away behind Main Street Station on the far side of an endless asphalt expanse lies the Devil’s Half Acre. Just three blocks from Virginia’s capital, this rectangular patch of greenspace once hosted the largest slave holding facility in the Commonwealth: Lumpkin’s Slave Jail. 

Over 350,000 people were sold into slavery in Shockoe Bottom between 1830 and 1865, making Richmond the second-largest slave trading center in the United States. Besides some meager markers and an online Slave Trail map, precious little has been done to commemorate this part of our history. The only efforts to educate Richmonders about this dark chapter in our city’s history come from civil society groups such as the Elegba Folklore Society, who offer interactive tours.

Shockoe Bottom survived the Civil War and its torching at the hands of the fleeing Confederates, but what such a bustling urban neighborhood couldn’t overcome was the advent of the private automobile. Starting in the 1920s, the area began to sink into a state of disrepair. The 1950s brought the clearing of entire city blocks of historic homes and warehouses in favor of the hideous parking lots that plague the area to this day.

Only in the last two decades of the twentieth century did Shockoe Bottom begin to bounce back as a vibrant urban neighborhood, in fits and starts. A fledgling art scene anchored by (the original location of) 1708 Gallery, the completion of the Canal Walk, and the end of periodic flooding (save Hurricane Gaston in 2004) thanks to the James River Flood Wall planted the seeds of today’s growth.

Three large projects have transformed the fabric of Shockoe Bottom, helping to reverse decades of neglect. The Virginia Capital Trail, the redesigned 17th Street Farmers’ Market, and the Pulse BRT station all signal that Shockoe is once again embracing its roots as a city neighborhood built for people, not cars. Whether the area can not only confront its contributions to America’s “peculiar institution” but harness this dark history to attract curious visitors remains to be seen.

The Ride:

At the corner of 23rd and Franklin lies the only stop in Shockoe Bottom along GRTC’s Route 4. Imagine your correspondent’s consternation when he saw that the stop was “closed due to filming.” Despite the lack of a camera crew anywhere in sight, the buses were now picking up passengers around the corner.

This singular stop marks the only point at which Routes 4A and 4B overlap.  4A leaves Shockoe Bottom to loop around Montrose Heights, while the 4B takes a more southerly route to Fulton and back. No other route in GRTC’s entire system operates in this manner, where the variations are essentially entirely separate bus lines. This distinction can prove confusing.

Photo by Wyatt Gordon

After accidentally boarding the 4A with new GRTC Transit Advisory Group Vice Chair Adam Lockett, our bus embarked on its eastward journey towards Montrose Heights — speeding along, as the route lacks a single stop along Main Street by the many apartments or beloved businesses, such as Millie’s Diner and Poe’s Pub. If you head eastbound on the 4B you’ll hit another spot lacking connectivity; there are no stops along Main Street, forcing people to walk up the hill towards Shockoe from the Riverfront Pulse stop in order to catch the 4.

Before the Great Richmond Reroute last year, Greater Fulton was served every fifteen minutes by the 6 bus, which ran down Broad Street all the way to Willow Lawn. After the redesign, the replacement route⁠ — the 4 ⁠— was dropped to 30-minute frequencies. The redesign also shifted Fulton’s access to GRTC from an arterial (a route that runs crosstown) to a circulator (one that loops around a neighborhood collecting people to bring to a more frequent route). 

Exactly this combination of changes triggered community activist Omari Al-Qadaffi to file a federal civil rights complaint against GRTC. In a filing with the Federal Transit Agency, he asserts that the redesign unduly burdens low-income and minority bus riders. GRTC’s attempt to use savings from the Fulton cuts to expand service in the more affluent West End, at the behest of Councilwoman Kim Gray, compounded this perception of inequity. Such moves have damaged the trust of a community that already felt cut off after a mooted Pulse stop in the neighborhood was eliminated in favor of a stop serving the conglomeration of condos known as Rockett’s Landing.

For those who make the same mistake as your correspondent, thankfully the 4A and 4B come tantalizingly close to overlapping the further east you go. Alighting from one of the system’s older diesel buses (they still have the blue lights inside), it took but a short walk down a wooded stretch of Government Road to reach the heart of Fulton.  

Fulton:

Sixty years ago, residents of this part of Richmond used to draw a sharp distinction between Fulton Bottom and Fulton Hill. Today, no matter which you search, all that comes up is Fulton, due to the area’s dark history of displacement. 

In the 1970s, Fulton Bottom was deemed a slum by city government and targeted for “urban renewal.” Revisionist history wants you to believe that severe flooding in the early years of that decade made what was an already unsavory neighborhood absolutely uninhabitable. The narrative goes on that residents took payouts from the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Act (1970), and gladly moved.

In actuality, by the 1960s, Fulton Bottom had become an oasis of affordable housing for the Black working class. When the plans to demolish the Bottom became clear, residents were resistant. The compulsory nature of the evictions, and subsequent razing of the Bottom, came with a promise of better housing for Fulton’s residents in the near future. After the city converted much of the former neighborhood into Gillies Creek Park and dragged its feet on the promised new construction for over a decade, Fulton Bottom’s former residents gave up all hope of seeing their community restored. 

Map comparison image Via Church Hill People’s News

The loss of a neighborhood also led to the loss of a local culture, history, and sense of place. To preserve the stories and personalities that made Fulton Bottom so unique, in 2011, Virginia LISC, The Valentine, and the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton came together to create the Historic Fulton Oral History Project. The interviews of nearly a dozen former community members can today be streamed online or found as a physical copy at ten sites across the city.

Over the past 30 years, Fulton Bottom has once again filled up with housing. Instead of the dense, walkable community of row houses and corner shops that resembled Shockoe Bottom, today the area is devoid of personality and looks like any subdivision in Chesterfield or Henrico. Fulton Hill, on the other hand, still effuses the character of an urban neighborhood⁠ — albeit one that feels far enough away from Richmond’s hustle and bustle for residents to still talk of “going into the city” when they drive downtown.

There’s also plenty for the rest of the region to discover in Fulton. Flush on the Henrico border lies Richmond National Cemetery, a nearly 10-acre site where close to 10,000 Union Soldiers who died in the siege of the Confederate capital are majestically interned under marble headstones. Beer enthusiasts can delight in the spacious eastern outpost of Triple Crossing Beer. The outdoor patio will leave you feeling like you’re no longer in the city at all. Those looking for a bargain should head to Fulton’s oldest eatery: Krispies’ Fried Chicken. Where else in Richmond can you get a two-piece snack for just $3.39?

Surrounding such sites and amenities, the federal row houses, Sears catalog homes, and low-slung bungalows of Fulton Hill (today the only Fulton left) serve a similar purpose to the housing that was bulldozed in the bottom half a century ago. Although Fulton remains predominantly Black, working class residents of all races have begun to move in. As the prices of single-family homes in Church Hill, Blackwell, and Northside rise beyond the reach of the middle class, Fulton still offers historic homes for $150,000 to $200,000. Thanks to the likes of local musical talents Trapcry and Alabama Thunderpussy, the neighborhood increasingly has a reputation as a haven for creatives.

Over the past century, both Shockoe Bottom and Fulton have proven themselves to be urban neighborhoods as vibrant as they are resilient.  Unfortunately, those thriving elements of the two communities have taken root not thanks to the City’s policies but rather in spite of them.  The experiences of Shockoe Bottom and Fulton should serve as a warning to Richmond’s leaders who think the best of our city can only be realized through grand plans.  What makes these two neighborhoods and the whole of the River City a delight to call home are its people.

Photos via Wikipedia, the Valentine archives, and Venture RVA, unless otherwise noted

Ms. Girlee’s Kitchen Brings Outdoor Fish Fry to Fulton Hill

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With this outdoor event raising money to open their permanent location, Ms. Girlee’s Kitchen brings summer fun and a taste of community to Fulton Hill.

What better way to start the weekend than with a fish fry? The first ever fish fry in Fulton Hill, hosted by Ms. Girlee’s Kitchen and Community 50/50, fed over 450 people last Saturday.

Helen Holmes is the owner of Ms. Girlee’s Kitchen, and moved the restaurant to its current location, on Parker Street in Fulton Hill, a year ago. She raised her children in Fulton Hill and knew it was the perfect place to bring her restaurant.

“I just want to bring that home feeling to the area,” Holmes said.

Holmes began the restaurant with her brother in 2015, as a full-service catering company. They prepared the food at home before moving to a building in Downtown Richmond where she inititally created Ms. Girlee’s Restaurant.

“I had to continue with the business because it was named after my grandmother.” Holmes said, “It has been a long, hard road. But I can’t stop.”

Holmes has spent years battling contractors, family and other businesses, trying to open her restaurant. She is currently operating out of a temporary building while generating money needed to complete renovations for the new building.

“I want to earn the money,” Holmes said. “I don’t want to borrow it. I don’t want to ask anybody for it. I want to earn it.”

For the Fulton Hill fish fry, Ms. Girlee’s Kitchen partnered with the non-profit organization Community 50/50, a mentoring and community outreach program geared toward helping youth and families in the Richmond area. Community 50/50 CEO Zenobia Bey says Ms. Girlee’s helps feed the Blackwell community every third Sunday, and serves from 75 to 100 people. Holmes has been working with Community 50/50 for three years.

“Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, she provides a hot meal for those in need,” Bey said. “Ms. Girlee’s is definitely one of our biggest sponsors.”

“For every meal that I sell, I give away a meal to feed our homeless community,” Holmes said. “We feed about 500 homeless brothers and sisters every single month.”

While Holmes works to open her Parker St location, she’s currently serving Sunday brunch on a temporary basis from 11-4 PM at 6335 Jahnke Road. However, the Fulton Hill Fish Fry last Saturday took place outside the new location she’s working to open at 4809 Parker Street. Entertainment included vendors, karaoke, face painting, and music by DJ Crush Groovey. Cookie Monster also made an appearance for the kids’ entertainment, and the Virginia Sweet soft-serve ice cream truck served sweet treats and beverages.

Highlights of the fish fry menu included the Fulton Bottom fish sandwich, a staple of the Ms. Girlee’s Kitchen menu, as well as fried chicken wings, and signature crab cakes. Each was offered as a dinner, with a side of mac and cheese. All entrees came with a complimentary piece of cornbread. The mac and cheese was such a hit that it sold out two hours into the event.

More a family cookout than a simple fish fry, many guests brought lawn chairs to sit and enjoy the scenery. Kids played with bubbles and drew with sidewalk chalk. The music brought together all ages to the dance floor for a great time.

In fact, the Fulton Hill fish fry was such a success, Ms. Girlee’s Kitchen is bringing it back this weekend.

“Oh my God, people loved it,” Holmes said. “I’m going to continue to do [the fish fry] until I generate the funds to get this building open.”

Come out to Parker Street in Fulton Hill this Saturday, partake in the delicious food and festivities, and help a community-minded local restaurant give their business a permanent home. Be there early! The food’s so good, it won’t last long.