Image courtesy GreenCity Partners
Plans for GreenCity, Henrico County’s $2.3 billion eco-district, are coming closer to fruition with several key acquisitions.
Henrico’s Economic Development Authority agreed in September to buy the 110-acre Scott Farm property from the Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research for $35.1 million and sell it to the Henrico-based real estate development company Markel | Eagle Partners LLC, which is creating the residential part of the project, as well as an 80-acre county park. Bill Goodwin, a philanthropist, businessman and former University of Virginia rector, runs the cancer research foundation. It had been speculated that Goodwin was eyeing the site for a children’s hospital when he had bought the land in 2015 through his company Riverstone Properties.
The Scott Farm property, nestled between interstates 95 and 295, brings the total potential acreage of the mixed-use project, first announced in 2020, to nearly 220 acres. The land acquired for GreenCity already includes the 93-acre Best Plaza property off East Parham Road and 16 acres of athletic fields acquired from Saint Gertrude High School, which has since relocated to Goochland County. Benedictine Schools of Richmond President Jesse Grapes says that the school still has two years of use remaining from the purchase agreement and that the proximity of the fields to other parcels acquired for the project “seems like a good opportunity” for Henrico.
When completed, possibly by 2033, GreenCity will consist of parks, trails and open spaces, about 2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail space, 2,400 housing units, two hotels and the 17,000-seat GreenCity Arena, which will be operated by ASM Global.
“From the revitalization of Regency Square and Virginia Center Commons to the dynamic ‘downtown’ Short Pump Town Center, Henrico remains committed to growing the economic potential of our region,” Ricky Core, president of Markel | Eagle, said in a statement. “We see this as an unprecedented opportunity and are honored to partner in helping to realize the vision and sustainability goals of GreenCity. It’s placemaking with greater purpose.”
