As Richmond magazine marks its fourth decade, we step inside 1979 — and find its footprints on today.
Photo courtesy Sidney J. Gunst Jr.
BACKSTORY: In 1979, Glen Allen and Short Pump were country crossroads and Innsbrook a shaded lane. That same year, Sidney J. Gunst Jr. (pictured above, center) was, as he described himself in a 1999 Richmond magazine interview, “an ambitious 28-year-old with an idea and no money.” Though he grew up in and around The Fan, he saw in the fields of Norwood Nuckols’s farm the opportunity to make something big. Gunst’s vision was for a planned Reston-esque community where residents could work, live and play.
Gunst worked around the challenges of Henrico’s preference for low-density developments and Virginia zoning codes. Other hurdles were persuading people to drive out to his proposed site and providing residential sections so they wouldn’t need to drive that far to work there.
Hewlett Packard opened offices at Innsbrook in October 1981. Then came American Home Funding, Virginia Power and CIGNA. As Innsbrook grew, a library and hotels opened.
In August 1997, the Innsbrook Today monthly tabloid ran a “You’re Very Innsbrook If …” contest.
One entrant quipped, “You think The Fan is something you use to keep cool and that The Bottom is what you sit on.”
This jab at Richmond’s venerated neighborhoods contained truth in its braggadocio: Innsbrook grew while Richmond proper battled hydra-headed urban problems.
Architect Burrell Saunders, who designed a number of Innsbrook’s early signature buildings, said in 1999, “Difficult to conceive of today, but redevelopment will eventually come to Innsbrook. That’s how cities get built; in successive stages, one layer on top of another.”
TODAY: While there’s no gritty warehouse district for Innsbrook to rehabilitate, there are parking lots and older, underutilized office buildings. In 2016, the county allowed an Innsbrook overlay district permitting for urban mixed-used zoning on parcels of 4 acres or more. Late last year, the wheels began turning for more apartments — a five-story, 121-unit building.
More Moments From 1979
Reacting
Then: In late March, a partial meltdown occurs at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Virginia Electric and Power Co. owned three reactors that were temporarily out of service, one at North Anna and two at Surry.
Now: Dominion Energy has filed to keep operating its Surry reactors through 2052 and 2053.
Jubilee Lead
Then: In December, the Federated Arts Council, which oversaw the popular June Jubilee, a five-day arts festival throughout downtown, appoints its first program director, Phyllis de Maurizi, to manage the Jubilee along with a new program that would take the arts into hospitals and jails.
Now: Venture Richmond coordinates many of our downtown festivals, including the Richmond Folk Festival and the 2nd Street Festival. CultureWorks promotes arts groups.
Benatar Hits Big
Then: Pat Benatar, who sang with Richmond band Coxon’s Army in the 1970s, releases her debut album, “In the Heat of the Night,” in August. The song “Heartbreaker” from that album became a hit.
Now: Benatar did a show in Innsbrook in 2013.
Photo courtesy Peter Paul Development Center
X Marks the Spot
Then: East End parent and activist John Coleman (above, center) founded the Peter Paul Development Center for youth and families.
Now: The center includes one central building and two satellite sites, Fairfield Court and George Mason Elementary schools. Students participate in after-school and summer enrichment programs.
