Developers Susan Eastridge and Michael Hallmark aim to redevelop the former Best Products campus in Henrico. Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown
The rooftop of a former office building might not appear to be the ideal location to harvest tomatoes, corn and squash, but that may be the fate of Best Products’ former headquarters.
From the ashes of the failed $1.5 billion Navy Hill project that sought to redevelop Richmond’s downtown, a similar arena-anchored project called GreenCity has been proposed for the 204-acre former Best Products suburban campus and the adjacent area in neighboring Henrico County. In a first for Virginia, the $2.3 billion project would be an ecodistrict, an urban planning term for a development that includes sustainability, social equity and a reduced ecological footprint as part of its stated goals.
In addition to creating a 17,000-seat arena that Capital City Partners LLC’s Michael Hallmark says will be the greenest in America, the former Best Products building will be renovated into Virginia’s second “living building,” which Hallmark calls “the holy grail of sustainable living.” For an existing structure to be certified as a living building by the nonprofit International Living Future Institute, it must generate more net positive energy and net positive water than it uses, have an urban agricultural component and satisfy other criteria.
