Feasibility Studies in Richmond, VA

Relate the concept to Richmond 300’s nodes and streets

Richmond 300 provides future land-use, node and transportation guidance, with a developer guide explaining how to interpret those elements together. The city explicitly distinguishes future land-use direction from what a property owner can currently do. Identify the site’s relevant node or street context and review the adopted plan version alongside current zoning. For a mixed-use, restaurant or lodging concept, translate that context into questions about building form, customer access and surrounding activity. Keep planned neighborhood changes separate from observed conditions, so the forecast does not rely on a policy recommendation already having become a completed development.

Resolve utility scope before finalizing the operating model

Richmond’s utility-permit resources direct new-service inquiries to the Department of Public Utilities Development Services team and provide water and wastewater connection information. Use that process to clarify the property’s existing service and what the proposed operation would require. Assemble the site address, available service records and equipment or occupancy assumptions before requesting project-specific information. For a restaurant, laundry or redevelopment proposal, distinguish existing connections from any expansion, relocation or new-service work. The feasibility model should show unresolved utility allowances and responsibilities explicitly, with current provider information supporting the assumptions used for capital and ongoing operating expenses.

Distinguish regional mobility scenarios from usable connections

PlanRVA’s transportation resources bring together the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization’s long-range plan, scenario work, transit planning and mapping resources. These can help explain how a project relates to wider employment and customer travel patterns. Identify the relevant plan or project and record whether it represents existing service, a funded improvement or a longer-term scenario. Compare that information with the actual trip a customer, employee or guest would make today. For a site whose appeal depends on a future connection, retain a present-network base case and make the improvement an explicit, separately supported assumption.