Development
Renovation work on the Riggers Loft began last year, and it is likely to be completed by year’s end. A new Operations Security Center for the Port of Richmond is scheduled to fill about one-fifth of the building.
The Richmond real estate market is booming, largely thanks to investors who are buying homes with all cash. But some Richmond residents are concerned that replacing homeowners with absentee landlords will hurt neighborhoods.
The Contra Costa County Sheriff is pursuing an $80 million state grant that could upgrade the West County Detention Facility. If awarded, Sheriff Dave Livingston plans to increase jail space and re-entry services at the 30-acre site. While Livingston got the green light to submit a proposal to the state, some supervisors and activists are proceeding with caution.
Richmond has seen an increase in “zombie” foreclosures, meaning that the bank, upon foreclosing on the homeowner, never took ownership of the home. The practice allows banks to avoid liability. It also increases blight, and makes it difficult for the city to manage abandoned properties, which often turn into blighted eyesores.
Richmond City Council member Tom Butt and the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center were honored at the 2013 California Preservation Awards last week.
A definitive construction timeline for the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory’s proposed Richmond biosciences campus still remains unclear, but lab officials assured the City Council Tuesday night the project is still moving forward.
From the bay, the city of Richmond boasts a shoreline ripe for new development. The problem is, most investors don’t ever get to see it. The West Contra Costa County Council of Industries, a business coalition, held its Richmond Harbor yacht tour on Wednesday, an event that meets new and potential business owners with city leaders to discuss bringing new enterprises to Richmond. The event served as an opportunity for the council to flex its muscles, but for many of…
North Richmond based Community Housing Development Corporation is behind the $22 million development that will cater to low-income families. The project is being funded through a mix of private, state and local government monies. The Richmond Planning Commission recently approved a rezoning request, which needs final approval from the council, but is not on the upcoming agenda.
As critics point out, the people behind Mortgage Resolution Partners bear some striking similarities to the Wall Street bankers they’re ostensibly fighting. Chairman Steven Gluckstern says that although all three of the firm’s partners have worked for financial institutions in various capacities, none of them have any connection to the mortgage-backed securities that created the financial crisis of the mid-2000s.