Richmond intends to take control of former Redskins facility (2024)

The city of Richmond intends to take control of the former Washington Redskins training camp facility on West Leigh Street and make it the home of the city’s department of Parks & Recreation, a city official said.

Health system Bon Secours plans to vacate the 15-acre parcel, which contains a two-story building and two football fields, by the end of the year.

The city’s Economic Development Authority leases the ground from the state but intends to transfer the lease to the city. It has not been determined how much the city will pay for the parcel.

Once the city is in control, it will consider making changes to it, said Petula Burks, a spokesperson for Richmond government.

The City Council would need to approve the move.

The city erected the building and fields to hold training camp for the then-Redskins, who visited each summer from 2013 to 2019. The team, later called the Washington Football Team, returned for a few days in 2021.

The eight-year deal, often criticized because of its cost to the city, was not renewed after it expired. In 2018, the city refinanced the $10 million loan it used to build the complex, requiring Richmond to pay about $700,000 annually until 2033.

Last year, Mayor Levar Stoney said he wanted to turn the facility into a green space for city residents. The city assessed the property at 2401 W. Leigh St. for $19 million this year.

The property’s new use accomplishes several goals spelled out in the Richmond 300 plan, such as increasing public access to green spaces and parks, said Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer.

Stoney has said he wants all Richmond residents to have a park or open green space within a 10-minute walk of their homes, which the facility will help achieve.

Changing the area to a public access point will enhance residents’ quality of life, Saunders said.

“This alignment is not just a coincidence but a deliberate step in our efforts to increase programming and use for Richmonders, thereby advancing our recreational services,” he said.

Last year, the facility held a two-day concert event called the Iron Blossom Festival.

Parks & Recreation currently operates in a building on Admiral Street in the city’s North Side near Virginia Union University.

This week, the city’s Economic Development Authority agreed to extend Bon Secours’ lease through the end of the year. Bon Secours will pay about $19,000 a month for the first floor and $13,000 a month for the second. The health system can extend the lease through January if it needs more time.

After the lease expires, the EDA can transfer the lease to the city of Richmond.

Bon Secours plans to relocate the sports medicine and primary care and physical therapy practices that operate at the training camp site to new space off West Broad Street in the Sauer Center by the end of 2024.

The sports medicine and primary care practice will have 20 rooms in an 8,000-square-foot space on the first floor. It will provide X-ray capabilities, lab and ultrasound guided sports medicine procedures, said a spokesperson for the health system.

The physical therapy practice will move to an 8,000-square-foot space on the second floor and will have 11 rooms. The facility will have strength training equipment, cardiovascular equipment and other devices.

Bon Secours will also build a new urgent care facility at the Sauer Center. It will occupy about 4,000 square feet of space on the first floor and will have eight treatment rooms, an imaging room and a lab area.