VCU planning class maps out options for Union Theological Seminary property

By Mike Porter

Members of a VCU L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs urban studies and planning class spent their summer helping administrators at Union Theological Seminary consider options for a piece of property it owns adjacent to its main campus in North Richmond. The 33.5-acre “Westwood Tract” near Ginter Park is one of the largest undeveloped pieces of land within Richmond’s city limits. 

Students in the summer site planning class created three different proposals for the site. The recreational development option calls for a swimming pool, multipurpose fields and tennis courts, a playground and walking/jogging path. The moderate development option would create some housing on the site but designate some of the property for recreational uses. The maximum development option calls for 40 single family homes, 48 townhouses and a three-story building that would offer ground floor space for seminary purposes and residential space above. 

“All of our options are hypothetical,” said class instructor Ralph Higgins, a Virginia landscape architect. “It gives the seminary three very different pictures for the land. We’re not implying there’s one single solution for the site.”

The class consisted of planning, historic preservation and real estate students, which Higgins said allowed for an examination of the site from a variety of viewpoints.

Students considered current uses of the property, the history of the neighborhood and traffic counts in the area in creating their plans.

“The most important thing we’re doing is developing a dialogue between the neighborhood and seminary administrators,” Higgins said. “As it stands now, neighbors use the space and Union Theological Seminary is maintaining it.”

At the conclusion of the seven-week course, students presented their planning scenarios to seminary administrators and members of the local neighborhood civic association.

“I think it’s exciting to consider the possibilities that jump out in each of the scenarios,” said Brian Blount, Union Theological Seminary president. “The students pulled together a fantastic amount of material in a very short time. There’s an energy and freshness to all of their proposals.”

Seminary officials must consider how much each of the proposals will cost and whether any or all are feasible.

“We will likely begin conversations with professional developers, share this information and ask for their input on the students’ ideas,” said Mike Cashwell, Union Theological Seminary chief financial officer.

Urban Studies and Planning Associate Professor John Accordino said students put together dozens of community plans each year for cities and counties in the Richmond area.

“We don’t consider the community to be a laboratory,” Accordino said. “We teach our students the importance of serving the community. A plan is not successful if it doesn’t benefit the community.”