RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Ahead of a community meeting scheduled for March 20, Richmond City officials sat down with Virginia Union University (VUU) President Hakim Lucas for clarity on plans to demolish the old Richmond Community Hospital.
Richmond City Council member Ann-Frances Lambert said Lucas indicated no plans to tear down the historic building.
“It was a great meeting where we came together,” Lambert said. “We’re going to move forward and we’re just happy that it was a happy ending to the situation. We cleared up some misconceptions.”
Along with answers from VUU, Lambert released a statement, saying the director of planning and development again confirmed that VUU has not submitted any permit to tear down the historic hospital on Overbrook Road.
Community activist Viola Baskerville, who also attended the meeting, said it was a step in the right direction.
“We came away with a commitment from the president that the university would engage in a process of community engagement and that he supported the idea of the rehabilitation of the building and adaptive reuse,” Baskerville said.
While Baskerville champions the idea of restoring the building, she said a third-party independent assessment would benefit everyone on how the hospital fits into the university’s overall project to remodel the Northside of Richmond.
“I think there should be experts brought to the table,” Baskerville said. “I think that a university planning officer does not have the bandwidth to make the necessary historic preservation assessment of the building. And also, with the third party, I think that would engender trust and transparency with the community.”
In addition to the March 20 meeting, Lambert said they’re in the early stages of generating funds to preserve the historic hospital.
