$19M Mayo Island under contract and could become part of James River Park
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Google Earth aerial Image of Mayo Island
A Richmond-based conservation group is under contract to buy Mayo Island and has plans to make it part of the James River Park System.
What’s happening: The Capital Region Land Conservancy is piecing together grant money to purchase the island, which is privately owned and was listed for sale in April for $19 million.
- The organization’s director, Parker Agelasto, declined to share the bid price, but in a grant application estimated the project would cost $11.8 million.
Why it matters: The 15-acre island sits in the middle of the James River in downtown Richmond, and while city planners have long hoped to convert it to park land, it has primarily served as a parking lot.
What they're saying: "It's just one more of the many things that our city has envisioned but has needed some attention to getting done," Agelasto tells Axios.
Details: The project landed a $1.5 million grant last month from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation.
- Agelasto said other grant applications are pending, and private foundations are also supporting the project, including the Cabell Foundation and Mary Morton Parsons Foundation.
- The Mayo bid was first reported by Richmond BizSense.
Catch up quick: The Shaia family has owned Mayo Island since the 1980s, and the April listing, marketed as a redevelopment opportunity, was the fourth in recent years.
- It was on the market in 2007, 2008 and 2014, when the listing price was just under $10 million.
Of note: More than a dozen islands in the James are privately owned, including at least eight in the city.
- Last month, CRLC helped facilitate a 3.46-acre private land donation to the James River Park System.