Shockoe Project Update: Bumps on the Road

Update: June 30, 2026

The Shockoe Project has been paused, and the current scope to conclude with completed design documents but no plans for a groundbreaking to begin construction. The exception is the Lumpkin's Jail Slave Pavilion which will move forward. 

In May, consultants working on the various phases of The Shockoe Project were directed by the City of Richmond to do the following: 

1. Modify the entire project scope so that all new development is outside of the floodway. (i.e. no earthwork/grading, no vertical elements in the floodway) and that any material change at current grade maintains or improves the friction coefficient.
2. Modify the project scope for the North Memorial (Burial Ground) and North & South Campus to end at 100% design development and not continue into construction documents.
3. Terminate the Marshall St Right-of-Way at 75% design development. No further work is required on this project.
4. Lumpkin’s Slave Jail Pavilion will move forward into CD’s (construction documents) and construction.

If we are discussing the funding, however, here is the big money picture posted on the city's project webpage since 2025: 

"Allocated funding for The Shockoe Project totals $58 million and includes the recent additional $10.1 million allocated in the City's FY26 Adopted Budget and $13.4 allocation from the Commonwealth of Virginia, General Assembly. The city received an $11,000,000 Mellon Foundation grant to supplement the creation of the Shockoe Institute as part of The Shockoe Project, that grant is included in the aforementioned $58 million." 

$46 million of it was earmarked for the overall project (North and South Memorial areas), yet, somehow in March of this year, lead contractor Baskervill was notified that there was just $18 million available. What happened? So far, the only comment, though off the record has been: no one ever said that money couldn't be reallocated if something came up. No accounting and no public statement has been made about a $28 million shortfall.

The Virginia Defender and the Sacred Ground Project have posed questions in the past about the stability of the funding: Is the money secure? Could it be moved away from the project? Is the city really committed to this? And we were consistently assured the commitment was real, the funds had been set aside. And yet, here we are. 

The directives listed above correlate, in this writer's opinion, with the city aligning this recent need to cut costs with the re-evaluation of floodway conditions to require significant reduction of development features in the floodway areas, including the planting of trees. All projects have points in their development when there will be adjustments to the schedule. Our concern is whether the city will stand by its commitment to complete one of the most significant and unique ten-acre public history projects (and economic driver) happening today.

And where did $28,000,000 go?