The Richmond Flying Squirrels’ ownership group has sued the City of Richmond and its Economic Development Authority over the Diamond District. For anyone buying near Arthur Ashe Boulevard on the strength of what was going to be built there, this is not a sports story. A big announced project next door is an asset in a brochure and a risk in a contract. This is the risk materialising.
Whose reporting this is. Jonathan Spiers wrote the account we work from for Richmond BizSense on 10 September 2026: Flying Squirrels owners up the ante in Diamond District dispute. Spiers notes the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported the filing first. The next section is their work.
What the filing says, per Spiers
- Entities tied to Navigators Baseball, the Flying Squirrels’ ownership group, sued on 3 September in Richmond Circuit Court, naming the city, the Richmond Economic Development Authority and entities tied to Diamond District Partners and Thalhimer Realty Partners. The suit alleges the city and EDA failed to deliver the mixed use development the ballpark was meant to anchor and failed to hold the developer to the agreement’s deadlines.
- That agreement set a retail building’s completion in 2026 and a hotel in 2027. The suit states “Not a single surrounding building has been finished” and that CarMax Park “remains the only completed, revenue-generating asset in the Diamond District.” An apartment building has started and been delayed.
- The filing describes the ballpark as sitting in “a 64-acre unfinished construction site.”
- The site is 67 acres. Diamond District Partners holds a revised contract for the first 32, under a financing structure that put the city on the hook for $170 million in bonds for the ballpark and initial infrastructure.
- The Squirrels pay $3.2 million a year for the first 10 years of a 30 year lease, $66 million over its life, said to be among the highest in minor league baseball.
- It alleges nine counts including breach of contract and constructive fraud, demands a jury trial, and seeks compensatory damages plus $350,000 in punitive damages from Thalhimer and Diamond District Partners.
- Sports Backers Stadium, mid site, was sold to Virginia Commonwealth University for $25 million and demolished. The sale was delayed for months amid negotiations over VCU’s use of CarMax Park.
- The city deferred comment to the EDA, which had none. Thalhimer’s Jason Guillot said neither firm would comment.
We are not going to handicap this. No view on the merits, no prediction about who prevails, no interest in repeating what the filing says about particular people. What matters to a buyer is narrower: the dispute exists, it is in court, and nobody is offering a timetable.
Why this is a housing story
The Diamond District borders Scott’s Addition and North Side and sits a short distance from the Museum District and Carytown. Each of those submarkets has spent years being sold partly on proximity to something that was coming. Listing copy said walkable to the new district. Buyers paid for it.
Read it plainly. Sixty seven acres were to become retail, a hotel, apartments and public space. One ballpark is finished. The rest is a construction site with a lawsuit attached. That is no reason to avoid these neighbourhoods, which had their own fundamentals all along. It is a reason to separate what you are buying from what you are hoping for and price only the first.
A saved search, not a sales pitch
Looking in Scott’s Addition, North Side or the Museum District? We will build one saved search across all three and send what comes up. Start on our Richmond property search and tell us which blocks. That is the whole offer.
What an unfinished 67 acres costs someone three streets away
Construction conditions persist. Fencing, staging, truck routes and dust do not end on schedule when the schedule is disputed. The amenity premium is unearned until built. If your comparable sales included homes that traded on district proximity, part of that value is a forecast. Appraisal follows the built environment, not the rendering. And litigation adds time, not clarity.
We have written both halves already. Buying a home next to undeveloped land covers what can legally go on the empty parcel beside you; tracking development before approval covers reading agendas rather than press releases. The Diamond District is the advanced case: approval happened, the agreement exists, and it still has not produced buildings.
Virginia will not do this for you. The residential property disclosure statute, Code of Virginia section 55.1-703, puts most of the investigating on the buyer. That page carries two versions; the one in force is the version effective until 1 January 2027. This is general information, not legal advice; have a Virginia real estate attorney read your contract.
| Measure | Single family | Condo / townhouse |
|---|---|---|
| Median sales price | $450,000 (-3.4%) | $320,300 (-4.0%) |
| Closed sales | 218 (+6.9%) | 50 (+28.2%) |
| Days on market | 17 (-5.6%) | 40 (-23.1%) |
| Months of supply | 1.5 (-16.7%) | 3.4 (+9.7%) |
| Median price per square foot | [DATA NEEDED: median price per square foot, July 2026, by area] | |
City wide figures, not Scott’s Addition, North Side or the Museum District individually. Source: Central Virginia Regional MLS, July 2026, via the Richmond Association of REALTORS Sortable Statistics and the public single family report. July 2026 is the latest published.
Frequently asked questions
Who sued whom?
Per Richmond BizSense, entities tied to Navigators Baseball, the Flying Squirrels’ owners, sued the City of Richmond and the Richmond EDA, also naming entities tied to Diamond District Partners and Thalhimer Realty Partners, on 3 September in Richmond Circuit Court.
Does this stop construction?
Nothing in the reporting says a court has halted anything. The suit concerns alleged failure to deliver and to enforce deadlines. An apartment building has started and been delayed.
How long could a case like this run?
No timetable has been set. Nine counts with a jury demand is generally a multi year posture. Treat the site as unresolved rather than assuming a date.
Should I avoid buying in Scott’s Addition or North Side?
No. Both had demand drivers long before the Diamond District. The adjustment is to value the house and block you are actually buying and treat the district as upside you have not paid for.
What happened to Sports Backers Stadium?
Sold to Virginia Commonwealth University for $25 million and since demolished, per the same reporting. The sale was delayed for months during negotiations over VCU and CarMax Park.
What should I ask before writing an offer nearby?
Which comparable sales were priced on district proximity, what is permitted and staged within two blocks, and how your appraiser treated unbuilt adjacent development. Get answers in writing.
The same offer, at the end
One saved search across city of Richmond listings in Scott’s Addition, North Side and the Museum District, filtered to blocks you name. Start at our property search or come through Buy With Us. Local coverage is filed under Richmond Area News.
