The remaining 2 thirds of the vacant Richmont Square complex are getting a few exterior decorating touches, a reader notes — among the increasingly wild parking lot median strips, many of the trees lining the Richmond-facing parking lot are sporting some new ribbons as of last week. The complex’s final tenants received an early-spring everybody-out notice, with the promise of demolition left hanging some time after the now-past May 1 move-out deadline.
What’s planned next for the space, once the last of the late-1960s apartment buildings are cleared out? Some clues come from the campus master plan map released in the Menil Collection’s 2014 annual report — 2 separate blocks south of the under-construction Drawing Institute are depicted where Richmont Square’s leftovers still stand, respectively hosting a wiggly-trailed park and a pale blue rectangle labeled for “future mixed-use” development:
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The campus master plan map shown in the 2015 annual report, however, cuts off to the south just past the extension of W. Main St.:
- 2015 Annual Report [Menil Collection]
- 2014 Annual Report [Menil Collection]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Rest of Richmont Square Prepares to Get Leveled; Back of Richmont Square Now Erased for New Menil Drawing Institute; Here Is Johnston Marklee’s Light and Dark Design for the Menil Drawing Institute; Menil Drawing New Drawing Institute onto ‘Back Third’ of Richmont Square;  Johnston Marklee’s Small, Thin Courtyard Building for Drawings at the Menil, New Menil Building Likely Going South; Replacing Richmont Square: The Low Cost, Bohemian Option; The Menil Looks at Richmond; What the New Collection of Menil Collections Might Look Like
Images: Swamplot inbox (photo), Menil Collection (maps)
Those units were way past their usefulness. Time to renew.
It was a wild place to live in its day. Close to the bars and rent was pretty cheap, too. Then, downtown started booming and after the beloved Mrs. de Menil passed; the rents went through the roof. Richmont Square management eroded into a greed-fest, simply trying to siphon every last dime they could out of residents. All services became à la carte, reserved parking spot? Extra $25, etc. Rent did not include an extra $25 for you to pay the city water bill, as well. I lived there 14 years, but finally bought a house to avoid further nonsense and boundless greed. Camelot was over. Heck, even Christopher Robin had to grow up. A darn shame.