November 3, 2025

From Construction to Community Care: Join Us at Hotchkiss Green

With construction officially completed at Hotchkiss Green, we are thrilled to move into our next vital phase: Sustainable Maintenance, Establish Care, and Deep Community Engagement. We believe that bringing people together starts with having them get their hands in the dirt.

We’re hosting bi-weekly community workdays every other Tuesday at 4:00 PM (weather and light permitting). To date, we have welcomed well over 100 spirited individuals on-site. Together, volunteers have planted our pollinator garden berm, gotten their hands in the dirt weeding wire grass, spread protective mulch, and updated tree rings. We are so grateful for all the ways folks have already engaged in stewarding this space

Next Workday: Plant the Future You Deserve
Join us to build meaningful relationships side by side with other community members.

  • Date: Saturday, November 15th
  • Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  • Activity: Participants are invited to bring daffodil bulbs to help leave a piece of their home at Hotchkiss. (Capital Trees will also provide bulbs.) There will also be routine maintenance work, offering a chance to learn hands-on how to improve the habitat.

We welcome everyone to join us!  

Sign up for this and future volunteer events here:

What’s Next at Hotchkiss Green: Creating Inviting Spaces
Over the coming weeks, look for these exciting steps as we continue to transform and care for this public greenspace:

  • Gather & Connect: We’ve installed two picnic tables near the pool, and two more are scheduled for assembly soon! These new additions will create more welcoming destinations for the community to gather.
  • Play & Rest: In the natural play area, we are replacing two large logs with comfortable benches.
  • Nurture the Earth: Our core work continues! We will be spreading more mulch in the food forest and continuing our hands-on work to fight back the wire grass in the garden beds.
  • Future Focus: We are also beginning to clear out the beds in front of the center to prepare for future improvements and ensuring our space is always welcoming and well-cared for.

Meet Us at Brookland Park Fest!
We’d love to see you and talk about the future of Hotchkiss Green! Join us and our partners to talk about how we can take real action for the earth and the community.(Style Weekly Link with Info; Instagram Link with Info)

  • Date: Sunday, November 9th
  • Time: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Community!
A special thanks to every volunteer who has joined us at Hotchkiss Green since August! We are so grateful for everyone who has stepped off the pavement, onto the grass and gotten their hands in the dirt. Your work accelerates our shared journey toward a healthier city. Because of you, we continue to build a future where greenspaces heal both the soil and the soul.  Thank you to everyone who has shown up to help:

  • RVA Week of Service volunteers
  • Community workday volunteers
  • Tuesday maintenance volunteers
  • Timmons Group
  • TowneBank
  • CapGemini
  • KPMG
  • VCU

August 9, 2025

We were so thrilled to welcome folks to our first community workday on Saturday, August 9.  Twenty six volunteers joined us at Hotchkiss and made great progress on managing the wire grass!  We are so grateful for their support.

We have also launched a regular volunteer work day on Tuesdays the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays each month from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.  These are drop in workdays, and welcome volunteers of all skills for as long as they are available and when they can make it.  This is a great way to get your hands in the dirt making a difference, to learn about sustainable gardening practices, and meet new people.

Our community events and weekly maintenance days are available on CF Engage:

Our first community workdays volunteers!

August 8, 2025

We are nearing the one-year anniversary of our groundbreaking in August 2024, and the progress is remarkable. As the driving force behind this project, Capital Trees handled everything from start to finish. We successfully raised all the funds, secured the necessary designs and permits, and managed the construction. To date, we have invested $600,000 in the Hotchkiss Green project, and we’re thrilled that over 90% of the project is now complete. The space is already a wonderful new asset for the community.

With construction wrapping up, we’re now shifting our focus to the crucial long-term work of maintenance and community engagement. We’ve already hosted work groups on-site, and our first community workday is tomorrow, Saturday, August 9, at 9 a.m. We plan to establish a regular community of maintenance volunteers at Hotchkiss, too.   Over the next few years, our goal is to cultivate this project so it becomes a greenspace that’s biodiversity and beauty rivals the Low Line. Our Horticulture Manager, Mary Petres, is now working closely with parks staff to coordinate management efforts; we’re grateful for this partnership.

We have two more community events scheduled for this fall to help complete the project:

The pollinator berm is the last feature from the original plan to be installed. We’ll be holding these two special community workdays this fall for its installation, and we hope you can join us!

Looking ahead, we’re already planning another Earth Day Celebration at Hotchkiss in April 2026. We will be in touch with more details as the date gets closer.

Finally, as the weather cools, we’ll also be replacing any plants that haven’t thrived during the initial planting phase.

How it started in fall 2024:

How its going in August 2025:

Summer 2025

With the majority of construction completed, we are transitioning to engagement and maintenance.

We continued our collaboration with Groundwork RVA’s Green Team.  They are recording thermal images of the site for three years.  In May, the Green Team Youth taught Capital Tree’s board and friends about the Urban Heat Island Effect and how to capture thermal images on the Hotchkiss site.  In addition, with Groundwork USA, the Green Team worked with drone deploy this summer to do capture ariel thermal images.  Channel 12 reported on this work/Drones Used to Capture Thermal Imaging of Richmond’s hot spots. 

This summer we hosted the following private work groups:  ReBuilding Together/Markel, Rotary Club Richmond, and Primis Bank.  Coming up this fall we look forward to hosting:  Timmons Group, RVA Green Drinks, and Henrico Skills Students.

April 25, 2025

Today, volunteers kept plugging away at the landscape installation — planting 450 perennial grass and flower plugs throughout the site.  Thanks to Mary Petres, Horticulture Manager and James River Nurseries for placing all the plugs.   .  We are also excited because the chain link fence at the back of the project has been removed (thanks City of Richmond Parks and Rec) and soon a new wood fence with access points will be installed.  The fringe trees were putting on a show.

April 16, 2025

After a cold and snowy winter, plants and work are perking up at Hotchkiss Green.  We have started hosting workdays on site for plant installation and for routine management (weeding!).  Look for plant installation to continue in the coming weeks.  We have added additional trees (3) at the Dunn Street entrance thanks to support both from Tuckahoe Garden Club and James River Nurseries.  Join us on April 27, 1 – 4 pm to celebrate Earth Day with free giveways and community organizations with educational activities.  Here are a couple of pictures from March!

February 20, 2025

Hotchkiss was blanketed in snow!  The most exciting thing to see was that even on a snowy day — the Green is already in use.  We’re waiting on warmer days to start planting again.

February 3, 2025

Several weeks of COLD and snow slowed progress on the landscape installation.  Once the weather warmed at the end of the month– the trees and shrubs and mulching of the future pollinator garden, rain garden, and other beds were installed throughout the project.

 

 

 

January 3, 2025

In the weeks since the last update, many small but noticeable details have been completed.  Both new entrances to the Hotchkiss Green are in place, grading has been completed, mulch has been added in key areas, and the reclaimed timber play area has been completed.  With the cold weather, work will slow a bit, however, when the weather breaks look for tree and shrub installation this winter.  More landscaping will be added in early spring.

Here is another before and after showing the increase in connectivity within the property.  The chain link fence has been removed and a new trail installed, connecting folks more easily to the back of the center, the pickle ball courts, community garden, and skating rink.

     

Previously the homes behind the center had to walk around the block to enter the site due to fencing.  With the installation of the walking trail and other park amenities, the fence has been removed and a welcoming entrance added.  Here is a before and after of the area, showing how the Hotchkiss Green has opened access to the center to neighbors.

     

Looking into the Hotchkiss Green from the new entrance of the ROW at the rear of the center’s grounds:

Mulch installed on the rain garden.  Plants will come when the weather warms.

New trail entrance off Dunn Ave and the ROW:

Trying out the permeable asphalt again!

Natural play area completed.  These logs are reclaimed timber from other City of Richmond Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities projects including the Luck’s Field renovations.  This was a wonderful collaboration between Parks, Timmons Group, and Exact Stormwater to identify the logs, store them, transport them to the site, debark them, seal them, and set them in place (including designing the final plan).

Lots more grading and stabilization completed for the winter:

December 19, 2024

The asphalt trail paving is complete which allowed us to host on site tours with staff from City of Richmond DPR and Office of Sustainability and the Capital Trees’ Board of Trustees.  The major site work is wrapping up including stabilizing the site for the winter so it is ready for spring plantings.  Once all grading and details are completed, the trail can be opened for use — stay tuned.  Here are some pictures from today’s site visit.

December 13, 2024

Favorable late fall/early winter weather has allowed the paving of the permeable asphalt trail to continue.  Capital Trees, Timmons Group, and Exact Stormwater were on site today to review the completely paved trail, the berm placement, excavation of the rain garden, and other project milestones.  In these last weeks of December, work will continue on prepping and placing the final logs delivered into the natural play area and along the trail as benches,  the trail edge will be cleaned up, along with grading to the trail, and there will be work done to stabilize the soil on the berms and areas to be later planted.  We are likely entering a dormant season for the project since the next major installation milestone is landscaping.  Cooler (and wetter) winter weather is not the ideal time to install certain portions of the landscaping.  We will be onsite next week and can share some of the final details of the major infrastructure installation on the project including the two new entrances to the greenspace.

Check out some of the big difference small changes can make.

These are two pictures from before the project started where fencing separated the outfield, community garden, tennis/pickle ball courts, and skate rink from each other:

   

Here is a shot from a different angle showing improvements to connectivity.  The fencing is removed and now a trail connects residents and visitors to the pickleball courts, baseball field, community garden, skating rink, and to the front and back of the center.

November 26, 2024

Construction progress continues on the Hotchkiss Green.  Since the last update, reclaimed timber has arrived on site for use in the natural play area.  The logs were saved from another City of Richmond community center renovation (Lucks Field) specifically for the Hotchkiss Project. We are grateful for Timmons Group staff seeing the opportunity for reuse and connection between the projects.  Site grading continued with key elements on site taking shape (natural play area near the pool and the pollinator garden berm).   Jesse Palma (Community Engagement Manager) and Shelly Barrick Parsons (Executive Director) attended the November Highland Park Quality of Life meeting to provide a project update.

Two major milestones were accomplished in the last two weeks edging the project closer to being accessible to the public.

First, thanks to a private workday with Republic Services trees were planted on November 21 marking the first plants to be installed.  Thanks to a partnership three years in developement, Capital Trees was the recipient of a $125,000 National Neighborhood Promise® grant from the Republic Services Charitable Foundation.  As part of Republic Services support of the project, local and regional staff joined Capital Trees and James River Nurseries in planting the first trees on site at the Dunn Street entrance to the park; close to twenty trees were planted along the trail.

Second, paving began this week on a large portion of the permeable asphalt trail.

To date, Capital Trees has raised over $545,000 for this Hotchkiss Green project.  We are continuing to raise funds to support construction AND the ongoing sustianable management of the completed for at least 3-years during establishment of the landscape.  Our goal is to raise an additional $200,000 to support both the final construction costs, project development, community engagement, and management.  A gift to Capital Trees supports both our building of new public landscapes and the ongoing eco-friendly practices of managing those completed projects.  You can support the Hotchkis Green directly here.

November 12, 2024

Exact Stormwater Management has been hard at work on the permeable asphalt trail and site work including grading the site and building the berms that will be part of the finished project.  In the coming weeks, you will see the following changes on site:

  • Paving the permeable asphalt trail
  • Arrival of reclaimed timber for the seating and play area near the pool
  • Grading of the site
  • Final placement of berms for play and wildflower garden just outside the outfield
  • Landscaping begins including trees planted

The permeable asphalt trail is part of the green infrastructure we are installing on site to manage stormwater.  If you want to learn more check out this resource on Green Infrastructure (HERE and HERE). The goal is to have the majority of the trail completed before winter sets in.  This is dependent on weather including temperature and precipitation.

Drone Photo Courtesy of Exact Stormwater Management

Drone Photo Courtesy of Exact Stormwater Management

 

October 8, 2024

Construction has begun at Hotchkiss Green.

Surveying was started last week and excavation started this week on the permeable asphalt trail!

 

August 2024 Groundbreaking Celebration!

Neighbors of Hotchkiss Field Community Center and friends of Capital Trees showed up Monday, August 26 for the Hotchkiss Green groundbreaking celebration.  The event marked a milestone in the project development kicking off project construction.  This project milestone is made possible by the collective efforts of many individuals and organizations including

  • Neighbors, staff, and users of Hotchkiss who provided invaluable feedback to shape the final plan,
  • The design team at Timmons Group,
  • The focus and enthusiasm of Capital Trees staff, board, and volunteers,
  • City of Richmond’s Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities, and
  • Foundations, churches, businesses, and individuals whose generous investments have funded the project and its ongoing care.

Once complete, Hotchkiss Green will make significant environmental impacts by enhancing tree canopy, boosting biodiversity, and improving stormwater management.  The shade from 54 trees will offer cooler temperatures and better air quality.  The winding paths will provide spaces for exercise and relaxation, while the native wildflower garden will attract local wildlife.  We are excited to work with Exact Stormwater Management and James River Nurseries on project construction.

Capital Trees welcomed guest speakers, Chris Frelke, RVA Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, Mayor Levar Stoney, Councilperson Ellen Robertson, and Delegate Rae Cousins. Following the speakers and groundbreaking, the celebration continued with everyone enjoying ice cream and a thermal imaging demonstration from Groundwork RVA.  Thanks to Ruby Scoops for serving 117 scoops of ice cream including the new Hotchkiss Green inspired flavor, Blackberry Basil.  Thanks to Groundwork RVA for the thermal imaging demonstration.

Thank you!

As a supporter of Capital Trees, you already know that access to and investment in public greenspace is essential. Public greenspaces foster healthy, climate-resilient, safe, compassionate, and connected communities. Thank you for your unwavering support in building a greener and more livable Richmond.

Writer Gary Snyder is attributed with saying, “Nature is not a place to visit, it is home.” We hope that everyone who encounters Hotchkiss Green will find a place of welcome, rejuvenation, and rest.

Join us for a Groundbreaking Celebration on our next greenspace project, the Hotchkiss Green on Monday, August 26, 5:30 pm at the Hotchkiss Field Community Center.

Join friends, supporters, city and state officials, and neighbors for a groundbreaking celebration and ice cream social with free ice-cream from Ruby Scoops.

 

Hotchkiss Green Project Background

At the invitation of the City of Richmond, Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities, Capital Trees began to explore the feasibility of a new greenspace transformation on Richmond’s northside in 2021.  In 2022, we partnered with Timmons Group to continue community engagement and input on park design.  Capital Trees staff and board members led community engagement at the center, at local community meetings, and nearby events.  Through our conversations with the community and center leadership, we learned of the desire for pollinator friendly habitats, places to sit and gather, edible plants incorporated into the landscape, more shade, and a walking trail.  This feedback was incorporated into three plans that were shared with the community for final feedback and revision.  Our final plan draws incorporates input from the community.  With a final plan in hand, we initiated the necessary approvals with the City and more focused fundraising.  To date, we have raised over 90% of our construction funds.  We have selected construction leads:  Exact Stormwater Management with James River Nurseries.  We are on track to break ground in mid-August 2024.  Your support of the project  will help complete and sustainably manage this greenspace transformation.

The project will transform two acres of treeless turf at the Hotchkiss Field Community Center in Richmond’s northside into the Hotchkiss Green – an inviting urban landscape that includes walking trails, seating areas, shade trees, a pollinator garden, and native shrubs and perennials.

The green space will be a focal point for the community, providing a restorative space to connect with nature and neighbors. We know that when people have access to green space, they feel better — mentally and physically. The green space we have planned will provide a place for residents to exercise, commune with their neighbors, feel connected to nature, and cool down in the shade. The urban landscape we have planned is an investment in the health of the Highland Park community, now and in the future. The trees we add to the space will contribute to the City’s tree canopy, cooling temperatures on the ground to help offset the negative health effects of the urban heat island effect. The green space will provide immediate relief for residents and for generations to come as the tree canopy becomes more established.  Stay tuned for updates.