Stone’s Greg Koch Responds To Claims Of Favoritism In Richmond, VA Project

RBS: What’s your response to critics who say the city is bankrolling the brewery and restaurant project and giving Stone an unfair advantage? Or is this just kind of what cities have to do nowadays to attract high-profile businesses?

GK: One thing that a lot of critics have very clearly said is, “I don’t understand the details of this deal but I’m going to comment anyways.” The city is not bankrolling this project. That’s just an odd way to describe it when you look at it. What the city is doing is they are investing in their own property. They are creating something that is fit for a tenant – us – to come and occupy and pay them rent on.

It would be much less expensive just to take some parcel and build a new building that doesn’t have all these complexities and challenges built into the project. However, this is a unique opportunity to revitalize a part of town and to work with the city to create an economically viable scenario. Just from a governmental perspective, or just from a private business perspective, this wouldn’t be viable to sink money into. But when we link arms and we say, “We can accomplish this together in a public-private partnership,” then it makes sense, and here’s something the city and the region benefits from enormously because it’s taking something that’s non-economically viable and making it economically viable for both parties.