Richmond EDA tells Squirrels to clear out of The Diamond or be treated as trespassers

Diamond District construction is currently blocking the main entrance to CarMax Park, one of many points of dispute between the Richmond Flying Squirrels and city officials. (Graham Moomaw/The Richmonder)

Last month, Richmond’s Economic Development Authority told the Richmond Flying Squirrels to gather up any equipment still being stored at The Diamond and take it somewhere else.

The EDA was changing the locks on Richmond’s former baseball stadium, the letter said, and any effort by team personnel to enter the facility after Oct. 16 would be “treated as trespassing.” The authority told the team to hand over all keys, access cards and “any other means of entry to the building.”

In a separate letter from a few days later, a lawyer representing the EDA reminded the Squirrels the city has the ability to evict the team from the new baseball stadium too.

If Navigators Baseball, the business entity that owns the Squirrels, doesn’t try to negotiate a deal with VCU allowing the college baseball team to play at CarMax Park, the second letter said, it could amount to a “breach” of the stadium lease. The EDA said it has the option of terminating the lease “and/or excluding Navigators from the leased premises.”

“The EDA does not wish to exercise these remedies, and it is in the interest of all parties for Navigators to perform its obligations under the Stadium Lease and get the business relationship between the parties back on track,” McGuireWoods attorney Matthew D. Fender wrote on the EDA’s behalf. “Please immediately commence negotiations with VCU.”

The new exchange of letters — which The Richmonder obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request — is the latest escalation in a long-running battle over a high-profile city development project.

Navigators Baseball, led by owner Lou DiBella, has already filed lawsuits related to the project. The first was a defamation lawsuit against Thalhimer Realty Partners developer Jason Guillot over a heated exchange the two men had at the new ballpark during opening night.

The second was a suit against the EDA itself, alleging city officials concealed how flimsily the project had been assembled and allowed the Squirrels to end up playing in a new stadium without the mixed-use development that was supposed to revitalize the surrounding area.

“As a result, the people of Richmond have been lied to and have suffered,” attorneys for Navigators Baseball wrote in the suit brought against the EDA in early September.

Guillot, who’s leading the private development side of the project, and the EDA have both denied DiBella’s allegations, essentially accusing the Squirrels owner of creating the trouble himself through aggressive behavior and refusing to work well with others. Many of the delays, the EDA insists, were caused by DiBella not working things out with VCU, which needed to part ways with Sports Backers Stadium in order for the development to proceed.

As those lawsuits play out in the courts, new battle lines in the dispute are emerging.

The lawyer for the EDA gave DiBella 30 days to resume talks with VCU over letting the team use the new stadium built mainly for the Squirrels. If that deadline isn’t met, the Sept. 23 letter said, the Squirrels would be in “default” under the lease.

A spokesman for DiBella didn’t immediately return a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

DiBella’s attorneys, meanwhile, have accused the city of allowing disruptive construction to start outside CarMax Park’s front entrance with little notice as soon as the team’s season ended. DiBella had previously voiced opposition to that plan, saying it could jeopardize the team’s ability to host large offseason events at the stadium tied to Halloween and Christmas.

In a Sept. 21 email, EDA Director Angie Rodgers said the public infrastructure work would be starting “tomorrow.” She encouraged DiBella to coordinate with Thalhimer-led Diamond District Partners and contractor Whiting-Turner on logistics for how to get crowds in and out of the facility while the construction work impacts the entrance.

“While I can’t guarantee the 50 percent access during Squirrel-O-Ween requested in your team’s last communication, I think this coordination can get us closer to it,” Rodgers wrote. “For example, we can arrange for greater access during the times when foot traffic will be greatest. We can plan for greater access on evenings and weekends as opposed to weekday daytime hours.”

That letter didn’t go over well with DiBella and his legal team.

In a reply the next day, Kelli Scheid Smith, an attorney representing Navigators Baseball, strongly objected to the short notice, noting that it came on Yom Kippur, “one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar.” The team had rejected the proposed construction access plan in July, the response letter said, then heard nothing more from the EDA.

“Providing less than 24 hours’ notice before commencing construction that will render the main entrance to CarMax Park completely inaccessible is wholly inadequate and inconsistent with any reasonable standard of landlord conduct,” Smith wrote.

The communication from the EDA, she continued, did little to address larger issues raised about access to the stadium for the Squirrel-O-Ween event at the end of the month, and the setup for the 39-day WinterWorld attraction that’s set to begin in mid-November.

As part of the lawsuit against the EDA, Navigators Baseball has signaled it intends to seek a court order preventing the construction from blocking access to the ballpark during the planned holiday events.

On the same day the EDA told DiBella the construction work was starting, Rodgers sent the second letter saying the Squirrels and any affiliates needed to clear out of The Diamond. The team’s lease for the old stadium, that latter said, automatically ended when the new ballpark was completed.

“We understand that Navigators continues to use portions of The Diamond, including for the storage of team store merchandise, kitchen and concessions equipment, concessions stock, for vendor storage and operations, and for the storage of two utility vehicles,” Rodgers wrote.

The EDA gave the team until 5 p.m. next Friday to get everything cleared out.

“The EDA expects The Diamond to be emptied of Navigators' property in its entirety,” Rodgers wrote. “Should any property remain at the facility after October 16, 2026, the EDA may remove and dispose of it as it sees fit, and Navigators will remain responsible for the EDA's costs of doing so together with the cost of repairing any damage.”

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org