RICHMOND, Va. -- As two developer brothers prepare to remake the old Haxall power plant on the city’s Canal Walk into a sports and restaurant destination, tensions over the fate of a beloved bank of murals that have adorned the vacant building for more than a decade are complicating plans.
Since 2012, visitors to Richmond’s Canal Walk have been greeted by an array of murals rising 36 feet high on the old power plant wall. The first tranche, produced by more than a dozen artists, was the brainchild of former Councilman Jon Baliles and prominent Richmond muralist Ed Trask.
Their nonprofit, the RVA Street Art Festival, would go on to spur the creation of dozens more murals around town, but the Canal Walk murals have remained some of the city’s most cherished, even after a second batch of 13 works replaced the original lineup in 2022.
Now, however, the RVA Street Art Festival has announced it won’t be a creative partner in a new venture to redevelop the power plant property into a padel and pickleball facility that will also offer a restaurant, cafe and community spaces like a co-working area and canal-side seating.
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