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.

“While the board is not opposed to development, the new project is at odds with the purpose of the festival and would fundamentally alter the context of the murals in a way that is counter to our intended goals and the spirit in which they were created,” the group’s board said in an Aug. 2 release. “The festival and the public art gallery were created for the public to enjoy and not to serve as a backdrop for a private enterprise.”

Alex and Sam Nordheimer, the brothers behind Padel Plant, however, say the public will still be able to view the murals around the clock from the Canal Walk. They also say new lighting they plan to install will increase the art’s visibility at night.

“These are really dual efforts to bring this building back to life,” says Alex Nordheimer, who notes the Haxall plant was unoccupied for more than 50 years until the Nordheimer Companies teamed up with Thalhimer Realty Partners to purchase the site for $3.15 million. Both brothers describe their vision of Padel Plant as a community meeting place — “a place along the canal that is inviting to all.”

“The [RVA Street Art Festival] did this really incredible project to bring life back to this building and this area,” Alex Nordheimer says. “Finally, we were able to come up with a use that worked to really open the building back up to the public.”

At issue in the disagreement is access to the murals. The RVA Street Art Festival has advocated for the courtyard in front of the murals to become “an active hardscape park space and remain unobstructed for visitors, art lovers, and photographs.”

The Nordheimers’ plans in contrast will construct two glass-walled courts for padel—a racket sport that resembles tennis but lets players hit the ball off surrounding walls—in the area immediately adjacent to the murals, alongside a large patio seating area and a 400-square foot kitchen. The brick Canal Walk adjoining the canal will remain open to the public, which will be able to see the murals through the glass walls of the courts.

A new roof will also be added over the whole space, which is currently topped with rows of metal girders.

“The entire courtyard under the metal girders is included in the private parcel, including the brick Canal Walk,” the Nordheimers wrote in an email. “However, we are pursuing a new easement with the city to ensure that the brick Canal Walk will remain accessible and open 24/7 for the future.”

The RVA Street Art Festival Board has said it’s concerned light and glare from the glass walls will impact visibility.

“The main concern is that the obstructions and proposed construction at the mural site will separate the art from the public—for whom it was intended—and will not offer access to a place that has become an iconic destination that the entire city and region have come to adopt and enjoy for more than a dozen years,” its members said in the Aug. 2 release.

The group also floated the possibility that some of the artists might choose to remove their murals due to their dissatisfaction with the plans. Its release includes a quote from Mickael Broth, an artist and board member whose mural “The Witch” adorns the courtyard’s western wall, saying “I’d rather see my work removed than see public access to it obstructed in any way.”

In an email, the Nordheimers say they’ve been meeting with each of the artists, and that “none … have made it abundantly clear to us that they wish their mural to be removed, but the idea has been mentioned.”

“We have made it clear from the very beginning of Padel Plant that our strong preference is to keep the majority of the impressive murals in place for the community to continue to enjoy,” they say. “We respect the decision of the artists who created the murals and hope that they will ultimately decide to allow their work to remain in place for Richmond to celebrate for years to come.”

Not all the murals produced through the RVA Street Art Festival over the years have been permanent. In 2013, the group convened numerous artists to paint murals for the former GRTC bus depot near the intersection of West Cary and South Robinson streets, ahead of the property’s redevelopment into apartments and commercial space. Those murals were later painted over.

Sam Nordheimer says the Padel Plant plans are attempting to reach a compromise between creating a business that can stay afloat and “keeping in mind the love the city has for its art.”

“We don’t see this as an us versus them,” says Alex Nordheimer.