[VIRGINIA] [RICHMOND] [CONTRACT] CONSTRUCTION OF MILLER & RHOADS, BROOK HILL AZALEA SHOPPING CENTER. 1966

Ten typed pages, the first of which is on the letterhead of Miller & Rhoads Incorporated, an apparently executed contract between the venerable Richmond department store and Richmond's Monroe Realty Corporation for the construction a new one-story store approximately 30,000 of "modern fireproof construction" "appropriately heated and air-conditioned and sprinklered to meet Factory Assurance Association standards" to be a major player in the Brook Hill Azalea Shopping Center on Chamberlayne Avenue.~~Of interest is the clause (#9) that "The Owner will not during the term of the Miller & Rhoads' lease, or any renewal thereof, permit any store within the Shopping Center to be used or occupied, directly or indirectly by any other home furnishings type store carrying furniture, rugs, major appliances, radios and televisions, and/or similar merchandise classifications. Owner likewise will not,~during the term of Miller & Rhoads' lease, knowingly permit any "discount" store to operate within the Shopping Center."~~The contract was signed and notarized on page 10. The signers were Edwin Hyde, President of Miller & Rhoads; Thomas P. Bryan, Secretrary; and for the Monroe Realty Corp., Franklin D. Robins, President and Clarke Jones, Vice President/Secretary. The contract is dated May 10, 1966.~~A relic from the days when the big department stores were attempting to establish footholds in the suburbs.…