How do you build a $220 million coliseum for Richmond without putting up any money?

Simple. Use other people’s money, including taxpayer contributions.

That, in essence, is the way that a private group led by Dominion Energy’s top executive, Thomas F. “Tom” Farrell II, proposes to get the job done in laying out a vision of the new buildings and the thousands of jobs he contends will be created if City Hall and City Council give it the green light.

According to the NH Foundation that Mr. Farrell heads, the plan is to build a new 17,500-seat coliseum and then repay the $220 million debt over 30 years from the new city taxes to be generated by an array of projects that other people would build in the blocks near the coliseum.

So far, NH has not disclosed what deals, if any, have been lined up and with whom to build the other projects. Those other projects include a 527-room convention hotel that could cost $200 million, 2,500 to 2,800 new apartments that could cost $400 million to $600 million, a medical office complex that could cost $150 million to $300 million and new restaurants.

But the nonprofit NH Foundation will not be involved with any of those projects, according to foundation spokesman Grant Neely.

“Those involved will have take the risk and find their own financing,” said Mr. Neely, who was chief of staff to former Mayor Dwight C. Jones and a current Dominion Energy communications staff employee who has been drafted to help NH in its campaign to win public backing.

While there might be additional projects to accompany the new coliseum development, at this point, NH’s description of the overall development as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” is more of a vision than a certainty.

At the center of the plan is a 10-block area of mostly underused city-owned property bounded by 5th and 10th streets between Leigh and Marshall streets.

Mr. Neely and another NH staff member visited the Free Press last week to provide more details on the project that is still being negotiated with the city and which Mayor Levar M. Stoney plans to send to City Council for approval in September.

Despite all the hype around the NH plan, and the potential $1.3 billion in development, it is unclear why NH is insisting on a new coliseum and why the city is buying into that idea.

The city could find people to undertake the hotel, the apartments and the other elements of the development and leave the Richmond Coliseum as is, which would allow the new taxes to go into the general fund rather than to pay debt on a new, expensive coliseum.

What is clear is that to NH, the replacement of the Richmond Coliseum is the top priority. According to Mr. Neely, NH would operate and maintain the new arena so that the city would no longer have that responsibility. He said NH is confident of being able to generate enough money to cover upkeep through admissions, skybox rentals and other revenue generators like parking and concessions.

While Mayor Stoney has hinted that he still could reject the NH plan if it does not meet his expectations, he is fully committed to advancing the NH project as his legacy project. He views the project as a potential generator of new taxes the city can pump into schools and other city needs.

When the mayor issued a request for proposals during the winter, it essentially was aligned with the NH proposal, almost ensuring that NH would be the only group to respond. By then, NH had been working on the plan for more than a year.

The project is considered too tempting for the politically ambitious young mayor to ignore. The group believes it could generate 9,000 permanent new jobs and create a vibrant small town on the land the Navy Hill community once occupied before it was destroyed by the construction of the city’s interstate highways. The foundation adopted the Navy Hill name in recognition of that community, but is using the initials, NH, to avoid contention or objection.

Among the details that have received less attention is the actual cost the city might face. NH, for example, wants the city to pay for bringing up to street grade sunken sections of East Clay and East Leigh streets and to restore Clay as a through street. That could cost the city up to $20 million and use a big chunk of state grants the city is seeking for other road projects.

City Hall also might have to replace the Richmond Social Services building at 9th and Marshall streets to provide NH room to install a GRTC bus transit center and other apartments. That could cost the city $15 million to $20 million.

To keep bond interest rates down, the city would have to issue revenue bonds that would be repaid from the taxes generated by the NH project. The city would be on the hook if the promised tax revenue failed to materialize.

Also, to keep the interest rates on the bonds down, NH wants the city to divert the estimated $5 million in estimated real estate taxes from the two new office buildings that Dominion Energy is building on Cary Street to use to back the bonds. One of the buildings is underway and the other is in the planning stage. The money — potentially more than $150 million over 30 years —would not be spent, but would provide extra reassurance to bond buyers. The city would get the money once the bonds were paid. The taxes being used to pay the coliseum’s debt also would go to the general fund after the coliseum debt was paid.

Among the most intriguing elements of the NH plan are the proposals to build new apartment buildings on the Leigh Street side of a new coliseum and also to wrap new apartments around the parking decks at the coliseum and at the Richmond Marriott Hotel.

Another intriguing element is a proposal to gut the old Blues Armory and install a small market on the first floor on a par with those in Baltimore, a jazz club on the second floor and to turn the third floor into a ballroom and event space for the new hotel.

In order to accomplish anything, NH Foundation is seeking a 99-year lease on the city-owned property in the 21-acre area that includes the federal building and the city’s John Marshall Courts Building, both of which would remain intact and in operation.

The proposal for which the mayor is expected to seek council approval would call for the city to sell the municipal land to the city’s Economic Development Authority, which is not bound by traditional rules and which would then be able to lease the land to NH. Seven members of City Council would have to agree to the sale to the EDA, which is why NH is stumping to try to clear up misconceptions and avoid the kind of rebuff Mayor Jones suffered when he failed to lay the groundwork to support his plan to build a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom.

Mr. Neely said the 99-year lease is needed to provide NH and its for-profit business arm, NH Development Corp., headed by retired SunTrust executive C.T. Hill, control of the land and the ability to dictate building design, inclusion of minority contractors and other rules to meet the terms the city sets.

As it stands now, NH plans to make the project a model of inclusion, with the largest participation ever for black-owned and minority companies, Mr. Neely said.

To help sell the concept, NH has hired top people who have been involved in arena and mixed-use developments to put together the vision of what could be done in the 21-acre project area.

The key consultants are Mark Hallmark, who heads Future Cities and has been involved in crafting more than a dozen major stadiums and arenas, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and Susan Eastridge, president of Concord Eastridge, which specializes in mixed-use developments.

Mr. Hallmark and Ms. Eastridge have not only created the plan, but they have created a company called Capital City Development LLC and would carry out the NH plan while reporting to Mr. Hill.

If everything goes NH’s way, City Council would vote approval in December and work could begin on the new coliseum by the spring.

Joining Mr. Farrell on the NH Foundation board in advancing the concept are five other people, all like Mr. Farrell serving as unpaid volunteers: William H. Goodwin Jr., a top Richmond business investor; Martin J. “Marty” Barrington, retired chairman and CEO of Altria Group; Melody C. Barnes, political consultant and former domestic policy adviser to former President Obama; Dr. Monroe E. Harris Jr., oral surgeon and board chair of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and Dr. Pamela J. Royal, dermatologist and former board chair of the United Way of Greater Richmond and The Valentine.