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Premier Apartments (Completed)


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  • vdogg pinned this topic

Looking at the renderings again and getting a better idea of where this building is going, it definitely needs a little more height IMO. Maybe raise it to 12-15 stories. By my count, the Cosmopolitan is 14 stories, including retail, so I think it should be closer to that.

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On 10/4/2016 at 11:21 PM, metalman said:

 Deep breath-

"Zeider's American Dream Theater and Cabaret lounge public plaza retail restaurants and trendy apartments with a cool pedestrian bridge"

Block 9 it is. :lol: Think I'll just call it "Block 9 Progress"

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Nevermind. Despite what appears to be a media blackout...so far, I was able to find a video of the groundbreaking ceremony. I don't know how to link it here. It's on Facebook. 
 
In any event, there is nothing to report. For contrary to last week's news reports indicating that A/H would be announcing tenants at groundbreaking, Mr. Lou Haddad failed to do so. 
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Inside Business says the tenants apparently asked Armada Hoffler to hold off on the announcement.

Two “well-known, upscale tenants" were to be announced during the groundbreaking ceremony, Armada Hoffler said in a news release earlier this month. But the new retailers that will occupy space in this new mixed-use development asked to hold off on announcing their store openings, Armada Hoffler said Monday.

http://pilotonline.com/inside-business/news/commercial-real-estate/newest-town-center-project-breaks-ground/article_04ac9d43-9940-5b00-8182-ca9583e8024b.html

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Has anyone heard anything more about the retailer/restaurant list for Block 9...or been by to see how things are looking?  Even though it's not a skyscraper, this project is significant in terms of massing, new-to-market retail and overall $$ investment. Plus I think the architecture is refreshing for this area.

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When, if ever, does anyone think that TC is going to expand out of its little corner of Independence and VB Blvd? TC is a great start at getting some sort of cogent central business district in the sea of strip malls and cul de sacs, but until it can cross one of the main roads, it'll continue to have an inorganic 'Disney World' aspect to it.

Personally, I think it's going to be a while. Right now land prices in the city are just too low to justify a lot of high density high rises, what with the increased construction costs.  That being said, a lot of the businesses and younger singles/couples that are living in the area want a more urban experience. Types who want to be able to get a bag of groceries, to meet their friends at a local corner bar, get work done at a coffee shop, and go for a jog without having to get in the car and deal with traffic. I look at a lot of the junior officers I work with that are stationed in the area that work at one of the Virginia Beach bases that want to live somewhere other than a garden apartment next to a strip mall, but don't want the hassle of commuting from Norfolk. Town Center is perfect for those types, and if marketed and priced properly they are a source of permanent income for apartment buildings. If they could snag a couple of corporate relocations, that certainly would help too.

 

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12 hours ago, Nathan_in_DC said:

When, if ever, does anyone think that TC is going to expand out of its little corner of Independence and VB Blvd? TC is a great start at getting some sort of cogent central business district in the sea of strip malls and cul de sacs, but until it can cross one of the main roads, it'll continue to have an inorganic 'Disney World' aspect to it.

Personally, I think it's going to be a while. Right now land prices in the city are just too low to justify a lot of high density high rises, what with the increased construction costs.  That being said, a lot of the businesses and younger singles/couples that are living in the area want a more urban experience. Types who want to be able to get a bag of groceries, to meet their friends at a local corner bar, get work done at a coffee shop, and go for a jog without having to get in the car and deal with traffic. I look at a lot of the junior officers I work with that are stationed in the area that work at one of the Virginia Beach bases that want to live somewhere other than a garden apartment next to a strip mall, but don't want the hassle of commuting from Norfolk. Town Center is perfect for those types, and if marketed and priced properly they are a source of permanent income for apartment buildings. If they could snag a couple of corporate relocations, that certainly would help too.

 

I think that all depends on a lot of factors. Has anything happened yet with the old HQ site to the west? Even with a more suburban style strip mall plan that I remember hearing about, if that hasn't broken ground yet, there is always a possibility for something more urban....of course lets be honest, even if it were built to be an suburban strip mall, it would still be easy to bulldoze it for an urban development if the money is there. I have seen that happen in downtown Bellevue where they are rapidly urbanizing their suburban downtown.

Then there is the mall and all of its land. How is the mall doing? Is it keeping stores within it? The US is going through a major shift on how we consume and a number of malls are going to fail in the process. Of course it also depends on who owns the mall, currently I believe it is just a typical suburban mall type owner, so that will stay that way until it completely fails or the demand for more urban developments comes up and buys the mall site.

My bet is it is going to be one of those two sites that it will happen with. Though there is also the Pembroke Office Park that is across the street, which was originally meant to be the downtown of VB. I remember hearing about plans to redevelop that site around the office buildings to something more urban and less office park feeling. 

So there is definitely potential to still happen, though with VB making a bad choice to back out of light rail, that will put a big damper on any future development because turning away an investment like that turns away a lot of business that gravitates to that sort of thing. For Downtown VB to thrive, they are gonna need to go after big businesses that want to invest in putting down roots there, which will also bring with it the demand for more urban housing to create that more walkable pedestrian friendly environment, even with the big avenues cutting through it, this can still be achieved. Once that all happens, that is usually where the next wave of development happens in the hotel expansion form. Of course I can't tell you when all of this will happen, it could happen in the next 10 years, I have seen a huge areas in Portland and Seattle get completely redeveloped within 10 years, but it could also take until we are all old and grey with lots of false starts like we have seen in the past. This should have technically all happened in the 70s and 80s after VB became a city in '63 because that is when they should have been establishing an area to be its downtown.

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