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Block 2 Tower (Proposed)


vdogg

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Not to rehash the thought, but I will.  Loopnet says the lasted update was yesterday- 6/21/18 and it still is described as a 22 floor tower.  Leasing description are only available for floors 12-16.

Is there a chance???

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/4565-Virginia-Beach-Blvd-Virginia-Beach-VA/4133781/

Edited by metalman
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  • 4 months later...

The lack of creativity from these architects never ceases to amaze me. I mean, does everything need to look like it was built out of lego's? I'm not saying go all Hong Kong on that corner...but step a little out of the box. That is a highly visible piece of property and could be a signature building even if it is only 16 stories.

Don't get me started on the grocery store property across the street. That store could have been integrated into the first 2-3 floors of an office tower. It would have also been an extension of the Town Center...but that ship has sailed. Now we have a suburban grocery store that looks like a mix between Busch Gardens and Williamsburg Pottery surrounded by a sea of parking. Sorry....forgive me I'm a lil salty about that.    

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  • 3 months later...

Friend of mine who works in commercial real estate says VBTC could definitely handle more office but that no one builds this much sq ft speculatively these days.  This we know. So they continue to look for the anchor tenant.

Hoping it happens within the next 5 years. Just feels like we "need" this 16-20 story project to round out out the "skyscraper" aspect of VBTC--to solidify its architectural impact--and to drive home the point to all who care to notice that VBTC is a true power center of business. A real downtown. 

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On 6/10/2019 at 10:49 AM, baobabs727 said:

Friend of mine who works in commercial real estate says VBTC could definitely handle more office but that no one builds this much sq ft speculatively these days.  This we know. So they continue to look for the anchor tenant.

Hoping it happens within the next 5 years. Just feels like we "need" this 16-20 story project to round out out the "skyscraper" aspect of VBTC--to solidify its architectural impact--and to drive home the point to all who care to notice that VBTC is a true power center of business. A real downtown. 

Why don’t they go mixed use? That 22-story tower they built in Raleigh wasn’t pure office, it had a residential component integrated into the tower itself. That concept is easily doable here.

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20 hours ago, vdogg said:

 Why don’t they go mixed use? That 22-story tower they built in Raleigh wasn’t pure office, it had a residential component integrated into the tower itself. That concept is easily doable here.

I agree. I asked him. He said it can be expensive to do. That may have something to do with the added complexity of design to allow for both optimal office floor plates and optimal residential floor plates in the same structure, as they are typically in conflict. Also, you'd need separate entrances, separate elevator banks, and you would encounter differing window design standards and safety design standards. Also he says that there is something more difficult about financing a mixed-use highrise project because lenders use differing criteria for lending for the residential and the office components. Can be done though. Don't know how eager A/H is to tackle another mixed-use high rise ...à la The Westin.

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I have a feeling that lenders use different criteria for this area period. Time and again a concept that would easily work in this area falls through, not because it won't make money, but because it can't get financing. A similar concept in any other city would get financing easily.

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3 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

I agree. I asked him. He said it can be expensive to do. That may have something to do with the added complexity of design to allow for both optimal office floor plates and optimal residential floor plates in the same structure, as they are typically in conflict. Also, you'd need separate entrances, separate elevator banks, and you would encounter differing window design standards and safety design standards. Also he says that there is something more difficult about financing a mixed-use highrise project because lenders use differing criteria for lending for the residential and the office components. Can be done though. Don't know how eager A/H is to tackle another mixed-use high rise ...à la The Westin.

The conflict between what office and residential needs when it comes to floor plates is usually solved with large floors for the lower portion for office space and a slender upper portion for residential.

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On 6/12/2019 at 4:51 PM, baobabs727 said:

I agree. I asked him. He said it can be expensive to do. That may have something to do with the added complexity of design to allow for both optimal office floor plates and optimal residential floor plates in the same structure, as they are typically in conflict. Also, you'd need separate entrances, separate elevator banks, and you would encounter differing window design standards and safety design standards. Also he says that there is something more difficult about financing a mixed-use highrise project because lenders use differing criteria for lending for the residential and the office components. Can be done though. Don't know how eager A/H is to tackle another mixed-use high rise ...à la The Westin.

This is the building I was referring to. It’s in Durham.

https://pilotonline.com/inside-business/article_e0c6923b-d47a-5246-9fb5-ff8f73e51c5a.html

 

Quote

 Located in downtown , the 27-story, mixed-use project will include 130,000 square feet of office space, Armada Hoffler said. It will be anchored by a 55,000-square-foot lease with Duke University and also include 22,000 square feet of street-level retail space, both of which will be developed and owned by Armada Hoffler Properties. Armada Hoffler’s joint venture partner, Austin Lawrence Partners, will simultaneously develop 139 residential units and a two-level underground parking garage.

The completion date for the $86 million mixed-use project is mid-2018. Armada Hoffler Construction Co., a division of Armada Hoffler Properties, will serve as the general contractor . As a minority partner, Armada Hoffler Properties said it will exit the joint venture and retain ownership of the office and retail components upon completion.

130,000 sq ft?!?! That’s nothing, we could easily fill that. The most recent office tower they built is more than that, yet somehow they get 27-stories out of their office and residential. Tower looks beautiful too. They could easily work a concept like this for block 2. Why was it not so expensive to do there but extremely expensive here? ($86 million is an exceptionally low price for a 27-story building).

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https://www.onecitycenter.com/floor-plans

At the link they seem to have residential on floors 21-27. So they have 20 floors of office. Armada Hoffler is looking at 16 floors of Office for block 2, you add 7 floors of residential to that and we can get at least 23 floors. We need to get one more true highrise in Town Center to fill it out a bit.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
4 hours ago, 23320 said:

They recently updated Block 2 from a parking lot to the first floor retail spaces on the Town Center retail map.2149E2A9-222F-4043-8300-078E7028A983.jpeg.bb0c0bb5fca764a1929424a7e305f888.jpeg

Is that it? Is this part of the tower or is that gone now? They promised the city another office tower, it’s in the agreement. This better not be another bait and switch...

Actually, that looks like an entrance to a parking garage on the right. Perhaps this is starting to move. Would be nice to have this under construction at the same time as the Hampton Inn.

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2 hours ago, vdogg said:

Is that it? Is this part of the tower or is that gone now? They promised they city another office tower, it’s in the agreement. This better not be another bait and switch...

Actually, that looks like an entrance to a parking garage on the right. Perhaps this is starting to move. Would be nice to have this under construction at the same time as the Hampton Inn.

This is just the first floor - its for marketing the retail spaces throughout Town Center. They are still marketing the office component.  

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19 minutes ago, OffToMars said:

The Block 2 Tower PowerPoint on the Divaris website is saying that it is expected to be completed in Q4 2022.

Block2Tower.PNG.5e4c5e2f43f932543dc0c103ea093542.PNG

Was this just recently updated? Need to start construction by fall to make that happen. Don't think this has been through planning yet but I'll start looking. Wish we could get 4 more floors out of this. 

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1 minute ago, urbanvb said:

And the Loopnet listing is gone now so this is pretty much finalized. Man, I was hoping for something taller.

Still has to go through planning. Remember, the Westin went into planning at 32 and came out at 37. It's still possible. Depends on the type of demand they see once they start building.

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I visited a friend in the BB&T building (the only tall building that used to exist in Town Center 25 years ago :lol:), and I can remember when the only thing surrounding the building was trees. The view of TC from her office is amazing. I will never call Town Center "downtown VB", but they have a really nice thing going over there.

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