Chesapeake Development

[HRVA]

There’s an interesting proposal going before the Planning Commission this month. The Grove at Western Branch is a proposed PUD that includes pretty typical suburban development but what caught my eye was the 1.5 million SF industrial facility. There’s no specifics on what it would be for but I can’t imagine they would include this without having a business lined up. Amazon came to mind and their fulfillment centers average 1.6 million SF. 

[baobabs727]

23 hours ago, 23320 said:

There’s an interesting proposal going before the Planning Commission this month. The Grove at Western Branch is a proposed PUD that includes pretty typical suburban development but what caught my eye was the 1.5 million SF industrial facility. There’s no specifics on what it would be for but I can’t imagine they would include this without having a business lined up. Amazon came to mind and their fulfillment centers average 1.6 million SF. 

https://pilotonline.com/business/real-estate/article_05e010fe-6d1c-11e9-ae43-036556a2201f.html

 

Kotarides, owner of the Chesapeake Square Mall,  is behind the development of this proposed 1M sf industrial facility located just West of the mall. They already have a user ready to go and want to get started fast so as not to lose them.  As many as 2000 jobs are anticipated to be created there in the long term.

Developer also wants to add about 1200 residences to that general area (including their Jolliff Landing project, already in progress). 540 condos, 200 senior, 84 single family. 

Kotarides has also signed a VB-based Brewery for the development.

Planning has recommended denial of the rezoning necessary to develop this project in toto. Neigborhood opposition noted. Wildlife displacement concerns, increased traffic, school overcrowding....

 

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by baobabs727

[BFG]

Driving along Portsmouth Blvd. (not to mention 664) is already a pain in the neck. I hope they have a plan that includes widening the roads.

[baobabs727]

4 minutes ago, BFG said:

Driving along Portsmouth Blvd. (not to mention 664) is already a pain in the neck. I hope they have a plan that includes widening the roads.

Agreed. Portsmouth Blvd is to be widened. 

[HRVA]

2 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

Agreed. Portsmouth Blvd is to be widened. 

It just finished being widened. There’s really not a lot of traffic west of 664 anyways. This is tremendous opportunity to diversify and Western Branch has been begging for more jobs out there. I only wish Kotarides had separated this into separate proposals. It would be awful to lose this over some residential. 

[vdogg]

5 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

https://pilotonline.com/business/real-estate/article_05e010fe-6d1c-11e9-ae43-036556a2201f.html

 

Kotarides, owner of the Chesapeake Square Mall,  is behind the development of this proposed 1M sf industrial facility located just West of the mall. They already have a user ready to go and want to get started fast so as not to lose them.  As many as 2000 jobs are anticipated to be created there in the long term.

Developer also wants to add about 1200 residences to that general area (including their Jolliff Landing project, already in progress). 540 condos, 200 senior, 84 single family. 

Kotarides has also signed a VB-based Brewery for the development.

Planning has recommended denial of the rezoning necessary to develop this project in toto. Neigborhood opposition noted. Wildlife displacement concerns, increased traffic, school overcrowding....

 

 

Tell me they didn't turn down 2000 jobs... Am I reading this wrong, was the denial just for the brewery? Also, this really is starting to smell like an Amazon fulfillment center. There aren't too many industrial players outside the auto industry that can just drop 2000 jobs in your lap. Between this and Dollar Tree moving 700 jobs here Chesapeake has been going gangbusters.

[HRVA]

1 hour ago, vdogg said:

Tell me they didn't turn down 2000 jobs... Am I reading this wrong, was the denial just for the brewery? Also, this really is starting to smell like an Amazon fulfillment center. There aren't too many industrial players outside the auto industry that can just drop 2000 jobs in your lap. Between this and Dollar Tree moving 700 jobs here Chesapeake has been going gangbusters.

Nothing has been denied. Planning commission hears it Wednesday & Council the following Tuesday (assuming it doesn’t get continued at the PC). Planning staff recommended denial based on school attendance levels but the developer will wait to build the residential until the new school is built (already funded). It seems like Kotarides pushing to get this approved so they can lock in the warehouse tenant & everything else will come later. 

Here's the Planning Documents - The Grove at Western Branch - Planning Documents

The development is phased with the first phase only for the warehouse and brewery.  All residential uses will occur in the final two phases.

Edited May 4, 2019 by 23320

[baobabs727]

2 hours ago, vdogg said:

Tell me they didn't turn down 2000 jobs... Am I reading this wrong, was the denial just for the brewery? Also, this really is starting to smell like an Amazon fulfillment center. There aren't too many industrial players outside the auto industry that can just drop 2000 jobs in your lap. Between this and Dollar Tree moving 700 jobs here Chesapeake has been going gangbusters.

Planning staff recommended denial because they deemed the development to be "inconsistent with the transportation and land use strategies in the city's comprehensive plan...." Plus the schools issue. I'm with you, they need to see the bigger picture here! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Still, we know there will be a big fight over traffic & safety concerns ...oh and then there is that state champion tree....

The developers have agreed to delay the residential component until after the new, planned elementary school is built. They want to start with the industrial anyway because they have a whale on their hook & don't want to let it get away.

Edited May 4, 2019 by baobabs727

[BFG]

Unpopular opinion: this area doesn't need to put housing on every vacant lot that exists. Let the booming job market bring more people here instead. If the city wants to use the Chesapeake Square (or CS adjacent) property for a large company, then fine.

It's also time to start seriously planning public transportation expansions.

[HRVA]

6 hours ago, BFG said:

Unpopular opinion: this area doesn't need to put housing on every vacant lot that exists. Let the booming job market bring more people here instead. If the city wants to use the Chesapeake Square (or CS adjacent) property for a large company, then fine.

It's also time to start seriously planning public transportation expansions.

I’m indifferent on the residential aspect but there is a clear demand for new housing and it is not being met. The region has recorded a steak of declining listings that goes back nearly 4 years. People complain that new housing isn’t affordable but without it the resale market would have an even smaller supply. 

[Norfolk757Kid]

Norfolk especially has an affordable housing shortage: https://www.norfolk.gov/DocumentCenter/View/30139

[HRVA]

The proposal passed the PC tonight. There are a few additional  details. If the proposal is denied, the tenant will likely fall back to Northgate in Suffolk but the city is really clearing the path for this. Job range is high - from 500 to 2,000 - with the bulk paying $30-60k and 300 paying $60-100k. The tenant is still not identified but it was mentioned that an international warehouse builder will construct the facility. 

The Wood Family currently owns the land and wants to build another Farmhouse Brewery on the site. 

Residential on hold until 2022. A lot of folks in opposition came out of the meeting feeling better about the proposal. 

[HRVA]

The proposal was just unanimously approved. With the article previously shared calling for groundbreaking by the end of summer we shouldn’t have to wait very long for more details. 

[vdogg]

1 hour ago, 23320 said:

The proposal was just unanimously approved. With the article previously shared calling for groundbreaking by the end of summer we shouldn’t have to wait very long for more details. 

1 million sq ft is a curious number...

 

[vdogg]

This is walking and quacking like a duck here. Below is an article about Amazon opening a fulfillment center in another locale. Numbers are just too coincidental. This would be the first direct spillover benefit locally of Amazon locating their HQ in NoVa.

https://fox8.com/2018/08/15/amazon-fulfillment-center-in-north-randall-on-schedule-to-hire-2000-workers/

"We are really excited to have the facility operational by mid-September, which means we're going to have to ramp up and start hiring in the next few weeks," said Mark Huber, Amazon North Randall general manager.

They're expected to hire about 2,000 people to process and ship, everything from cans of beets to Beats headphones. Robots will get the whole thing started by finding stocked items and bringing them to workers."

[HRVA]

All of the media has reported 1 million SF but the plans call for as much as 1.5 million SF. If it is Amazon, which I think it will be, then it’ll have more to do with 1-day delivery and proximity to the port. I don’t think HQ2 is why they’d put this here. 

Walmart also recently announced 1-day delivery but they already have a 1 million SF DC in Williamsburg. 

[vdogg]

We must order a lot of stuff if they want to base their center here then.  Regardless of the reason, this is a good opportunity for some high tech jobs. While the 2,000 jobs will be unfortunately low-wage, Amazon fulfillment centers are largely populated by robots. These robots will need repair, maintenance, upkeep, and programming. it's a good opportunity to partner with some of the local schools and their engineering and technical programs. It also puts us on a map for future expansions. This would be an example of a large employer locating in one city benefiting the entire region at large.

 

[HRVA]

The July minutes for the Economic Development Authority states that the Grove developers expect to make an announcement regarding the major industrial tenant within 60 days, which is within 3 weeks currently. 

There is also mention of ‘Project Big Belly’ potentially closing a deal later in July. They’ve been described in past meetings as a Japanese firm seeking land in Greenbrier. Mitsubishi Chemical has previously sold some of their vacant land to another Japanese firm, Yupo Corp, so it wouldn’t be a surprise for a similar deal. No indication of how big this is - anyone heard about  anything that might sound like this?

Chesapeake EDA July Minutes

[HRVA]

Kotarides recently purchased the vacant Toys R Us in Western Branch & plans to redevelop. The flyer included other proposed developments in the area and included site plans for both of the large industrial proposals. The plans are distinctly different with the Suffolk proposal more consistent with other Amazon developments. It seems these might very well be two separate & unrelated developments. 

Flyer with Site Plans

[HRVA]

A PUD is being proposed at the site of the former Sears at Greenbrier Mall. The proposal includes a Rosie’s Gaming on the first floor and  experiential retail tenants  on the second floor with a 4-story hotel & 4 restaurants to be developed within the existing parking lot. 

[Willy18]

Another possible hotel in that area of Greenbrier? I guess there's a need...though it seems like a very saturated market/area.  

[HRVA]

The Grove industrial building now has the code name Blue Firebird. Site plan filed today for a 615,600 SF distribution center developed by Panattoni Dev Co, who has built a number of Amazon centers. 

[chris722]

Cool.  Amazon has done this with a lot of the dead malls in Ohio would love to see this here.  

[HRVA]

With all of the progress with the Suffolk FC, I checked to see if there was anything happening with the Chesapeake proposal and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s still very much in the planning stages but there’s been a ton of action on it as recently as 12/23. 

Amazon Global Fulfillment Center Network

This site keeps an up to date list of Amazon’s facilities. The type that caught my eye was the Inbound Cross Dock. These facilities receive containers directly from the ports and break them up to be shipped to fulfillment centers. The proposed size of the Chesapeake center is in line with this type of facility. 

Edit:  Kotarides purchased the land on 12-26. 

Edited January 3, 2020 by 23320

[HRVA]

Chesapeake hospital adding beds, services - WAVY

Groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for project that will add 3 floors to the southern portion of the hospital and a new two story portion to their cancer center. The city is also planning to pitch the land behind the outpatient center as the site for the new VA hospital that is planned for the Southside.

Edited January 17, 2020 by 23320