Va. Beach Town Center project 2

[rusthebuss]

There's also the Taco Bell. Right now, there's no reaosn for either to sell. I wouldn't. There are two yet to built parcels at TC. There are several more developments in the planning or design/bid phases in and around Pembroke. And who knows what's in store with FX, Pembroke Mall, POP (I'll let people figure that one out), K-mart, BB&B, etc. Land values may have soared in the past few years in Pembroke, but that's like everywhere else. Wait another decade and see what land goes for there, Downtown, Oyster Point, etc. I'm sure both the Beacon and Taco Bell would be fine with leasing the land for development as long as they got free rent in whatever is built there.

Its the same scenerio thats going on at Ft. Norfolk. The owners are waiting for the top dollar before they sell. The more they act like they are not interested in selling and the price will inch up.

[vdogg]

Looking at the photos of the Westin site, one thing pops into my mind...that is that the Beacon building does not fit in whatsoever I hope that they can come up with a contract/offer that gets this eyesore out of there. The Pilot claims that their upgrades in the mid 90's brought it up to speed...yeah right, it still looks like garbage to me. We do not need this sitting right next to the PAC. Maybe that's what the Pilot is waiting for, more money that they know the developer will give them just to get rid of the complex.

Remember this article?

Carpenter said Armada Hoffler

[urbanvb]

You betcha. They can hold on and maybe one day build them another whole office somewhere else with the proceeds .. and probably be debt free.

[urbanlife]

plus those two parcels could end up being seperate developments owned by another developer that could do what ever they wanted to do.

My guess is that it will be a site to a condo tower and an office building.

[vdogg]

This is not an article. This is copied from the Va. Beach city page announcements.

[urbanvb]

That's 3659 parking spaces when complete.. wow.

[vdogg]

Also, the pac will be 80 feet, or approx. 8 stories, at its highest point, which is larger than I expected. I think it was mentioned before but expect that to top out in the next 60-90 days. Also, they are working on a scale model and additional renderings to present to the public.

[urbanvb]

Do we still know for a fact if the ped bridge will still be built in TC?

[rusthebuss]

Also, the pac will be 80 feet, or approx. 8 stories, at its highest point, which is larger than I expected. I think it was mentioned before but expect that to top out in the next 60-90 days. Also, they are working on a scale model and additional renderings to present to the public.

I'm off Thursday and Friday and I will attempt to take some pics of that area for you guys. Maybe some short videos of it.

[hoobo]

Do we still know for a fact if the ped bridge will still be built in TC?

Which one? The Westin one, from both the construction contract and the current master plan, is still a go. The Pembroke one, don't know.

This is not an article. This is copied from the Va. Beach city page announcements.

So, does the city plan on using the updated master plan or do they like living in the past?

[vdogg]

Which one? The Westin one, from both the construction contract and the current master plan, is still a go. The Pembroke one, don't know.

So, does the city plan on using the updated master plan or do they like living in the past?

I think this is just to show us where the parking spaces will be, I don't think they had any higher purpose than that.

[rusthebuss]

[wrldcoupe4]

thanks!

[hoobo]

Nice. I like the first and fifth pics. It looks like CMSS was approaching the TC design from both outside and inside TC. As much as I've ripped on them because of the bland color scheme, I like their use of visual effects. The AH Tower looks like three separate buildings with the pic Rus took at the BofA branch. I also like the contrast of Columbus One against AH. (Why does BofA have that new branch on the Blvd and have their name on top of Columbus One?) All in all, you really get the sense of density.

[vdogg]

Man Rus, I love that first pic. It really does show TC's density from that angle.

[Stunad]

Ok guys, I've got something that I'm in need of some help on. My informal source over there at TC said in passing that they're planning something big (Westin Size) over near the 2nd Office tower. But it's was presented to me in a scatter brained fashion and I don't know if it's hear say or they're confusion on the 2nd tower or something different. I've been pondering whether or not to post it...if anyone has a reliable source on this project please fill us in. All I can conjure up is the same old 20 story office building proposals from the website.

My source is not a policy maker, rather someone who is subject to water cooler chatter over at TC. I've been told things before that turned out to be correct, I'm being a little covert about this because they won't tell me anything if they know that it will be posted.

So I'm not trying to cause any false alarms or spread any bad intel on this site. I hate it when people run with bad info...so sorry if it's all for not.

[urbanvb]

Ok, I keep changing my posting but maybe they have changed their plans for the 2nd office tower to include residential and maybe building even taller. But Westin sized would be incredible!

[Stunad]

I was told bigger...but I really doubt that. I guess we can still dream though.

[erdogs]

I would be surprised if the second office tower is less than 20 floors. If it ends up 30 or more floors I would not be shocked. Usually iddle chatter starts just before any significant news comes out. Or some one is just trying to start a roomer.

[vdogg]

When the planning commission chose to lift the height limits in the cbd they stated and I paraphrase "The limit is currently 400ft and we already have a 500ft tower planned and were trying to get buildings in that area taller than that." I think I may have posted that somewhere in this thread or if not I can find it because I downloaded the pdf. With that in mind I do not believe that it is out of the realm of possiblility that that statement was made with knowledge of possible future plans. We'll just have to see, there is usually a small grain of truth at the beginning of every rumor so this one will be interesting to follow.

[vdogg]

When the planning commission chose to lift the height limits in the cbd they stated and I paraphrase "The limit is currently 400ft and we already have a 500ft tower planned and were trying to get buildings in that area taller than that." I think I may have posted that somewhere in this thread or if not I can find it because I downloaded the pdf. With that in mind I do not believe that it is out of the realm of possiblility that that statement was made with knowledge of possible future plans. We'll just have to see, there is usually a small grain of truth at the beginning of every rumor so this one will be interesting to follow.

Yep, there's actually a whole thread on it with a link to the pdf in question.

I stumbled upon a virtual gold mine here. The full minutes of a planning commission

meeting on august 10, 2005. It starts on page 61 and goes to page 63 in this .pdf document. They are also considering lifting or at the very least raising the height restrictions in the cityview area some time this month, and it appears they may be doing so to accomodate that project (current limit is 200 ). To give you a feel for how major this is here's a quote.

"It simply pertains to the maximum hieght requirements in the B-3A, which is our major central business district. It's the core area. Accordingly, I think it's an area the we would expect to have significant high-rise buildings and we feel that the height requirement in that area is probably not needed. We are trying to get a lot taller buildings in that area. And accordingly, our suggestion would be to remove the height restriction in that district.

^^^A lot more is said but that's all I feel like typing so look at the file, you'll like what you see. Oh, btw. The motion passed by 10-0.

[Stunad]

I'll pump my source and see where the chatter is coming from. It better not be false claims coming from people who aren't in the know.

[Stunad]

I was driving on 264 yesterday and something came to me...the Independence exit says nothing about Town Center, it only says Pembroke Area. I still think that it should say something about Pembroke; but to say nothing about this investment and developing hub is a bad idea. Does anyone know if VDOT / City plan on adjusting the signage for that exit?

Edited March 19, 2006 by Stunad

[rusthebuss]

I was driving on 264 yesterday and something came to me...the Independence exit says nothing about Town Center, it only says Pembroke Area. I still think that it should say something about Pembroke; but to say nothing about this investment and developing hub is a bad idea. Does anyone know if VDOT / City plan on adjusting the signage for that exit?

Probably once they get a majority of the projects accomplished.

[Stunad]

If I were in charge of things I would be pushing for some highway signs as soon as possible. Those signs lend a lot of credibility to a project. Plus it will help the tourists who want to venture out into the heart of VB. THink about it, if someone drives by it on there way into town and then somebody else suggests that they ought to check it out, well they'll say "yeah I saw a sign for that, sounds like a good idea..." Being that they know where it is, they'll be more likely to check it out...Keep in mind, that as a lifelong resident of VB I'm glad that the City is finally doing something for its residents rather than the tourists alone. That said, tourism will help solidify the entire project.