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Granby Tower


utcltjay

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Passing by the site today there were numerous construction vehicles on the Granby lot. While some of these are for the utility relocation they can't possibly all be for that. There was even a vehicle with a wrecking ball on it. Is there any demolition scheduled to go on for the Granby site? Also, the street running through the site (york street?) is now closed off by construction vehicles. This may be part of site prep work that Okinawas friend in planning mentioned (so Gadams can cosolidate his property). It would appear that the pace of preparation for this project has really picked up and it makes me wonder if they may indeed still try and start by fall instead of early next year as was mentioned in the last article. Btw, Gadams is due to submit final site plans within the next 30 days.

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I asked my friend at Norfolk Planning about utility work/demolition in the area, and here's what he said:

"Granby Towers has no approvals yet and any work in the area would be incidental to the proposed development. They want to close the adjacent portion of York Street and that

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I wonder if it will get built then.. I hope it goes in the mid 30's. I hope it passes the 500 ft. mark

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Mid-30's, IMO, is easily do-able. People expected the demand for downtown housing to be quelled within the next year or two, but it really hasn't even peaked yet... The explosive growth is just unbelievable, but FANTASTIC. I think another 20 units (pushing up a couple floors) would be no prob.

Oh yeah... and with Westin climbing through the 100s... Granby might have to follow suit. ;)

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I asked my friend at Norfolk Planning again to see if Norfolk had anything to compete with the Va. Beach Westin, or if Norfolk simply didn't care about being the tallest. Here's what he said:

"I've been around long enough to remember when Dominion Tower on the

waterfront took the height distinction away from what is now the Bank of

America building on Main Street at Commercial Place. You put your finger

right on it when you said that the distinction of being the tallest

doesn't by itself pay any bills at the end of the month. Buddy Gadams of

Marathon development has described his tower on Granby across from the

Federal Court House at 31 stories but that's conditioned on getting

permission to close a segment of York Street which has issues with it.

But that wouldn't take the title. And, by the way, all the developments

are mentioning the soaring cost of materials such as concrete and when

they can be delivered after orders placed.

As a matter of policy, we're desirous of not completely losing our

pedestrian scale or overwhelming our infrastructure so you question

whether we're in a 'race to the top' is a good one and one that would

get the answer "no." In regard to the Trader Building and the Tazewell

Place/Norfolk Heights Building we have given them very few incentives,

perhaps some money for streetscape upgrades post-building construction.

(Trader did get some money from the Governor's economic development

fund.) I don't see that 'lack' (for practical purposes) of incentives

changing. (Of course, in the CBD core, a big non-cash incentive that

translates to dollars is that we don't specify how much parking a

developer has to provide and they are going with what they and their

bankers believe the market requires as opposed to regulatory demands.)"

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I asked my friend at Norfolk Planning again to see if Norfolk had anything to compete with the Va. Beach Westin, or if Norfolk simply didn't care about being the tallest. Here's what he said:

"I've been around long enough to remember when Dominion Tower on the

waterfront took the height distinction away from what is now the Bank of

America building on Main Street at Commercial Place. You put your finger

right on it when you said that the distinction of being the tallest

doesn't by itself pay any bills at the end of the month. Buddy Gadams of

Marathon development has described his tower on Granby across from the

Federal Court House at 31 stories but that's conditioned on getting

permission to close a segment of York Street which has issues with it.

But that wouldn't take the title. And, by the way, all the developments

are mentioning the soaring cost of materials such as concrete and when

they can be delivered after orders placed.

As a matter of policy, we're desirous of not completely losing our

pedestrian scale or overwhelming our infrastructure so you question

whether we're in a 'race to the top' is a good one and one that would

get the answer "no." In regard to the Trader Building and the Tazewell

Place/Norfolk Heights Building we have given them very few incentives,

perhaps some money for streetscape upgrades post-building construction.

(Trader did get some money from the Governor's economic development

fund.) I don't see that 'lack' (for practical purposes) of incentives

changing. (Of course, in the CBD core, a big non-cash incentive that

translates to dollars is that we don't specify how much parking a

developer has to provide and they are going with what they and their

bankers believe the market requires as opposed to regulatory demands.)"

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Good news on the 31 stories but bad news on Norfolk really not wanting to compete. I can understand where he's coming from though. What i don't understand is why there would be any issue with closing off york street, nobody uses it! Also his aknowledgment that 31 stories would not take the title from Westin means to me that they know something we don't about the Westins height (i.e. it's actual height in feet). Very good news about seeing Norfolk finally break that 30 story barrier though, i knew they could do it! :thumbsup: (on a side note, Westin is gonna be one very tall building if it can still beat Granby even with Granby at 31 stories plus that gigantic spire).

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Good news on the 31 stories but bad news on Norfolk really not wanting to compete. I can understand where he's coming from though. What i don't understand is why there would be any issue with closing off york street, nobody uses it! Also his aknowledgment that 31 stories would not take the title from Westin means to me that they know something we don't about the Westins height (i.e. it's actual height in feet). Very good news about seeing Norfolk finally break that 30 story barrier though, i knew they could do it!  :thumbsup: (on a side note, Westin is gonna be one very tall building if it can still beat Granby even with Granby at 31 stories plus that gigantic spire).

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Yay for Westin!!! And for Norfolk in that they broke that "imaginary" 30-floor limit. It's a little dismaying that they don't wish to build for height, but that can all come at a later time I suppose. The city is already established and has nothing to prove at this point. Perhaps if/when TC starts growing up more and more and growing out in satellite developments Norfolk will change its mind... but who can say! :)

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Yay for Westin!!!  And for Norfolk in that they broke that "imaginary" 30-floor limit.  It's a little dismaying that they don't wish to build for height, but that can all come at a later time I suppose.  The city is already established and has nothing to prove at this point.  Perhaps if/when TC starts growing up more and more and growing out in satellite developments Norfolk will change its mind... but who can say!  :)

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Norfolk will probably build bigger later on after these projects that are already rolling. Their budgets are already spent and Vabeach has to try to make a presence felt and have something to prove. Norfolk has more buildings and making it just that much bigger. I think they will have at least 2 or 3 building down the road that will be in the 40 to 50 story range.

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Norfolk will probably build bigger later on after these projects that are already rolling. Their budgets are already spent and Vabeach has to try to make a presence felt and have something to prove. Norfolk has more buildings and making it just that much bigger. I think they will have at least 2 or 3 building down the road that will be in the 40 to 50 story range.

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Yeah I'm feeling that. This first round of developments is just the beginning IMO, and while we're not getting the state's tallest now, there's really no rush.

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Great looking tower.  So are they still planning to build two?

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No. The original plans called for two towers, one 25 stories and one 15 stories. Now it's just gonna be one 31 story tower surrounded by a bunch of 4 story condos and retail and a parking garage.

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Just noticed this on the Rubin site

"At 29 stories, Granby Towers will not only be the tallest residential development in the Hampton Roads region, but it will also be one of the nicest."

How can they claim that Granby will be the tallest in the region with the Westin weighing in at 38 stories? I hope they correct that.

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Just noticed this on the Rubin site

"At 29 stories, Granby Towers will not only be the tallest residential development in the Hampton Roads region, but it will also be one of the nicest."

How can they claim that Granby will be the tallest in the region with the Westin weighing in at 38 stories? I hope they correct that.

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You've got to remember the Westin is not just condos but its a hotel or you would say a cheater building in a sense. The Granby tower is just residential not a hotel. That is why they are saying that.

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I noticed on the new, more detailed rendering that the top half of glass area of the spire is squarish rather than the previous circular shape. Now that this seems more up to date, I have to ask, regardless of what the press, developers, contractors, or city officials state, is there something that just doesn't make sense with all of this that you guys haven't noticed yet?

I don't know about y'all but with what the city is saying is 31 floors and admits that it isn't taller than the Westin's 37/38 floors. But why is he basing it on the number of floors? If building heights are based on floors then Westin would already have been the taller building when it was originally announced 30 floors. How come the the city and the Rubin site for that matter claim tallest? Could there actually be additional floors on top of the residences? If so, is that why those glass parts on top of the tower seem to be an additional 5 floors? Could that be floors for additional residential services, clubs, swimming pool, gym, etc? I'm just wondering because those glass areas on top of the highest floor with balconies is just so much higher and have enough floor space to have something in there. Could the mention of 29, 31, or whatever the hell it may be just be based on the first floor and then the residences but not the services and amenities? Am I just being decieved with my eyes, am just wishful thinking, making an educated assumption, or does this project have alot more to it than anyone has made public yet? Afterall, Granby tower news is hard to come by.

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You've got to remember the Westin is not just condos but its a hotel or you would say a cheater building in a sense. The Granby tower is just residential not a hotel. That is why they are saying that.

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I guess if were playing with semantics then yes they would be technically correct. Granby is a pure residential as opposed to Westin which is mixed use. They did make a point to say "residential" so i gues they've been doing their homework.

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I noticed on the new, more detailed rendering that the top half of glass area of the spire is squarish rather than the previous circular shape. Now that this seems more up to date, I have to ask, regardless of what the press, developers, contractors, or city officials state, is there something that just doesn't make sense with all of this that you guys haven't noticed yet?

I don't know about y'all but with what the city is saying is 31 floors and admits that it isn't taller than the Westin's 37/38 floors. But why is he basing it on the number of floors? If building heights are based on floors then Westin would already have been the taller building when it was originally announced 30 floors. How come the the city and the Rubin site for that matter claim tallest? Could there actually be additional floors on top of the residences? If so, is that why those glass parts on top of the tower seem to be an additional 5 floors? Could that be floors for additional residential services, clubs, swimming pool, gym, etc? I'm just wondering because those glass areas on top of the highest floor with balconies is just so much higher and have enough floor space to have something in there. Could the mention of 29, 31, or whatever the hell it may be just be based on the first floor and then the residences but not the services and amenities? Am I just being decieved with my eyes, am just wishful thinking, making an educated assumption, or does this project have alot more to it than anyone has made public yet? Afterall, Granby tower news is hard to come by.

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Who knows, It's something i question too. In the end we're gonna have some pretty damn tall buildings in both cities and thats all i really care about. :D .

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