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wrldcoupe4

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So by comparison, work could start as soon as possible at their current location (I think they have an option to extend their lease at their current location beyond 2008), and it wouldn't take long to start near Philip Morris' HQ either.

Still, I do hope they are smart enough to pick downtown! It would be a nice boost.

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It doesn't take nearly as long to build a parking garage. It could be finished and operating before an office building were completed.

Just because it's listed as #4, I wouldn't count Founder's park out. It has utility lines in place or near enough to tie in quickly with city sewers, power lines, etc.

Sounds like a logical site to me.

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It could be finished and completed faster, but work couldn't begin on the office building until the deck was complete. Construction of the office tower would require the land upon which spaces that would need to be utilized until the deck was complete.

Work was supposed to begin on the Foundry Place deck this september/october. MWV wants to begin work on their HQ in September. Perhaps that's a cryptic clue that they will be downtown and that they consider this deck as part of construction related to their HQ?

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That Ethyl lot is gigantic. If the Fed fast tracks its deck, there would be minimal problems with parking while construction proceeds on both projects.

After all, the Feds didn't always have that lot. There were buildings and RR tracks on it quite a while after the tower was open and in business I do believe. But don't trust me on that one.

If MWV wants to begin construction in September, we're wasting our time in this discussion. They would have HAD to select a site by now and applied for construction permits. Maybe they're just pulling everybody's chain...except for the site they're sitting on now.

Edited by burt
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MWV says they need about 200k-250k SF for their HQ

Well, with the outcry at WBV over building height, I wouldn't think Henrico residents would welcome a vertical structure large enough to accommodate 600 workers plus anticipated growth. It most likely will be a quasi campus style if the west end is selected.

Watkins Centre may pull a fast one on everybody. After all, it's right across the river from the CEO's Goochland home. Though I think that's a spurious argument. Look how many senators, reps and other big wigs live in Virginia and Maryland suburbs and commute in horrible traffic to the Capitol. :lol: MWV's top guy could have an almost non-stop drive from his mansion to Ethyl. :)

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And that translates into how many floors?

Square footage is such a foreigh language to me.

It all depends on how a company wants their space to be layed out. Centennial will have 20,000 sf floorplates for the office portion. Typically, in buildings dowtown, it varies but my guess is that the average is around 12,000-20,000 sf per floor. It can be larger in suburban buildings.

Also, ROTJ is 230,000 sf of office space over 10 floors.

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So hypothetically, they'd need about 12-15 vertical floors should they choose downtown. Now, that's not to say the building would only be that tall.... They could be the lead tenant in a much larger building. Downtown Class A office space is performing very well at the moment (and is outperforming Class A office in the suburbs).***

So far this year, the CBD has had about 200,000 SF of absorption (meaning that much vacant space was leased).***

***According to Thalhimer.

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So hypothetically, they'd need about 12-15 vertical floors should they choose downtown. Now, that's not to say the building would only be that tall.... They could be the lead tenant in a much larger building. Downtown Class A office space is performing very well at the moment (and is outperforming Class A office in the suburbs).***

So far this year, the CBD has had about 200,000 SF of absorption (meaning that much vacant space was leased).***

***According to Thalhimer.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. It would only make sense for MWV to build a tower larger than what they need right now - rent out the additional space to another tenant and that way they will have space to expand if/whenever they would need to. If they decided to build downtown, I would expect it to be a signature tower for downtown Richmond. I would say about 15 floors for MWV as of right now and maybe ten to twelve more for additional tenants, making the tower about 30-35 floors if my thinking is logical...and like Coupe said, it also depends on how they would lay out the tower. If it holds a wide design, then the tower will be shorter. I think that ROTJ has a very wide design...at least in comparison to buildings like the Suntrust tower and the Federal Reserve building. I wonder how many square feet are on each floor of one of those buildings? Surely it has to be less than 15-20,000 square feet.

Edited by eandslee
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Below are a few interesting items from today's Building Permits listing in TD's Real Estate section. Note, my opinion is that most of the information listed is not exactly hot off the press and may be as much as a few months old. For instance, that a multi-million dollar parking deck is getting underway at Phillip Morris' downtown Research Lab.

Other items: 1318-1320 West Broad - $825,000+ renovation of heavy timber and brick structure to 25 apartments. (Note: this is in addition to the new 5-story condominium building Shak told us about which is across Broad in the 1300 block). I'm wondering if 1318-1320 is the old Firestone building at Lombardy and Broad.

Also, at the same 1318-1320 address: Tenant upfit to provide office space - $82,000+.

Fan Associates LLC, owner, JDB Properties, contractor. 2100 Grove Avenue - alterations $1.19 Million. (Note: I think this is the two or three story undistinguished apartment building on the corner of Grove and Rowland).

This one, I'm sure is a typo. F. C. Edgeworth Lessor LLC -3100 (sic) East Cary - tenant fitup for office - $579,000+. (Note: The Edgeworth building is at 2100 East Cary).

938 West Grace - VCU owner - Commonwealth Construction Co., contractor - alterations $478,000. I was hoping this was an expansion of VCU's Grace Street Theatre, but the theatre's address is 934 W. Grace so it is a property west of that.

Edited by burt
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It all depends on how a company wants their space to be layed out. Centennial will have 20,000 sf floorplates for the office portion. Typically, in buildings dowtown, it varies but my guess is that the average is around 12,000-20,000 sf per floor. It can be larger in suburban buildings.

Also, ROTJ is 230,000 sf of office space over 10 floors.

Coupe, if you know about the square footage of floorplates at Centennial, I've got a sneaky suspicion you know more about Goodstein's plans than you are sharing here with your buddies. :ph34r:

Who is the architect for Mead/Westvaco? As I said above in response to your statement that MWV wants to start construction in September: if so, somewhere there are architectural designs, and you can be sure that building permits are in hand.

Besides, pear's posting at RCW that there is a banner across old Capitol One welcoming MWV to Henrico speaks volumes. That has to be the site for the big new headquarters. It makes financial sense; there are two very large buildings on the site already which likely means that reconfiguration of existing floorplates would be far less expensive than constructing a tower anywhere.

Damn! And for a moment, I was enthusiastic about Founders. :cry:

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Well apparently according to a couple people on the news, that no one was at the pump station on Dock and when someone came, the waters went down.

Can I get my department store downtown? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEE

EE????

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Fan Associates LLC, owner, JDB Properties, contractor. 2100 Grove Avenue - alterations $1.19 Million. (Note: I think this is the two or three story undistinguished apartment building on the corner of Grove and Rowland).

It is the 2 story building on the north side of the street. There is also a 3 story narrower apartment building on the south side. According to my landlord, who is friends with the developer, this building is being converted into condos with a New Orleans style facade. I assume a big part of that will be sprucing up the balconies facing Grove. I live right across the street from this project, and it is quite nice because all those apartments are now vacant, meaning there's more parking available.

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It is the 2 story building on the north side of the street. There is also a 3 story narrower apartment building on the south side. According to my landlord, who is friends with the developer, this building is being converted into condos with a New Orleans style facade. I assume a big part of that will be sprucing up the balconies facing Grove. I live right across the street from this project, and it is quite nice because all those apartments are now vacant, meaning there's more parking available.

Which place is empty, Mclaw? The one undergoing $1.19 million improvement or the New Orleans style conversion? Seems like they both should be empty if so much work is being done on each.

Do you frequent Joe's Inn, and have you tried their chicken livers? :lol:

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Things that caught my eye in today's RTD listing of Building Permits:

First State Investment 3500 LLC, owner. 1111 East Main Street. Renovate 19th floor; $305,440. (My note: This is The Bank of America Building). Also, at the same address and for the same client; tenant upfit, $85,541.

Margaret Bemiss, owner; 10 S. 6th Street; upfit second floor office space, $325,624. (My note: Is not this address just south of Main on 6th where Centennial is planning their highrise? I wonder if it was not a typo and the actual address may be 10 NORTH 6th where conversion to residential is ongoing at the old Presbyterian Bookstore midrise. That's just a supposition on my part).

Turning Basin LLC, owner. 111 Virginia Street; light interior renovation, $235,000. (My note: Toads Place would be across the street from this odd-numbered street address. Would it, again, be a typo, or could it be the vacant ground floor level behind Morton's Steak House?).

Ebeneza Baptist Church, 216 W. Leigh Street; repairs, $460,382. (My note: This church, I'm pretty sure, is just to the east of the Armory building that is undergoing renovation).

2812 East Franklin, repairs $195,000. (My note: This is residential and I believe is across the street from Libby Hill Park. It's a pretty hefty amount for repair and ought to be a big visual improvement).

University of Richmond, 6 Lakewood Lane; dormitories, $1.2 Million.

Commons at Plant Zero; 15 East 2nd Street; 23 residential and commercial shell space. $2.38 Million. (My note: This is the huge gallery in Manchester).

Listed under Commercial Notes in today's TD:

New Lease - VCU School of Nursing, 45,000 square feet at 730 East Broad Street. (My note: This is the Theatre Row Building which, formerly, was The Colonial Theatre on Broad at 8th).

Sales Transaction - 8,097 square feet of office space at 207 West Broad, $459,950.

As I have mentioned earlier, I believe the listings under the TD's Building Permits column are not always (if ever) up to date.

Edited by burt
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Things that caught my eye in today's RTD listing of Building Permits:

First State Investment 3500 LLC, owner. 1111 East Main Street. Renovate 19th floor; $305,440. (My note: This is The Bank of America Building). Also, at the same address and for the same client; tenant upfit, $85,541.

Margaret Bemiss, owner; 10 S. 6th Street; upfit second floor office space, $325,624. (My note: Is not this address just south of Main on 6th where Centennial is planning their highrise? I wonder if it was not a typo and the actual address may be 10 NORTH 6th where conversion to residential is ongoing at the old Presbyterian Bookstore midrise. That's just a supposition on my part).

Turning Basin LLC, owner. 111 Virginia Street; light interior renovation, $235,000. (My note: Toads Place would be across the street from this odd-numbered street address. Would it, again, be a typo, or could it be the vacant ground floor level behind Morton's Steak House?).

Ebeneza Baptist Church, 216 W. Leigh Street; repairs, $460,382. (My note: This church, I'm pretty sure, is just to the east of the Armory building that is undergoing renovation).

2812 East Franklin, repairs $195,000. (My note: This is residential and I believe is across the street from Libby Hill Park. It's a pretty hefty amount for repair and ought to be a big visual improvement).

University of Richmond, 6 Lakewood Lane; dormitories, $1.2 Million.

Commons at Plant Zero; 15 East 2nd Street; 23 residential and commercial shell space. $2.38 Million. (My note: This is the huge gallery in Manchester).

Listed under Commercial Notes in today's TD:

New Lease - VCU School of Nursing, 45,000 square feet at 730 East Broad Street. (My note: This is the Theatre Row Building which, formerly, was The Colonial Theatre on Broad at 8th).

Sales Transaction - 8,097 square feet of office space at 207 West Broad, $459,950.

As I have mentioned earlier, I believe the listings under the TD's Building Permits column are not always (if ever) up to date.

Some notes...

10 S 6th St may be the James River Title building... it would make sense for there to be an office upfit there. I am certain the 2nd floor of 6 N 6th st (the one undergoing conversion to apartments) will not be office space.

Toad's Place is 140 Virginia St, 111 I believe is First Market Bank's HQ (The Turning Basin Building)... There was renovations going on in one of the floors there a few weeks ago.

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I just put the good news about The National Theatre in the Development thread and am hoping someone will "link" the story for me.

There's a VERY interesting piece in today's Business section of the TD about the inept and costly manner in which the awarding of building permits is handled at City Hall. No wonder big companies select suburbia!

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