Virginia Beach Development

[vdogg]

What was the final disposition of the Rudee loop issue? Found this RFQ circling the construction dockets and was wondering if they had decided to make it a park or if this project is currently in the works.

"Proposed project will include a four-star 12-story hotel and conference center, a three-star 13-story hotel, a 13-story apartment building, and a nine-story condo-hotel in which owners of individual units have the flexibility to rent them out. surface parking, a garage and specialty parking for surfers. public space would encompass about half of the loop and include sculptures, a basketball court, amenities for surfers and cyclists, a stage, a fishing area, and a park with a water feature."

[vdogg]

1 hour ago, Asdfjkl; said:

Are there any dates indicating when the RFQ was posted? The description is almost word for word Bruce Smith’s proposal, as reported in a Pilot article in January 2020. 

2/24/2020. If it is Bruce's project then they were in very advanced stages of development. Not sure if still a thing or if they decided to make it a park though.

[baobabs727]

12 hours ago, vdogg said:

Tallying all the projects that are now or very near construction, and it looks like Virginia Beach is undergoing quite the substantial building boom density wise. Might not have the height yet, but I'll take it. Between shore drive, the oceanfront, Pembroke, and Bonney, this area will look quite different in 5 years. Things are really going to start taking on that city feel. While our population growth appears to be starting to pay dividends, I am sad that we never got light rail off the ground. I feel that this current boom would've been magnified 10 fold if we could've just pushed that over the finish line.

Indeed.  Along  the Laskin corridor, alone, the following are in various stages of planning and development:

1) The massive Breeden Pinnacle residential apartment project at the Oceanfront Gateway...which is listed on this site. 

2) A multi-acre Breeden residential development at the old Pasta e Pani site which is now cleared and fenced and sits next to the new 7-11 at Laskin and Birdneck.

3) A 12 acre mixed-use (primarily residential) RFP at the old Linkhorn Park Elem School (currently the "Annex") just a few tenths of a mile up on Laskin toward Hilltop.

4) A 9 acre Breeden residential apartment development behind the old Friends' School just a block up from the RFP site on Laskin.

[vdogg]

Hit the jackpot. I can confirm that there are several multi-story (5 plus) and muliti-family (some mixed use) developments in the predesign or design stages for the Virginia Beach Boulevard corridor. These will primarily be concentrated between Thalia and Independence. Unfortunately, some have a suburban-ish design that I hope gets fleshed out in planning. (One building has it's parking lot front the Boulevard... Really? How hard is it to hide the parking lot behind the building? ) That said, it is multiple buildings per development and it will increase the density in that area quite significantly). I will make separate threads as plans get more fleshed out and/or they're officially announced.

[vdogg]

On 8/19/2021 at 11:12 AM, vdogg said:

Hit the jackpot. I can confirm that there are several multi-story (5 plus) and muliti-family (some mixed use) developments in the predesign or design stages for the Virginia Beach Boulevard corridor. These will primarily be concentrated between Thalia and Independence. Unfortunately, some have a suburban-ish design that I hope gets fleshed out in planning. (One building has it's parking lot front the Boulevard... Really? How hard is it to hide the parking lot behind the building? ) That said, it is multiple buildings per development and it will increase the density in that area quite significantly). I will make separate threads as plans get more fleshed out and/or they're officially announced.

Here is one of the developments and the one I have the most issue with. 5 5-story buildings total, and it is mixed use. Density will definitely increase but that parking lot fronting VB blvd just kills it for me. A simple rearrangement of the buildings will give it a far more urban feel. Planning does itself no favors when it allows stuff like this to slide so close to Town Center. The renderings make it look like the buildings will be similar in design to City View, so that is a plus.

http://boulevardatthalia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Thalia-Design-Documents-Site-Plan-and-Elevations-1.15.20.pdf

[baobabs727]

5 hours ago, vdogg said:

Here is one of the developments and the one I have the most issue with. 5 5-story buildings total, and it is mixed use. Density will definitely increase but that parking lot fronting VB blvd just kills it for me. A simple rearrangement of the buildings will give it a far more urban feel. Planning does itself no favors when it allows stuff like this to slide so close to Town Center. The renderings make it look like the buildings will be similar in design to City View, so that is a plus.

http://boulevardatthalia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Thalia-Design-Documents-Site-Plan-and-Elevations-1.15.20.pdf

 

 

5 hours ago, vdogg said:

Here is one of the developments and the one I have the most issue with. 5 5-story buildings total, and it is mixed use. Density will definitely increase but that parking lot fronting VB blvd just kills it for me. A simple rearrangement of the buildings will give it a far more urban feel. Planning does itself no favors when it allows stuff like this to slide so close to Town Center. The renderings make it look like the buildings will be similar in design to City View, so that is a plus.

http://boulevardatthalia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Thalia-Design-Documents-Site-Plan-and-Elevations-1.15.20.pdf

BUT WAIT!!! Is this WILLIS FURNITURE?? (FORMERLY WILLIS WAYSIDE  AT THALIA WAYSIDE VILLAGE? ) This is a venerable mainstay of fine furniture in HR dating to 1890,  and relocated here around 1950!

Edited August 25, 2021 by baobabs727

[baobabs727]

31 minutes ago, vdogg said:

I can confirm that Willis is currently looking for other possible locations. No idea on time frame, but aspects of this project are currently going out to bid.

WOW. I guess I'm not shocked though because Ben Willis has been slowly redeveloping the property over the past decade plus. However, it's a bit surprising given that his main building's fancy new facade ....which was created around the time he ceded some space to allow for the construction of the Aldi is only a few years old! 

Edited August 25, 2021 by baobabs727

[vdogg]

2 minutes ago, baobabs727 said:

WOW. I guess I'm not shocked though because Ben Willis has been slowly redeveloping the property over the past decade plus. However, it's a bit surprising given that his main building's fancy new facade ....which was created around the time he ceded some space to allow for the construction of the Aldi. 

Money talks. I'm certain venture realty offered top dollar for this location seeing as it's so close to Town Center.

[vdogg]

7 hours ago, Asdfjkl; said:

I know this project was presented previously but withdrawn due to neighborhood opposition. It did sound like they planned to reengage later. Is that what’s going on? I only ask because the website doesn’t appear to of been updated since before it was withdrawn but it sounds like you might have more knowledge of this and other projects in the area. 

There are recent bids working their way through construction sites right now. They appear to be making another go at it.

[rancenc]

New data center should be starting very soon!

https://constructionreviewonline.com/news/usa/virginia-beach-data-center-construction-slated-to-begin-soon/

[varider]

https://www.marlinbayvb.com
 

197 apartments proposed on Shore DR w/ strong NIMBY opposition, recommended for approval by the Planning Commission with a 7-3 vote 

[vdogg]

52 minutes ago, varider said:

https://www.marlinbayvb.com
 

197 apartments proposed on Shore DR w/ strong NIMBY opposition, recommended for approval by the Planning Commission with a 7-3 vote 

Yeah, this has been going on for a while. This is proof that the NIMBYs just hate everything. This thing is all of 4-stories and they're still against it.

[baobabs727]

On 1/29/2021 at 11:53 AM, baobabs727 said:

Small, new mixed-use project (office+retail) for the Laskin-Oceanfront gateway....proximate to/across from the new Pinnacle 31 proposal at the old Farm Fresh property
 

https://images1.loopnet.com/d2/eovuI4Z5JOeDmfXcb1YLkhuXSW1QVRXpP9kG_47A0l0/408 Laskin Road Lease.pdf

 

 

[Qdeathstar]

On 8/25/2021 at 10:39 AM, vdogg said:

Here is one of the developments and the one I have the most issue with. 5 5-story buildings total, and it is mixed use. Density will definitely increase but that parking lot fronting VB blvd just kills it for me. A simple rearrangement of the buildings will give it a far more urban feel. Planning does itself no favors when it allows stuff like this to slide so close to Town Center. The renderings make it look like the buildings will be similar in design to City View, so that is a plus.

http://boulevardatthalia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Thalia-Design-Documents-Site-Plan-and-Elevations-1.15.20.pdf

I was under the impression that development got shelved…

[vdogg]

On 10/14/2021 at 10:12 PM, Qdeathstar said:

I was under the impression that development got shelved…

There were proposals going out for bid on a construction site a few months ago. Perhaps they're just putting feelers out, but somebody is still thinking about it...

[varider]

https://www.pilotonline.com/business/consumer/vp-nw-greenwich-road-apartments-1204-20211204-nqtn5rcfdfeyrkhihd4ld2jztu-story.html
 

A local development company, Platinum Management LLC, has applied for a zoning change to build 315 apartments where the newspaper’s former production plant sits on Greenwich Road, across the street from Top Golf.

The complex, dubbed Society at Gateway, will feature three, four-story buildings.

[vdogg]

On 10/14/2021 at 10:12 PM, Qdeathstar said:

I was under the impression that development got shelved…

This project was updated on 11/4/2021 as being in the “planning/schematics” stage. It is very much alive, perhaps redesigned or in a different configuration/layout, but it is by no means dead.

[Qdeathstar]

I live in Thalia and there were a lot of nimby’s celebrating its demise. Boy are they gonna be disappointed..

[vdogg]

2 hours ago, Qdeathstar said:

I live in Thalia and there were a lot of nimby’s celebrating its demise. Boy are they gonna be disappointed..

Depends. If the project is significantly redesigned to address concerns related to the first withdrawal, then perhaps not that bad. It depends on what the specific concerns were, and what the developers did to mitigate them.

[HRVA]

The city is considering selling a parking lot at Atlantic and 4th to the owners of Watermans (Standings). It would continue to be used as a parking lot for the restaurant and a new residential development at Pacific and 5th (owned by the Standings). Taylor Adams showed some very conceptual renderings at the meeting but it appears the Standings are planning a pretty significant apartment development there. 

Pilot article on the sale of the parking lot.

[varider]

yes, very preliminary but there was a mid-rise and high-rise option discussed for the apartment tower— the high rise looked to be 10 floors and the mid- rise was 5 floors 

[HRVA]

On 7/1/2021 at 7:30 PM, baobabs727 said:

Laskin Road Annex RFP #ED-21-01

VIRGINIA BEACH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

https://www.yesvirginiabeach.com/resources/laskin-road-annex-rfp-ed-21-01

Site of the Laskin Road and Accel Virginia Beach schools formally Linkhorn Park elementary school…(where I attended K through 6...eons ago lol. ).

Major development project with several potential uses.  Highly visible and valuable property proximate to both Hilltop and the oceanfront. I’ve known this was coming for some time... but here it is, finally.  And it’s about time. Excess school board property. This former school was replaced with a new one of the same name built on First Colonial Road maybe a mile away ...because City Council freaked out in the ‘90s thinking that Linkhorn Park ES was in the Oceana jet crash zone. They feared losing Oceana, so they spent millions of dollars acquiring property on First Colonial Road from the Potter family and another (who were unwilling sellers actually) . After they spent millions more building the school, it was discovered that the crash zone maps had been drawn up in error, and the school was actually not in the crash zone after all!

It appears the Franklin Johnston Group has been selected as they have filed plans for “The Canopy.” Hopefully they step up their designs. I’m sure we’ll see some press on this once it gets closer to going before City Council. 

[HRVA]

Virginia Beach’s “magnificent parcel” at Rudee Loop has sat idle for decades. The city wants ideas on how to use it.

The city is looking to begin the process for developing Rudy Loop. Moss wants a referendum to decide if it should be a park or private development. I say why can’t it be both?

[varider]

Every comment on FB about Rudee Loop is fiercely opposed to any development. When the city is full of these attitudes, it’s no wonder we have such difficulty progressing. I’m not even against the park. It could be like South Pointe Park in South Beach— but it’s just almost a joke at this point how anti-development people can be , even when it’s public property not even in their backyard. Either way, this shouldn’t require a long, drawn-out public input process and years of debate. Put out the RFP, stipulate that the development have X amount of open space for the public and reserves public beach access, and move on.  IMO we are in desperate need of attractions and I always imagined Rudee Loop would be great for something unique and fresh and truly a signature property like the Cavalier complex has become for the North End. 

[HRVA]

The comments on the Pilot’s post are similar. People don’t seem to understand that it’s already developed. It’s not virgin land we’re talking about; it’s concrete and asphalt. This is a tremendous opportunity to enhance the property. No reason fishing and surfing can’t continue to be an important component of that end of the Boardwalk.