Virginia Beach town center is set to get even larger. The city’s staff are to move forward with a development agreement concerning a brand new 174,000 square foot, Class A office tower at the mixed use, 17-block project that serves as the downtown of the resort city. It will be the third tower for the project and will include an apartment building with 267 units, 18,000 square feet of brand new retail space, and an 850 space parking garage.
The tower is likely to be funded via a public-private partnership. Developer Armada Hoffler is to invest $70.4 million, with $18 million being paid by the city for the parking garage, which it will be able to afford by using the tax increment financing that is already in place at the center. A further $1 million in bonds will be required to pay for the infrastructure.
Armada Hoffler is also the original developer of the site and occupies office space in two existing towers in the project. The new tower’s anchor tenant will be architectural design firm Clark Nexsen, who will lease 80,000 square feet for use as its corporate headquarters in a building of its own design. The company has nine offices in five states and intends to move 350 of its 550 employees in the United States into the new tower from their current location in Norfolk.
One floor of the new tower will be leased by the City of Virginia Beach for its Office of Economic Development.
Gene Salaz
