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Town center puts
more pizzazz in Oyster Point business park
by
Paula C. Squires
Virginia
Business
March 2003
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Capital One's funky new campus
Oyster
Point Town Center
$300 million mixed-use development
City of Newport News
Newport News Economic Development Authority
HL Development Group
NAI Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate
CMSS Architects
For years, Newport News has been a city without a real
downtown. The original one consists mainly of a jail,
city offices, a new shipbuilding research center, yet
hardly any stores — all framed by the giant cranes
of the vast shipyard next door. Located ten miles away,
Oyster Point business park, home to professional offices
and light industries, has served as a de facto downtown.
And
now, Oyster Point is getting a big boost — a new
$300 million, mixed-use development that will cement
the 700-acre park's reputation as the place to do business
and have fun. The city and HL Development Group envision
apartments, retail stores, restaurants and entertainment
to enhance the business space. "Some people have
criticized Newport News for not having a center, a there.
It's about creating a there--a public space, a place
where citizens can bring visitors and show them 'This
is Newport News,'" says Assistant City Manager
Neil Morgan.
The
52-acre project, called Oyster Park Town Center, employs
"new-urbanism" planning around a five-acre
lake. The idea is to make the town center as user-friendly
as possible by evoking a small town milieu. For example,
plazas and benches surround the lake, decorated with
a series of fountains. It forms a backdrop for the already
completed Fountain Plaza One, an 110,000-square-foot,
10-story high-rise. The gleaming $13.4 million dollar
office building sits on top of a parking garage built
by the city.
So
far, the city and its development authority have invested
about $20 million in the five-acre lake plaza park and
garage. They expect to recoup the investment through
increased tax revenues. The city's involvement reduces
infrastructure costs for HL Development, freeing it
up to concentrate on drawing commercial and retail tenants.
Fountain One Plaza is more than 90 percent leased by
such clients as Riverside Healthcare, Centura Bank and
accounting firm Goodman & Co.
Located
off Interstate 64 and Jefferson Avenue in the middle
of the Peninsula region, the project is close to a regional
airport and several major employers, a big plus in recruiting
tenants. Yet, town centers are popping up across the
country, including one in nearby Virginia Beach.
What's
going to make this one work? To distinguish its project
from competitors, HL Development is counting on the
center's Main Street feel — with a retail district
conveniently planned just off the public plaza —
to draw people. HL Development Manager Dennis Richardson
believes residents long for a place where they can live,
walk to work, pick up laundry, jog in the park, or take
in a movie after hours-all without a hectic daily commute.
"People are looking for something more out of their
lives than figuring out how to get home from work and
having to drive out to a shopping center," he says.
When
totally built out over the next seven to 10 years, the
center will include an open-air shopping, dining and
entertainment district totaling 250,000 square feet,
600 apartments with 359 currently under construction,
a 225-room luxury hotel and conference center, a million
square feet of office and another bonus — 4, 700
free parking spaces. Apparently, the having-it-all-in-one-place
lifestyle is attracting some believers. "There's
a waiting list of people wanting to rent the apartments,"
says Harvey Lindsay, chairman of NAI Harvey Lindsay
Commercial Real Estate, the company handling the marketing,
leasing and property management.
While
signs are positive for the apartments, with rental rates
of $900 to $1,350 a month, the slow economy is dampening
efforts to recruit retailers. "There's a little
bit of slow down. … Not as many new companies are
coming in," says Lindsay.
One
of the biggest challenges in sealing the deal was working
with a number of parties, including some with personal
agendas. "One group wanted to take a prime piece
of land to do their own office," recalls William
Hudgins, president of HL Development. The project impressed
judges because so much of Fountain One has been leased.
They also praised the collaborative efforts between
public and private partners on a project that will increase
city jobs and revenues.
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