|
Outlook
Virginia Business
September 2004
What’s
going up
Bristol
The Highlands, a new 600,000-square-foot regional shopping
center, will be built on 96-acres off Interstate 81.
The center is a joint venture between local entrepreneur
Mark B. Trammell and Newton Oldacre McDonald, a developer
of shopping centers and retail properties throughout
the Southeast and Midwest. While formal leases are yet
to be signed for the outdoor center, developers expect
15 or more retailers with some new national chains showing
interest in the Southwest Virginia market. The project
is expected to create 2,000 new jobs and generate tax
revenues of $4 million annually after it opens in the
fall of 2005.
Charlottesville
Hollymead Town Center, a 300,000- square-foot retail
shopping center off U. S. Route 29 will bring new retailers
to the area, including Target and Harris Teeter. The
two anchors plan to build stores in the center that’s
being developed by Regency Centers, a real estate investment
trust in Jackson-ville, Fla., and Dierman Realty Group,
a McLean-based retail developer. Grading has begun on
the project’s 25-acre site. Target plans to build
a 142,500-square-foot store — the first in Charlottesville
— while Harris Teeter plans a 60,000-square-foot
supermarket. The center is expected to open in the summer
of 2005 and represents the first phase of a planned
180-acre, mixed-use urban village that will include
up to 1,300 residences, 300,000 square feet of office
space and a network of sidewalks and trails.
Virginia
Beach
Gateway Bank and Trust Co. is building a new Virginia
headquarters. Located on Laskin Road in the Hilltop
area, the two-story, 12,000-square-foot project is scheduled
for completion by January 2005. The headquarters will
serve as a financial center for business and consumer
banking as well as the hub for Gateway’s growing
Virginia corporate operations. Currently, the Elizabeth
City, N. C.-based bank has five locations in Southeastern
Virginia, and plans to expand to nine branches by spring
of next year. The architectural firm for the project
is Lyall Design Architects in Norfolk. The builder is
Joy Construction Inc. in Norfolk.
Fauquier
County
Zumot Real Estate Management of McLean is building a
speculative flex/light industrial building in Vint Hill,
a mixed-use community under development between Warrenton
and Gainesville. The 46,150-square-foot structure known
as the Piedmont Building is going up on three acres,
with frontage on state route 652. The architectural
firm of Donnally Vujcic Associates designed the building,
which includes a glass front showroom, 18-foot ceilings
and rear drive-in doors. Construction should be complete
by January 2005. The project is a joint effort between
the Vint Hill Economic Development Authority and the
Fauquier County Industrial Development Authority. Millennium
Realty Advisors will handle leasing.
The
look ahead:
•
Bargain hunters take note: Bank mergers have put surplus
branches on the market as banks try to eliminate too
many locations in one market. The properties are available
for both sale and lease.
• In some parts of Virginia, the amount of sub-lease
space continues to drop as a result of the rebounding
economy. As employers expand, they’re taking excess
space.
• Rising interest rates are sparking activity
in the investment sales market as buyers snag properties
before rates go even higher.
• The investment demand in office condominiums
seems to be carrying over to the industrial flex market
with building of speculative projects.
Return to Virginia Business - September 2004
|
|
