Largest construction projects in Virginia

Virginia Business
October 2007

The following list profiles some of the largest projects that broke ground in Virginia during the past year.

Heritage Hunt Commercial Park
$400 million: Prince William County
Construction is under way on the first phase of a 27-acre, 350,000-square-foot Class A corporate campus off I-66 in the Dulles area. It’s part of a larger development, the 70-acre Heritage Hunt Commercial Park, which will include more than 600,000 square feet of office, retail, medical and hotel space and apartments for seniors. The first of four office buildings at the corporate center is scheduled to open in late 2008.
Developer: Buchanan Partners, Gaithersburg, Md.

Reston Town Center
Phase II, South of Market
$297 million: Reston
Four new Class A office buildings totaling 850,000 square feet will be another addition to this massive mixed-use development, which serves as one of the area’s premier employment centers. Three of the buildings are about 70 percent leased. The offices will have retail on the lower levels and are expected to be ready by February.
Developer: Boston-based Boston Properties.
General contractor: HITT Contacting, Fairfax
Architects: Smith Group of Detroit and Duda/Paine of Durham, N.C.

Peninsula Town Center
$200 million: Hampton
A demolition and facelift is giving a new look to the old Coliseum Mall. It will reopen as a 1-million-square-foot outdoor town center with retail, dining, office and residential space. J.C. Penney opened its new 29,000-square foot store in August. The project’s grand opening is scheduled for early 2009.
Developer: Steiner & Associates of Columbus, Ohio.

Westchester Commons, Watkins Centre
$165 million: Chesterfield County
This 800-acre mixed-use development will combine Westchester Commons, a 1.3-million-square-foot lifestyle retail center, with 2 million square feet of office/industrial and 1,600 residential units. The development sits on a prime location at the intersection of Route 288 and Midlothian Turnpike and is expected to become a major employment center for Chesterfield, the state’s fourth largest locality.
Developers: Zaremba Group LLC of Cleveland, Metropolitan Partnership of Reston.

The Shops at White Oak Village
$161 million: Henrico County
This 900,000-square-foot regional retail center will bring new stores, restaurants and a Hyatt Place Hotel to eastern Henrico County. It is being built with sustainable designs, with many on-site materials such as concrete being recycled and reused. The opening is planned for fall 2008.
Developers: Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland and Pruitt Associates of Henrico.
Construction manager: KBS Inc., Richmond

Amcor PET Packaging
$105 million: Wytheville
A modern, 713,000-square-foot Gatorade bottle plant opened for full production in May. The concrete facility is located in Progress Park, a 1,200-acre industrial park. The new plant will create 144 jobs.
Developer and general contractor: Clayco, St. Louis.

Hilton Hotel
$95 million: Richmond
One of Richmond’s best-known landmarks, the old Miller & Rhoads department store building on Broad Street, is being renovated into a 250-room hotel with more than 130 condominiums. The projects will have separate entrances but will share amenities. They are expected to open in 2008.
Developer: ECI Development Services, Richmond; HRI Properties of New Orleans.

MeadWestvaco corporate headquarters
$80 million: Richmond
A new headquarters for this Fortune 500 is taking shape on the banks of the James River in downtown Richmond. The packaging and paper products company relocated from Stamford, Conn., to Virginia last year. It will lease a nine-story, 300,000-square-foot building from Richmond-based Newmarket Corp., which owns the site. The building should be ready by mid-2009.
General contractor and civil engineer: Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Richmond
Architect: MSTSD, Atlanta.

Swedwood North America
Danville
Swedwood’s first North American manufacturing plant for IKEA furniture is going up on 200 acres at Cane Creek Centre. The plant’s first phase of an expected three phases of construction includes more than 1 million square feet of space. It’s expected to be ready by January 2008. Total investment for the facility — the second largest corporate investment in Southern Virginia — is estimated at $281 million. Company officials would not disclose construction costs.
Developer: Swedwood, a subsidiary of the Sweden-based IKEA Group
Engineer: Dewberry & Davis Inc., Danville
General contractor: John S. Clark, Mount Airy, N.C.