Pembroke Mall Revelopment (Ongoing-Phase 1)

[Lluck002]

I was tasked with performing a Design Charrette showcasing a conceptualization of how a street grid network could be implemented as Pembroke Square is redeveloped. I’ve included a couple screenshots of some of the slides from the presentation we will be showing the developers.

The developers are having some difficulty visualizing how a proposed network of walkable urban streets could work around some structures and uses that they would like to remain for the time being. We suggest they implement the portions of the network abutting redevelopment as it occurs, eventually coming together in an aligned, cohesive manner. This will help realize the goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan, Pembroke Strategic Growth Area, and Central Business Core Zoning.

One will notice that the model retains most of the existing anchor stores, while recontextualizing them to integrate with potential future urbanized surroundings. One will also see that the currently under-construction Aviva Senior Living Facility, as well as the currently proposed Apartments and Hotel, are included. As the new city blocks are mostly carved from existing underutilized surface parking lots, parking would be accommodated by various new parking decks within the podiums of the new buildings, along with a generous amount of parallel street parking.

Of course, this model depicts a high-intensity, ambitious build-out, but we believe that the Town Center area is one of Virginia Beach’s few opportunities for quality urban development that will help position the City as a competitive, vibrant, attractive, prosperous, community on a national level. We anticipate a scaled-back version of whatever we come to the developers with, so we felt it important to showcase the full potential of the site that would result in the highest return on investment and best use of land. Even so, keep in mind that the tallest building shown in this model is only 650 feet, which is a similar scale to the Westin tower across the street, which stands at 508 feet in height. However, we mainly wish to see the developer embrace mixed-use, urban development on walkable blocks, even if the entire site is redeveloped with only mid-rise buildings, so those are the points we will be emphasizing during discussions with them.

We have not yet formally presented this Design Charrette to the developers, so none of this is final or set in stone. I’ll keep everyone updated on the situation. This is my last big project for the City of Virginia Beach Department of Planning & Community Development before I depart for a new role with the Arlington County Department of Community Planning, Housing, and Development. While I very much enjoyed my time with the City of Virginia Beach, I could not pass up an opportunity to advance my career and lend my talents to a world-renowned jurisdiction in the field of Urban Planning. I hope to remain an active member of this community though, as I have always valued and cared for Hampton Roads’ future.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Lluck002
Added more photos.

[BFG]

I thought this was the actual proposal and almost fell off my couch. 

[HRVA]

With Seritage selling off their portfolio, any word on if the developer plans to acquire the Sears parcel? The announced phase 4 & 5 office buildings would be on that parcel but there hasn’t been any info about whether they planned to acquire or JV the site for those phases. 

[baobabs727]

Aspirational to be sure. Hopefully they will take something from it and improve their vision  

Arlington. Right. But of course. Because Arlington needs another young urban planner. (And we don’t.) ugh lol. Just kidding. Good luck to you!

[vdogg]

Damn near had a heart attack. A disclaimer BEFORE posting these types of renderings would be in order. 

[Lluck002]

6 hours ago, vdogg said:

Damn near had a heart attack. A disclaimer BEFORE posting these types of renderings would be in order. 

Haha sorry to everyone about that. I should have posted the pics after a short explanation 

On 9/5/2022 at 12:18 AM, baobabs727 said:

Aspirational to be sure. Hopefully they will take something from it and improve their vision  

Arlington. Right. But of course. Because Arlington needs another young urban planner. (And we don’t.) ugh lol. Just kidding. Good luck to you!

Thank you! I wanted to stay with Virginia Beach to help make more of a positive impact but I was blocked from any sort of advancement here… so I’m moving on to where they are offering me advancement. The Virginia Beach Department of Planning & Community Development has a super high turnover rate for a reason. It’s been an ongoing pattern where young, ambitious, knowledgeable, skilled Planners like me come in, run into the same issues, and then end up being recruited by a more innovative jurisdiction willing to embrace young talent. I’ll forever be grateful for what Virginia Beach taught me and again, I do really care for its future. I’ll still be around from time to time and you know I’ll still be checking up on development news here frequently 

[baobabs727]

3 hours ago, Lluck002 said:

Haha sorry to everyone about that. I should have posted the pics after a short explanation 

Thank you! I wanted to stay with Virginia Beach to help make more of a positive impact but I was blocked from any sort of advancement here… so I’m moving on to where they are offering me advancement. The Virginia Beach Department of Planning & Community Development has a super high turnover rate for a reason. It’s been an ongoing pattern where young, ambitious, knowledgeable, skilled Planners like me come in, run into the same issues, and then end up being recruited by a more innovative jurisdiction willing to embrace young talent. I’ll forever be grateful for what Virginia Beach taught me and again, I do really care for its future. I’ll still be around from time to time and you know I’ll still be checking up on development news here frequently 

 

[baobabs727]

On 9/3/2022 at 12:50 AM, HRVA said:

With Seritage selling off their portfolio, any word on if the developer plans to acquire the Sears parcel? The announced phase 4 & 5 office buildings would be on that parcel but there hasn’t been any info about whether they planned to acquire or JV the site for those phases. 

I have some rather shocking news to report, friends.  Just today, Mr. Ramsay Smith has informed me that Pembroke Square Associates has passed on the Seritage property (formerly Sears, now Decisions) because they deemed the building's 15 year lease to be untenable. 

However, there is a buyer for the site.

And that buyer is...............................

Armada Hoffler  

Yes.  AH is jumping the street...and (potentially) crashing the party.   

 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by baobabs727

[HRVA]

2 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

I have some rather shocking news to report, friends.  Just today, Mr. Ramsay Smith has informed me that Pembroke Square Associates has passed on the Seritage property (formerly Sears, now Decisions) because they deemed the building's 15 year lease to be untenable. 

However, there is a buyer for the site.

And that buyer is...............................

Armada Hoffler  

Yes.  AH is jumping the street...and (potentially) crashing the party.   

 

 

Wow. Guess that explains why Divaris continues to market the Decisions space despite their occupancy. The earnings call after this closes should be interesting. 
 

Edit: they’re no longer marketing that space as of a couple of weeks ago. They left it out there for nearly a year after Decisions announced though. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by HRVA
Update

[baobabs727]

Yes, indeed.  And my head is still spinning.  So many thoughts, questions, scenarios lol.

[vdogg]

So, they're buying out the competition to what, squat on another valuable piece of land?  I'm really not liking the sound of this...

[baobabs727]

2 hours ago, vdogg said:

So, they're buying out the competition to what, squat on another valuable piece of land?  I'm really not liking the sound of this...

Yep. Pretty much. In a nutshell.

I told Mr. Smith that if City Council denies any forthcoming (April 2024) request by A/H for yet another Block 2 option renewal, Pembroke Associates should bid on the option, win...and then build the tallest, shiniest office tower...right smack dab in the heart of AmadaHoffler-land! Oh the delicious irony of it all.  Turnabout is fair play!

[urbanlife]

The revival of City Walk should happen on a portion of the Pembroke Mall site. Give the site a collection of residential towers and a pedestrian square to build off of and connect it to the existing Town Center.

[vdogg]

Just a small update. The site plans for both the hotel and the apartments were submitted to planning in August. Both are still working their way through the planning process.

[HRVA]

AH closed on the Sears building last Friday. The discussion during the earnings call seemed to indicate it was purchased as an investment with no mention any development plans. 

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4554834-armada-hoffler-properties-inc-ahh-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcript

[baobabs727]

8 hours ago, HRVA said:

AH closed on the Sears building last Friday. The discussion during the earnings call seemed to indicate it was purchased as an investment with no mention any development plans. 

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4554834-armada-hoffler-properties-inc-ahh-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcript

Right. There is a 15 year lease on that, as you know. A/H will hold.  It also prevents Pembroke Square (PS) from doing anything there.  Likley ever.  JUICY. Of  course, PS passed on it, willingly, because of that lease.  They wanted to re-develop  well before then, and any buyout would have been too rich.  Sad thing for them is that Mr. Smith told me eons ago that Sears was the property he had always wanted, strategically-speaking, to "open up new opportunities" for Pembroke Mall's future redevelopment.  Personally, and somewhat facetiously, I really hope Pembroke Square bids on the old Beacon Building parcel...if and when A/H loses its option...haha. I floated that "dream" to Mr.  Smith, that their counter move would be to bid, win and then build a tower right smack dab in A/H's "territory."  He responded with, "now THAT would be a beautiful thing!"  I'm sure he was joking, but I wasn't! haha. Oh well,  a man can dream, right?!  

Edited November 12, 2022 by baobabs727

[urbanlife]

Hopefully some residential towers will get built in the Pembroke Mall redevelopment because the downtown could definitely use some tall residential towers. 

[Lluck002]

On 11/11/2022 at 7:53 PM, baobabs727 said:

Right. There is a 15 year lease on that, as you know. A/H will hold.  It also prevents Pembroke Square (PS) from doing anything there.  Likley ever.  JUICY. Of  course, PS passed on it, willingly, because of that lease.  They wanted to re-develop  well before then, and any buyout would have been too rich.  Sad thing for them is that Mr. Smith told me eons ago that Sears was the property he had always wanted, strategically-speaking, to "open up new opportunities" for Pembroke Mall's future redevelopment.  Personally, and somewhat facetiously, I really hope Pembroke Square bids on the old Beacon Building parcel...if and when A/H loses its option...haha. I floated that "dream" to Mr.  Smith, that their counter move would be to bid, win and then build a tower right smack dab in A/H's "territory."  He responded with, "now THAT would be a beautiful thing!"  I'm sure he was joking, but I wasn't! haha. Oh well,  a man can dream, right?!  

I do hate that Armada Hoffler sits on land that really needs to be developed and they also seem to be investing heavily in Baltimore right now (look at their LinkedIn; they’re building tons of modern towers along the waterfront), but they are at least pretty experienced when in comes to Urban Design. Pembroke Square Associates is quite small and is only used to developing more traditional suburban retail and such. I hope the two can work together to create a nice extension of Town Center. I could see acquisition in the future maybe. 

On 11/15/2022 at 12:47 AM, urbanlife said:

Hopefully some residential towers will get built in the Pembroke Mall redevelopment because the downtown could definitely use some tall residential towers. 

YES! Exactly! Hampton Roads needs a ton more housing and some nice sleek mixed-use residential skyscrapers would really make a statement. Hampton Roads needs to show the world it should be taken seriously again. 

[baobabs727]

7 hours ago, Lluck002 said:

I do hate that Armada Hoffler sits on land that really needs to be developed and they also seem to be investing heavily in Baltimore right now (look at their LinkedIn; they’re building tons of modern towers along the waterfront), but they are at least pretty experienced when in comes to Urban Design. Pembroke Square Associates is quite small and is only used to developing more traditional suburban retail and such. I hope the two can work together to create a nice extension of Town Center. I could see acquisition in the future maybe. 

YES! Exactly! Hampton Roads needs a ton more housing and some nice sleek mixed-use residential skyscrapers would really make a statement. Hampton Roads needs to show the world it should be taken seriously again. 

Opportunistic much, A/H? UGH. They've pretty much declared their endless patience with intent to sit on the southern portion of the  Columbus Village property....  And when they do re-develop, it's likely going to be a sea of mid-rise boxy apartments with a literal sprinkling of "mixed-use."  How exciting.  

[BFG]

It goes back to the story about the developers in Norfolk that create large scale projects all over the country…..except in Norfolk. City council called them out over the issue recently. 

Why is AH okay with building big everywhere but their own backyard? And why does council allow them to do so? That should be a no-brainer. 

[HRVA]

4 hours ago, BFG said:

It goes back to the story about the developers in Norfolk that create large scale projects all over the country…..except in Norfolk. City council called them out over the issue recently. 

Why is AH okay with building big everywhere but their own backyard? And why does council allow them to do so? That should be a no-brainer. 

Norfolk calling out Hampton Roads Ventures is different because that entity is a subsidiary of NRHA. It’s a weird situation but it’s not the same as what you’re suggesting. 
 

The city should claw back the Beacon site as soon as they can and make it available to anyone with an appropriate proposal but they can’t and shouldn’t demand AH build something that doesn’t meet their financial requirements. They’re building offices in Baltimore because of significant preleasing commitments - that’s obviously not happening here. 

[BFG]

Makes sense. I stand corrected. 

[baobabs727]

I'm sorry to say that I have some somewhat sobering news on Pembroke Square. Mr. Smith informs me that 1) As a result of very unfavorable economic conditions, the hotel design has been altered significantly, and the branding has also been modified. The hotel will now be 7 stories instead of 15, with the top 5 floors being stick-built.  Additionally, there will be only ONE Hilton product, not two.  He didn't say which one survived; 2) The hotel construction will actually start prior to the multi-family component; 3) They are programming Phase 4. Details to come. He did not say how any of this will affect the public garage and the nationally-branded signature restaurant(s) in the hotel. I'll follow up.  Overall, a bummer of an update, but what can you do? 

Update Edit:   Signature Restaurant (1) is still a go. Parking structure will be reduced from 3 levels to 2.  

Edited May 1, 2023 by baobabs727

[vdogg]

This is terrible. I'm so tired of this happening in our area. We just can't catch a break. I was so looking forward to this project too. Wouldn't it just be better to wait until conditions improve than build something mediocre? Nothing to really look forward to now at Pembroke. Wouldn't be surprised if the multifamily component follows suit.

[vdogg]

One can only hope that we add something to the skyline over 20 stories in the next 10 years. This is getting ridiculous now, it's been a really long time since the last tower was built.