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35-40 story office building proposed for norfolk

brucewayne

By brucewayne
in Norfolk

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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Man this is great, the downtown area will look fantastic. So lets recap, Ghent south towers (2), Brambleton tower, Hoffler Tower, Granby Tower, Trader, Hilton, HH, snyder lot tower, 401 Granby, Courts tower, HRT headquarters, Fed Courts tower expansion. That's 13 folks! Downtowns gonna be busting at the seams by the time this is all done. Add the 6 waterfront towers from Portsmouth and within a 5-10 year period this will be a very expansive skyline and downtown to be reckoned with. 19 new towers in the immediate downtown area. It's all a bit much to take in. :lol:

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rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

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Man this is great, the downtown area will look fantastic. So lets recap, Ghent south towers (2), Brambleton tower, Hoffler Tower, Granby Tower, Trader, Hilton, HH, snyder lot tower, 401 Granby, Courts tower, HRT headquarters, Fed Courts tower expansion. That's 13 folks! Downtowns gonna be busting at the seams by the time this is all done. Add the 6 waterfront towers from Portsmouth and within a 5-10 year period this will be a very expansive skyline and downtown to be reckoned with. 19 new towers in the immediate downtown area. It's all a bit much to take in. :lol:

This sounds sooooooo great! Man and just think this has nothing to do with DT plaza either!

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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Did you see this? At least it is something.

I did but as with all things Hilton I take the timeline with a grain of salt. They don't technically have to begin construction till the start of '07 so soon could still mean a few months. I really want to see a new rendering more than anything.

Hopefully they'll all come to fruition

I think they will. We actually have a pretty good track record. They may take sometime to come to fruition but very few of these projects seem close to cancellation. Most of them fill very specific needs (hotel/conference center, medical office tower, light rail headquarters, etc.) that are not subject to the whims and fluctuations that the condo market is. I was afraid that with the real estate cool down that we'd see a significant slowdown in downtown construction but it appears that Norfolk is making a very smooth transition from residential boom to office boom. I have high confidence in this office tower because even while its in planning and construction (3-4 years) the office vacancy rate will continue to fall due to no new inventory being added. Because of this, we will likely see a few more office towers proposed over that same time period.

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rusthebuss Metropolis

rusthebuss

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I did but as with all things Hilton I take the timeline with a grain of salt. They don't technically have to begin construction till the start of '07 so soon could still mean a few months. I really want to see a new rendering more than anything.

I think they will. We actually have a pretty good track record. They may take sometime to come to fruition but very few of these projects seem close to cancellation. Most of them fill very specific needs (hotel/conference center, medical office tower, light rail headquarters, etc.) that are not subject to the whims and fluctuations that the condo market is. I was afraid that with the real estate cool down that we'd see a significant slowdown in downtown construction but it appears that Norfolk is making a very smooth transition from residential boom to office boom. I have high confidence in this office tower because even while its in planning and construction (3-4 years) the office vacancy rate will continue to fall due to no new inventory being added. Do to this, we will likely see a few more office towers proposed over that same time period.

I think Norfolk tires to wait to announce anything till its almost guaranteed.

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Merrittk92 Whistle-Stop

Merrittk92

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Signature/tall and at that location? The only way (in my opinion) that you can achieve both is by going at around 600 ft. Seems to me that the building should have to make a signature "statement" from all perspectives, most particularly those perspectives that are seen on approach. So as I look at the many pics that have been posted on this board the only way that I see the whole "signature" thing being achieved is by going at least 45 floors. To me signature means the first thing you see, the first impression that is made and the first thing you recall. So if you have to drive/look around for said building..then your goal has not been achieved.

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Padman Hamlet

Padman

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35 to 40 storeys would be perfect for that location, and would balance nicely against the wall of 15-26 story structures in the front row. Anything less would not take full advantage of the last remaining location for such a tower in the central business core. The Mac Arthur Mall and Memorial locations are not available, and the former Downtown Plaza site is too far east (for now) to offer the most pleasing effect. Anything smaller would not really be a "signature" tower unless the architecture were truly remarkable. Dominion and NS are nice towers, but they would be pretty much at home in the suburbs of Dallas or Houston. They are good but not special.

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erdogs Burg

erdogs

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Norfolk Southern should propose building a new head quarters here and selling there current building. I always thought there tower should have had more of a prominence in the skyline. This way it would not be too much of a financial burden. Imagine there visibility in this area with a 50 storey tower.

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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I wonder why the article mentions that the tower may not have water views. It should have a taller footprint than the First Virginia Bank building (the black and white stripped building) in front of it.

Yeah, even if the tower stays at 25 stories it will still have commanding views of the water (especially with a 12 ft floor height typical in office towers) I think they were meaning to say it will not have a location near the waterfront.

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Telmnstr Burg

Telmnstr

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The one who suggested a Walmart in Ghent was Telmnstr, tongue fully in cheek I suppose. As for the ones who in all serious want a target on that lot, I guess some people should just be banned from thinking. :lol:

:-)

I set them up the bomb. Grade A troll! :-) There was a huge ordeal over the pharmacy in Ghent. Whenever a chain pharmacy is built, all of their competitors build across the street. It really is wasteful I suppose, but it appears that there is enough business to support them both. They took out the building that Skinnies was in, and there was a bit of a battle. I don't think I can post again, if I could (and it was approved rapidly) I would push to have the Walmart in Ghent so as not to clog up the up and coming downtown, which is the new hotness. A NIMBY attitude against the NIMBY crowd.

I always wanted to print bumper stickers that say "Support the Ghent Wal*Mart" and "Fight the Ghent Wal*Mart" but figure it would be trademark infringement and I would get sued. But it would get the ghent folks totally worked up, and I can see all of these people calling poor Wal*Mart corporation over an issue that doesn't exist. There is no land in ghent, unless they bought some of that industrial area near Orapax. They could probably do it and be successful farther down Hampton Boulevard though, on the "other side of the tracks."

Actually a target in downtown Norfolk would be awesome, as long as the space above it isn't wasted. I saw a K-Mart in Manhattan, so odd. My friend said "it goes down... there are floors below"

The biggest issue downtown is parking.

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