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O F F I C E
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Virginia Beach's Windwood Centre, leased and
managed by Divaris, reaches 99
percent occupancy.
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The
Office Market in Hampton Roads Holds Steady
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA – This is not another tale of
white-knuckled woe. Talk of a looming recession has dampened the real
estate market in many areas, with the office markets in several cities
slowing considerably and the development of new projects subsiding, or even
stopping altogether. However, Hampton Roads, Va, is
a different story.
Though the current overall vacancy rate in Hampton Roads is 7.8 percent, the
highest in the past two years, the market is expected to remain strong, due
to the continued demand for office space. “The rise in the vacancy rate
is partially due to four new office buildings being delivered in the fourth
quarter of 2008. There are 12 other office buildings currently under
construction in the area,” says Krista Costa, office leasing associate in
Divaris Real Estate, Inc. (DRE)’s headquarters.
DRE has been very active in the
Hampton Roads office market over the past year. The company’s portfolio
includes several office complexes, Norfolk’s Interstate Corporate Center (ICC), and
Virginia
Beach’s
Oceana
Place,
3300 Buildings and Windwood Centre. The 35-acre Interstate Corporate Center — leased and managed by DRE — features
17 one- and two-story office buildings, in a campus-like setting in the
Southside area of Hampton Roads. At ICC, DRE recently completed several
leases, including 7,037 square feet of office space for Patton, Harris, Rust & Associates. Windwood
Centre, located on Lynnhaven Parkway in Virginia Beach, is currently 99 percent occupied. The
Divaris-leased-and-managed center is a 79,182-square-foot,
Class A office building that includes amenities such as a fitness center, shared
conference room, and easy access to I-264, NAS Oceana, the Virginia Beach Municipal Center and the Lynnhaven
Mall.
Falling in the
“everything-old-is-new-again” category, where Main Streets used
to see storefronts on the first floor of multi-level buildings, offices above
retail is becoming a trend in new development in Hampton Roads. The
Town Center of Virginia Beach, the 1.8 million-square-foot, mixed-use
project, has spearheaded this concept with retail and restaurants
wrapping the 23-story Armada Hoffler office tower,
the Block 3 office building and Five Columbus Center. Currently under
construction in The Town Center, with a completion date of November 2008, is
the 109,000-square-foot, six-story Two Columbus
Center. And the Gateway Tower, a 230,000-square-foot building will break ground in late 2008
with retail on its first floor.
The Offices at Landstown
Commons is under construction and will add 33,000 square feet of Class A
space above the 500,000-square-foot retail center. This is the only
non-affiliated medical space within a three-mile radius – a distance
that includes the Sentara medical complex and
office park, the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, Advanced Learning
Center and the adjunct campuses of Norfolk State and Old Dominion University. Leasing is being handled by DRE’s Rick Frantz and Robin Gasser.
The Marquis, located at the
intersection of Interstate 64 and Route 199 in Williamsburg,Va., is a new mixed-use, open-air retail
“power town” center, situated on 238 acres. DRE is the
exclusive leasing agent for the property.
When finished, The Marquis will encompass approximately 1 million
square feet of space in a unique layout that includes 130,000 square feet of
second-floor office space. Karen Beale and Matt Traylor, of DRE’s Newport News office, are handling the leasing of the office
space in The Marquis.
Peninsula Town Center is also under construction, on the site of the
former Coliseum Mall in Hampton, Va., at the intersection of Interstate-64 and Mercury Boulevard. The site is convenient, not only for
the 104,000 vehicles that pass on I-64 daily, but also to neighboring Hampton Roads
Convention Center and Hampton Coliseum. The mixed-use,
open-air development will include retail anchors Macy’s, JCPenney and Barnes & Noble in addition to 100,000
square feet of office space on the second floor. Karen Beale, principal
of DRE’s Newport News office, is handling the leasing of the office
space at Peninsula Town Center.
Whether on the peninsula, the southside, above retail or in traditional high-rise or
suburban buildings, the office market in Hampton Roads is faring far better
than many markets across the country.
Divaris
Real Estate, Inc.
One Columbus Center, Suite 700
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
TEL:
757.497.2113 FAX: 757.497.1338
info@divaris.com
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